WL June 2012

The Bay of Plenty & Coromandel’s own watersports news. Phone 07 578 0030

Outboard fuel savings under the spotlight

INSIDE: Radical rower New life for lifeboat The Crew Cut story Wish4Fish a good catch

Going the extra mile

JUNE 2012

please take one

JUNE 2012 02 WATERLINE

TIDES

Tauranga tide heights in metres. Bowentown: subtract 5 minutes from Tauranga (both HW and LW) Katikati (Kauri Point): add 30 minutes to Tauranga (both HW and LW) Whitianga: High Water subtract 2 minutes from Tauranga HW tide; Low Water add 2 minutes to Tauranga Low Water. Every effort has been made to ensure that these times and tides are correct, no responsibility will be

accepted for any inaccuracies, omissions, or misuse or misinterpretation of the values for tides and times published. Times used in the tide predictions are in New Zealand Standard Time (NZST1).

Edition Deadline

June 2012 1 June 2012Sept 2012 31 August 2012Dec 2012 30 Nov 2012March 2013 24 Feb 2013

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The Bay of Plenty’s own boating, fishing, diving, yachting and watersports news.

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JUNE

16 Sa 4:26 1.7 10:40 0.4 17:04 1.7 23:07 0.517 Su 5:14 1.7 11:27 0.4 17:52 1.7 23:55 0.518 Mo 6:01 1.7 12:12 0.4 18:37 1.7 19 Tu 0:40 0.5 6:47 1.7 12:55 0.4 19:20 1.820 We 1:23 0.5 7:31 1.7 13:36 0.3 20:01 1.821 Th 2:05 0.5 8:14 1.7 14:17 0.3 20:42 1.822 Fr 2:47 0.4 8:56 1.7 14:58 0.3 21:23 1.823 Sa 3:29 0.4 9:39 1.7 15:40 0.3 22:03 1.824 Su 4:12 0.4 10:22 1.7 16:23 0.3 22:45 1.825 Mo 4:56 0.3 11:06 1.7 17:08 0.3 23:30 1.826 Tu 5:42 0.3 11:54 1.7 17:57 0.3 27 We 0:16 1.8 6:31 0.3 12:45 1.7 18:49 0.328 Th 1:07 1.8 7:23 0.3 13:41 1.7 19:44 0.429 Fr 2:00 1.8 8:18 0.3 14:40 1.8 20:44 0.430 Sa 2:57 1.8 9:16 0.2 15:42 1.8 21:45 0.3

JULY1 Su 3:57 1.8 10:16 0.2 16:44 1.8 22:47 0.32 Mo 4:58 1.8 11:15 0.2 17:44 1.9 23:47 0.33 Tu 5:59 1.9 12:13 0.1 18:41 1.9 4 We 0:46 0.2 6:58 1.9 13:09 0.1 19:36 25 Th 1:42 0.2 7:55 1.9 14:02 0.1 20:29 26 Fr 2:36 0.2 8:49 1.9 14:54 0.1 21:21 27 Sa 3:27 0.2 9:41 1.9 15:44 0.1 22:10 28 Su 4:17 0.2 10:31 1.8 16:33 0.2 22:59 1.99 Mo 5:06 0.2 11:20 1.8 17:21 0.3 23:46 1.9

