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Most people are getting all the jobs done on the boats so we can do some stuff over the next few days. Looks like we will restart on Saturday. Super cool place. Very challenging leg getting down here. The first half was great but the last part was hard work. Either no wind and a massive swell or 40+kts. It took us 3 days to cover the last 200nm. I have never suspended racing before but we did it twice on this leg and sheltered for a total of 13hrs. It's not a place we wanted to have a broken boat stuck in... On a positive note, after breaking our prod some miracles happened and between NZ

Told ya.

Motorboat by heaps.

Yup we just fitted a set. Looks real nice.

Buying abroad can be beneficial but I think Europe is the best place to buy and sail to NZ for the best possible price difference. You won't make money but you may be able to cover most of the costs of a 1-2year holiday sailing home. I just did it and it worked out pretty well for us as a family of 5 for a 1.5 year sailing holiday that didn't cost much.

Yeah fair enough. Wow im looking forward to seeing the boat, sounds like some major alterations. Got any photos?

Formula, great to have you back out on the water! I'm taking the Elliott 50 sportivo up and we are in island racing division 1 with ran tan and equilibrium. Thought you might be a better fit in there with us than windward lewards with the TP52s.

Well ok not quite a rescue fish, but as close as I have ever come to needing one. The keel was free swinging under the boat held by just the front pin and we were taking on water. All crew on the transom with life raft ready to jump off should the keel drop right off. We did need to get a boat standing by us quite quickly. We were in contact with maritime radio by VHF and I think sat phone. It seemed that the only way to get attention of the other boats who were within a few miles was a flare, and it did work. Not saying flares are the best thing, but the only time I have used one at sea it

We used a flare once when we had some serious keel trouble half way down the West coast. Had many other racing yachts close by but couldn't reach any of them on VHF so MNZ recommended a flare to get their attention. It worked and we had a boat along side shortly afterwards until we were at the hokianga harbour entrance with coastguard standing by. I think that's the first and last time a TP52 will ever tie up to hokianga wharf....

I also have a bucket full of ST60 and ST60+ displays. I will be back in town in a few days.

I don't think there is anything dodgy going down with the protest, the jury did the right thing by the book. A few questions remain in my mind. Was the WOXI AIS intentionally turned off? I believe there is likely only 1 or 2 people that know the answer to this and most of the crew have no idea either way. Second question, surly the race committee as a professional race management team, knew that their protest was going to be ruled invalid? They even made the statement on the protest form that they knew nothing about the rules breach until Black Jack made the media statement. That righ

Protest dismissed. The jury found that the way the protest was lodged was invalid so WOXI result stands.

No the issue is that the sailing instructions clearly day the AIS must be on and receiving and transmitting for the race. This is a safety regulation for many reasons but I think mainly for man overboard as crew are now supposed to carry AIS transmitters so they can easily be found and the MOB alarm sounds on all nearby boats. I believe this is the first time it's been mandatory for this race or in fact any race. We all know that safety rules are one thing you don't mess with in offshore yacht races and especially this one with its history.. If AIS had been around in 98 many lives could have b

Protest lodged by the race committee regarding wild oats AIS not transmitting as per the rules. The sh*t has hit the fan again!

Yup Wild oats finished first then black jack with Comanche crossing the line 3rd.

Motorboat 2 will be there.

Great event. Everyone I know thought the coverage was excellent. My parents followed it from Aussie and even my grandparents from Nelson. We had a great time and learnt a lot about the Motorboat II. The racing among the 35fter was close. Good to see the Truxton boys going so fast and sailing sharp. Well done. Also good to see some smaller boats out there.

Motorboat finished at 5:28am

Manual fogs horns make great beer funnels.

+1 For what Matt just said. Its really not that hard or over the top. 4 buckets will cost you about 15 bucks and stack to not much more room than one. Trust me you find plenty of uses- seasick crew, mopping up messes like oil or diesel spills, toilet blockages ect. We pretty much always had one in the cockpit of Rogue. I just did a cat 2 last night which is very similar but lasts for 2 years instead of every voyage like cat 1. Every inspector I have dealt with has been reasonable and fair and I have dealt with a few.

Ours is nothing that huge but there are 2 rather large amps and a capacitor there. Its quite loud. Fully sponsored by Fusion.

We will be there in Motorboat... Just...

Been there, done that... It was messy.

Will try and do a full report on the adventure at some stage. Its been good.

Wow tazzy lucky you caught that before it tore right out. An item like that bolted through foam is a disaster waiting to happen. We have been ver busy on the Motorboat II(ex squealer) Elliott 10.5. Replaced some large sections of deck where there was some soft spots, rewired the entire boat, all new lights, all new instruments, new autopilot, new stereo(quite large...), sorted safety gear for cat 2 plus so many smaller jobs. And 2 weeks ago I completed the trip from France to NZ with the family, sold the 50fter and brought the Elliott. Been a big few weeks, or years actually.