10 Tu 5:54 0.3 12:09 1.7 18:10 0.4 11 We 0:33 1.8 6:41 0.3 12:58 1.7 19:00 0.412 Th 1:19 1.7 7:29 0.4 13:48 1.6 19:50 0.513 Fr 2:07 1.7 8:18 0.4 14:40 1.6 20:43 0.514 Sa 2:55 1.6 9:07 0.4 15:33 1.6 21:36 0.615 Su 3:45 1.6 9:58 0.4 16:25 1.6 22:28 0.616 Mo 4:36 1.6 10:48 0.4 17:16 1.6 23:18 0.517 Tu 5:26 1.6 11:36 0.4 18:03 1.7 18 We 0:06 0.5 6:15 1.6 12:22 0.4 18:48 1.719 Th 0:52 0.5 7:01 1.7 13:06 0.3 19:31 1.820 Fr 1:36 0.4 7:47 1.7 13:49 0.3 20:14 1.821 Sa 2:20 0.4 8:31 1.7 14:32 0.2 20:56 1.822 Su 3:03 0.3 9:15 1.8 15:16 0.2 21:38 1.923 Mo 3:47 0.3 9:59 1.8 16:00 0.2 22:22 1.924 Tu 4:32 0.2 10:46 1.8 16:47 0.2 23:07 1.925 We 5:19 0.2 11:34 1.8 17:37 0.3 23:55 1.926 Th 6:09 0.2 12:26 1.8 18:29 0.3 27 Fr 0:46 1.8 7:01 0.2 13:22 1.8 19:26 0.328 Sa 1:40 1.8 7:57 0.2 14:23 1.8 20:26 0.329 Su 2:39 1.8 8:56 0.2 15:25 1.8 21:28 0.330 Mo 3:41 1.8 9:56 0.2 16:27 1.8 22:30 0.331 Tu 4:43 1.8 10:57 0.2 17:27 1.8 23:31 0.3

AUGUST

1 We 5:45 1.8 11:56 0.2 18:24 1.9 2 Th 0:29 0.2 6:43 1.8 12:51 0.1 19:18 1.93 Fr 1:24 0.2 7:38 1.8 13:43 0.1 20:08 1.9

4 Sa 2:15 0.2 8:29 1.8 14:33 0.1 20:57 1.95 Su 3:04 0.2 9:18 1.8 15:20 0.2 21:43 1.96 Mo 3:51 0.2 10:04 1.8 16:06 0.2 22:28 1.97 Tu 4:36 0.2 10:50 1.8 16:52 0.3 23:12 1.88 We 5:19 0.3 11:34 1.7 17:37 0.4 23:55 1.79 Th 6:03 0.3 12:20 1.7 18:22 0.4 10 Fr 0:38 1.7 6:47 0.4 13:07 1.6 19:10 0.511 Sa 1:23 1.6 7:33 0.4 13:57 1.6 20:00 0.512 Su 2:11 1.6 8:22 0.4 14:49 1.6 20:52 0.613 Mo 3:02 1.6 9:13 0.5 15:43 1.6 21:46 0.614 Tu 3:56 1.6 10:06 0.4 16:36 1.6 22:39 0.515 We 4:50 1.6 10:58 0.4 17:26 1.7 23:30 0.516 Th 5:42 1.6 11:47 0.3 18:13 1.7 17 Fr 0:19 0.4 6:31 1.7 12:35 0.3 18:59 1.818 Sa 1:05 0.3 7:19 1.7 13:21 0.2 19:43 1.819 Su 1:51 0.3 8:05 1.8 14:06 0.2 20:27 1.920 Mo 2:37 0.2 8:51 1.8 14:52 0.2 21:12 1.921 Tu 3:22 0.1 9:38 1.9 15:39 0.1 21:58 1.922 We 4:09 0.1 10:26 1.9 16:28 0.2 22:45 1.923 Th 4:57 0.1 11:16 1.8 17:19 0.2 23:35 1.924 Fr 5:48 0.1 12:09 1.8 18:13 0.2 25 Sa 0:28 1.8 6:41 0.2 13:06 1.8 19:10 0.326 Su 1:24 1.8 7:37 0.2 14:07 1.8 20:11 0.327 Mo 2:25 1.7 8:37 0.2 15:10 1.8 21:13 0.328 Tu 3:28 1.7 9:39 0.3 16:11 1.8 22:16 0.329 We 4:31 1.7 10:41 0.2 17:10 1.8 23:16 0.330 Th 5:32 1.7 11:39 0.2 18:06 1.8 31 Fr 0:12 0.2 6:28 1.8 12:33 0.2 18:57 1.9

Date Time / Height Time / Height Time / Height Time / Height Date Time / Height Time / Height Time / Height Time / Height Date Time / Height Time / Height Time / Height Time / Height

WATERLINE 03JUNE 2012

In late April this year a new fi sh mount was added to the 24 already

adorning the walls and beams of the Tauranga Game Fishing Club

bar and lounge.The new fi sh mount is the head of a 375kg

black marlin caught on 37 kg line by club member Beni Hafoka from the 32ft. boat ‘Jan’s Decision’ in waters 80 metres deep West of Mayor Island in the fi rst week of this year. Among the other fi sh mounts at the club this one is the third heaviest, it belongs to what in recent years has become one of the rarer species in Bay of Plenty waters, and it was a club black marlin 37kg line weight record. No other fi sh mounts have been added to the Tauranga Game club’s collection in the last three years.

The angler Beni Hafoka has been game fi shing for about four years but this was his fi rst marlin, and he was incredibly lucky because he had allowed his club membership to lapse and had renewed it only on the day they set sail and brought the black marlin in the day after.

On this most successful trip Beni’s gear included a Shimano Tiagra 80W reel and he was using a Top Gun Nightmare lure. They had gone out on Friday, January 6, 2012, to return to Tauranga on the Saturday, January 7. They were already starting on the home-ward trip when the marlin was hooked. Beni

played the fi sh for 2 hours and 20 minutes. When the fi sh was fi nally brought alongside, although by then dead, it was so big and heavy that they could not get it onto the boat. So it remained half on, half off, and they kind of dragged it back to port. By this time the weather was certainly not the best, the wind was blowing a gale force 25knots, and there was a two metre swell (the night container vessel Rena grounded on the Astrolabe Reef broke in two).

The voyage back to Tauranga took them three and a half hours travelling at between 6 to 8 knots. They were quite alone out there, all other vessels out appeared to have gone home or taken shelter some time earlier.

The other two aboard the boat skipper Cory Davies and Leader man Mike Easton were both longtime Tauranga Game Fishing Club members and often fi shed together. The two and / or the boat ‘Jan’s Decision’ featured in the Club’s striped marlin both weighed in and tagged and released, and the blue marlin weighed in lists , and the thresher shark weigh in, for the 2010 -11 season.

Early on it was decided to get the black marlin mounted for a number of reason’s including it was Beni’s fi rst big catch, it was one of the heaviest Club catches in recent years, it was the heaviest black marlin for a number of years, and it was a Club black

marlin record catch on 37kg line, and overall it was a pretty impressive catch. The mount was put to the club who favoured a shoulder and head. Agreement all round was reached and the mount was referred to renowned Athenree marine taxidermist Kevin Flutey. For any who may mistakenly assume that the cast has something of the original fi sh or is a plaster coating or plaster cast model it is not. It is these days fi bre-glass.

Mr Flutey has been making fi sh models for at least the last 20 years. The process he describes as moulding – taking an impres-sion of the fi sh – in this case of the head; then glassing inside the mould followed by the outside; then the prominent bits and pieces such as fi ns, mouth, and eyes; and then putting it altogether and painted with the paints made up to the exact replica of the fi sh’s colouring.

The process was a 50 to 60hour job, including 3 to 4 hours on each eye ( for which he had a fairly new technique process ).Then there is the task of mounting the fi nished piece to the wall as required. In this case it was mounted/affi xed to the bar room cross beam facing the bar alongside a couple of others on the beam. The shared cost of the mounted head was said to be around $3,000, and the fi nished product was well worth the sum according to those involved.

By Pinky Green

New Mount at the Tauranga Game Fishing Club

Beni, Mike and Cory with

‘Blackie’


Rena oil spill ‘could have been prevented’The tonnes of heavy fuel oil that washed onto Bay of Plenty beaches

after the container ship Rena struck the Astrolabe reef could have been prevented, claims a local lawyer.

The captain’s lawyer Paul Mabey QC revealed in submissions at the Captain’s recent Tauranga District Court sentenc-ing that salvors over-ruled the advice of captain Mauro Balomaga in the days after the grounding.

The ship struck the reef early on October 5. Soon afterwards the captain and chief engineer identifi ed the source of oil in one of the Rena’s forward holds as coming from the No3 starboard tank via the duct keel.

They were working on transferring

the oil from the No 3 tank into the No 5 Starboard tank when the salvors took over the ship.

“For six days they were on the boat and they wouldn’t listen to the captain and engineers who said ‘The oil’s coming out of there we have identifi ed it.

If the weather turns bad we are going to have problems,’ says Paul outside the court. “The salvors said ‘Na, na, you don’t know what you are talking about, the boat is listing to port.

“And of course when the weather did

hit and the tank broke, it was the no 3 starboard side tank that let all the oil out. It’s the very tank they identifi ed as the one where all the oil polluted from. The captain was right about that.

“They could have saved nearly all of the pollution and that’s exactly what it was. The Rena oil spill could have been prevented if Maritime NZ and the salvors had listened to advice from the captain and Rena’s chief engineer.

“There might have been 20 tonnes instead of 350 tonnes.”

He’s built it, launched it, and now Michael Galloway is looking forward

to learning how to sail his 10m Malcolm Tennant design catamaran.

“Yes I built it myself over about a seven to eight year period.

Michael’s built a Tennant Red Shift, but he’s extended the length by 250mm so he could put steps down the back, which wasn’t in the original design.

Malcolm Tennant designed the Great Barrier Express, an 8.5 metre catamaran that combined element of a conventional beach cat bu is light and extremely fast.

Michael’s Red Shift is glass over ply hulls, cabin top and decks are strip planked cedar with carbon fi bre and epoxy throughout.

The Red Shift has aluminium cross beams and a wing mast Michael built himself.

“When I fi rst started wing masts were rather unusual, but now the Americas Cup has got in the act.

“The idea’s been around 30-40 years. There’s nothing new in the design it’s just that people haven’t used it.”

He got his sails a week before Waterline went to print.

I’ve only had one sail. It went well but only in about seven knots of wind. Everything worked very well, but it wasn’t a huge test for it. It goes and the mast performed very well. you build something like that and you wonder it if will.”

He built the cat in ‘various places’. He started on the hulls in a ten metre car port. The cabin tops were built under the house and the rest was done in a shed that he hired.

The sails are by North Sails in Auckland.“It’s able to be raced but there is a problem

with insurance,” says Michael. “At the moment it would not be covered for racing, especially at

this stage as I have got a lot to learn in how to drive it.”

The boat is 10 metres LOA, the mast is 15.6 m, the beam 6.8m, draft about 350mm.

dagger board and dagger board type rudders as well.

“I’m really looking forward to a good exciting sail because I haven’t had that yet. I won’t be too keen to chance my arm in the winter.

“I’m not too keen on getting really cold. In the right conditions when it is fl ying it will be a wet boat. so I won’t stay dry.”

Michael watches the wing mast being stepped.

Looking forward to an exciting sail


To Moss Carlin the outcome of the Rena lifeboat auction is best summed

up in terms of garage sales.

“I’m very pleased with the result, that $20,800, that’s about 400 garage sales,” says Moss.

The money will be going to the Bay of Plenty Child Cancer Foundation, of which Moss is a committee member.

“If we did a garage sale the average is $500 and that’s a pretty loose average. When you put it in terms like that, that’s big for us. It would take two or three of us a month to organise a garage sale so in terms of fund raising, that’s really good for us.

“I don’t know what I’m doing for the next trick.”

Moss is also happy the lifeboat is staying local. The new owner Greg Clarke intends

using the lifeboat as a charity fund raiser, and as a tribute to all the people who helped with the clean-up of their beaches.

“He came down and had a look at it, brought a boat guy down and they had a good rummage around,” says Moss.

Greg intends to keep the boat intact, but other bidders were looking at adapting the fibreglass hull and engine for other uses.

“We had a guy down there measuring it up, he wanted to turn it into a houseboat on Lake Rotoiti,” says Moss. “He was semi-retired boat builder. There were a few comments in that direction.”

During the two week auction on Trademe Moss got to take the lifeboat out a few times, taking family and friends, the CCF committee, and other for trips to show how well it runs.

Greg says he’s keen to hear residents’ ideas on how the life boat can be used for fund raising.

“With the Papamoa Beach being one of the worst affected areas it will be fitting to display it at Palm Beach Plaza for a while. And of course it’s been cleaned up thanks to all the volunteers who poured thousands of hours into it.”

Beyond a temporary display at the shop-ping centre, he has lots of ideas for how the 7.5m x 2.9m wide boat can be used.

He suggests it could be used for overnight excursions, or “wild trips” out the Kaituna

mouth in stormy weather, with the fee going to a fund to support environment groups and CCF.

“There are all sorts of things it could be used for. I just want to make sure it stays in the community so I want to hear people’s ideas on how it can be used.

“Let’s do something that’s going to have longevity, something that is going to remind us of the importance of protecting the environment and supporting the amaz-ing work of the volunteers who help.”

That’s a lot of garage sales

The lifeboat with Moss and Bridge

Marina manager Tony Arnold on board.

Moss at the helm position hatch.

The life boat in operation.

By Hamish Carter

With the government rolling out digital TV service across the country, there has been a strong

advertising campaign to let people know about the changes at home, but not much information about

changes aboard their boats.

For those who are unaware, at the end of the year, the Analog TV signal around the country will start to be turned off, leaving you with 2 choices for TV, Terrestrial Digital, or Satellite TV. Here in the bay the switch will be thrown at the end of 2013, but many people are making the change earlier, as the picture quality, programming guides and number of channels is much better on the new system.

Terrestrial Digital is the cheaper of the two new options, but will still require some new hardware. The main thing to note when comparing Terrestrial Digital to Analog is that it will a have a much shorter range than the existing service and is largely limited to line of sight (like VHF). In some areas, includ-ing most of the Coromandel peninsular, it simply won’t work and you will need a satellite antenna to get TV instead.

At home, Terrestrial Digital TV is received

by the long directional antenna which looks like a hairbrush with a fl yswat at one end. Since you are on a boat which moves and rotates, these will be useless. You will need an amplifi ed, omni-directional antenna. Some options for antennas look like UFOs and some of our customers have been very happy with their reception, but we have found the best range comes from a whip antenna made by Bosch, which give excellent results when used with a proper ground plane. The

whip antenna is also much less obtrusive and cheaper than most of the other options.

Satellite TV on boats has always been more expensive than terrestrial TV, however the cost is defi nitely falling.

Decent dishes start at about $4500, and the great thing is you can go anywhere with it and not have any reception problems. The cheaper options available are prone to rain fade and reliability problems. We have not recom-mended them for a while. Despite the cost, satellite Freeview is not high defi nition, to get high defi nition content from a satellite dish a sky subscription is required.

So what about those who enjoy cruising in remote areas, don’t want a satellite dish but still want to keep up with what’s happening in the world? The only real option is to use a Cellular internet connection. Downloading news and videos can be done over a much wider area than from digital terrestrial as the cell phone network is much more widespread. A good internet box and aerial starts at $1500, which will download video at broadband speed in good reception areas. Data starts at about $30 per Gigabyte, which would last most people the better part of a month.


TV onboard in the digital age

By Rob McAllister Bay Marine Electronics

The satellite coverage option.


The review is prompted by comments from anglers says Fish & Game Officer Matt Osborne.

“Changes have been raised to simplify the current rules which have been criticised as unnecessarily complex, says Matt.

“What we propose is good news for vet-eran anglers and novices alike: the bottom line is greater opportunities for anglers – and now the Fish & Game Council is asking anglers to consider the suggestions, and write in with their feedback.”

Proposed changes include: ‘Fly Fishing Only’ periods for all the winter shore-line sites on lakes Tarawera, Rotoiti and Okataina, will only come into effect from April 1st. This will mean far more oppor-tunity for shoreline spin-fishing anglers over summer, but less during the winter when they’re not normally too active in any case.

Another proposal is to open all waters in the region on October 1, providing anglers with more fishable waters earlier. At present some remain closed until December.

This will open up angling opportunities in areas such as the upper Ngongotaha, Waiteti and Utuhina streams (Rotorua), and the Mokau and Hopuruahine Streams at Waikaremoana (East Coast).

The proposals for the 2012-13 season, if adopted, will come into effect on October 1st 2012. Anglers are invited to view the proposals in detail on the Eastern Fish & Game website (eastern.fishandgame.org.nz), or by contacting the local Eastern Region office.

Trout fishers in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania blamed high water levels and fierce winds for becoming stranded on top of a dam on the first day of a recent trout fishing season.

All five occupants were reported to have been rescued unharmed, through combined efforts of the rescuers and fellow boaters. A tow line was thrown to the first boat, ena-bling it to be towed away from the dam and taken to shore. The other boat’s occupants were rescued via their PFD’s attached to a life line. They then entered the water and were pulled to safety.

Their boat was abandoned on the breast of the dam. Photo: Brian Denham.

Simpler trout rules coming

Trout fishing rules in the Eastern Fish and Game region are being

re-written with the intention of making them simpler and easier to understand.

Dammed trout fishermen


or pay a $200 fi ne!

Go slow near boats and swimmersand swimmers

Wear a

LIFEJACKET GO SLOW NEAR DIVERS

LIFEJACKET GO SLOW NEAR DIVERS

You must have an observer when towing

or pay a $200 fi ne!

When I started my seafaring career about a hundred years ago,

things were different. Lifejackets, for instance…

Lifejackets of last century were huge, bulky kapok-fi lled plastic bags with a faded canvas covering. They were donned on obligatory occasions for lifeboat drill, but were removed as quickly as possible, because you couldn’t move in them, much less launch a lifeboat. As I recall, these old-style lifejackets were mostly used to jam under one side of the mattress in rough weather to help wedge you in to your bunk.

In a small boat, they were about as useful as a chocolate kettle, being unwieldy and hard to stow. Looking even further back in time, Noah’s lifejacket might have con-sisted of an air-fi lled bladder made from a sheep’s stomach that was tied around the waist with some plaited twine. Thankfully, comparing Noah’s fl otation device with a modern lifejacket is like comparing a Model T to a Ferrari.

Gone are the lifejackets of old


Modern lifejackets are discrete, comfort-able, high-tech – gosh, they could even be called sexy given the right circumstances. Lifejackets come in a wide variety of styles to suit your boating activity – and your purse.

My own favourite lifejacket for winter boating is an infl atable type incorporated into a rain jacket with zip-off sleeves. It’s warm and is so comfortable that you forget you’re wearing a lifejacket. The only trick is that you need to fasten the crotch strap for the lifejacket to be effective: it will ride up around your face in the water if you have forgotten to ‘make it click’.

A signifi cant number of the boats involved in this year’s boating fatalities have been less than six metres in length - this includes kayaks and PWCs (often referred to as ‘jet skis’). These types of smaller craft are start-ing to show up as signifi cant contributors to the drowning statistics as they become more popular. Let’s look at a few facts:

- Most drownings are preventable, yet drowning is a leading cause of death in this country – only car crashes and falls

cause more fatalities.- Half the boat-related drownings each year

could have been avoided if suitable lifejack-ets had been worn.

- In particular, 85 percent of fatal accidents in NZ involving vessels under four metres in length could have been prevented if safety equipment had been available and used. Yes, that’s right, 85 percent of fatal accidents could have been prevented!

- The drowning toll for 2011 was an all-time high, up 41 percent on the previous year, and the worst annual drowning toll on record since 2003. Signifi cantly, 80 percent of those who drowned were males.

- Alcohol was a factor in almost 20 percent of all drownings.

- Another interesting statistic: most people who drown are close to the shore or help – sometimes within two metres.

There’s a fairly clear picture emerging here. You might believe you’re bullet-proof, but the statistics say otherwise.

Most accidents occur suddenly and with-out warning. There may be no time to grab a lifejacket, and it is extremely diffi cult or

impossible to put a lifejacket on once you are in the water.

The law says that you must carry a life-jacket of the correct size for every person on board your boat and that they must be kept in a readily accessible location. Every person on board must wear a lifejacket – properly secured – in circumstances like rough weather, strong tidal fl ows, bar cross-ings or in emergencies. This applies to all boats, including kayaks, PWCs and tenders. There’s a $200 fi ne for not complying with these rules.

Noah wouldn’t recognise a modern, infl at-able lifejacket, but if he’d had one, he would surely have worn it during all that fl ooding. In doing so, he would have most certainly complied with today’s lifejacket rules to wear one in emergencies and rough weather!

Stay safe, wear your lifejacket and survive.

Jennifer Roberts, Harbour Master Western Bay of Plenty

... now there’s one to suit every activity

My favourite winter infl atable lifejacket.

JUNE 201210 WATERLINE

CLUB NEWS

Vara & Harmony Head SouthBruce & Elaine Goodwin

headed south again this summer, cruising the Marlborough Sounds, Fiordland and Stewart Island. Again, they gave various

local enthusiasts the opportunity to crew the different legs of the voyage.

The Whitianga yacht Harmony in Fiordland.


Hearing of their intended voyage, Arnie Leigh from Whitianga decided to join them with his 26ft yacht Harmony. As he was preparing for his voyage Arnie’s wife Viv would ask, ‘When are you depart-ing?’’

As time went by this question changed to, ‘When are we departing?’ So these intrepid adventurers, well into their seventies, set sail for Fiordland via North Cape, while Vara had departed some weeks earlier from Tauranga via East Cape.

Interesting to note, from Whitianga it is only eighty miles further sailing north around the top to Nelson rather than via East Cape.

Vara met a gust that topped 98 knots while underway in the Marlborough Sounds, making this area again the windiest of the trip.

On the passage down the West Coast of the South Island Vara was romping along in very fresh condi-tions at night with the boom eased out and a preventer on. Suddenly everything turned to chaos as Vara lurched out of control and things got very messy. The problem turned out to be a blown hydraulic hose on the self-steering unit which meant hand-steering till they reached Milford Sound.

In Fiordland the crew of Vara found the fi ords to have a high number of sharks present. Nephew Nigel had to keep them at bay by prodding them with his spear gun while diving for crays. This upset his girlfriend more than it upset Nigel, but the cray gathering had to stop!

At one anchorage Vara was enjoying the company of a large number of seals that reside there. During the night Nigel headed up on deck as one does in the middle of the night - and was greeted by seals packed so closely about the boat he couldn’t fi nd clear water. Bruce’s snoring (believe me, he can snore!) had attracted

dozens of seals who probably thought the beach master was on board.

In Doubtful Sound, Arnie & Viv arrived to sail in loose company. Harmony so loaded with gear that the boarding ladder was hanging in the rig-ging.

Jerry cans of water and fuel fi lled the side decks, all carefully tied to the life-lines with twists of electrical wire. You can guess what Arnie’s trade was!

Ian and Rhonda Ritchie and myself joined Vara at Stewart Island and caught up on the adventures had so far and enjoyed the company of all.

We explored a small portion of the south coast of Stewart, Port Adventure and Lords River. Harmony had explored Port Pegasus as she arrived into this remote wilderness in the SW of Stewart

Island direct from Fiordland. We were not able to sail back west along the coast due to strong SW winds and rough seas.

Harmony joined us a few days later in Paterson Inlet, here we were all wrapped up in layers of

polar fl eece and warm socks while Arnie & Viv appeared to be wearing layers of cotton skivvies and polo shirts and Viv in bare feet and crocs. These two are tuff!!

We all departed Stewart for Dunedin, 24 hrs away for Vara. Harmony, who averages about 4 knots at best, got caught by a NE change, rough seas and strong winds, that added another 12hrs to their trip. They were totally unfazed.

Dunedin was windy and freezing. Akaroa was warm and beautiful. I departed from there to fl y home, while Ian, Rhonda and Bruce continued up the coast. They passed a huge steel catamaran that spends it’s time long lining between Banks Peninsula and the Chathams. Twenty nine thousand hooks are mechanically baited with barracuda at the rate of two to three per second (it

misses about 10 per cent) and they catch a fi sh on about 10 per cent of the hooks each drop. Impressive.

Rough seas off East Cape got the better of Rhonda’s tummy and water poured into the cockpit turning it into a cold spa bath. It was good to see them safely home. Harmony arrived home a few weeks later.

Arnie and Bruce then joined Alan Waugh on Pacifi c Eagle and sailed for Vanuatu.

You just can’t have too much adventure!

Tauranga Yacht & Power Boat Club

Vara & Harmony Head South

catch a fi sh on about 10 per cent of the hooks each drop. Impressive.


Waugh on Pacifi c Eagle and sailed for Vanuatu.

adventure!By Roger Clark

Above: Bruce Goodwin at the helm - South Coast

Stewart Island.

Right: A Salvin’s Mollymawk.


CLUB NEWS

Vara & Harmony Head SouthBruce & Elaine Goodwin

headed south again this summer, cruising the Marlborough Sounds, Fiordland and Stewart Island. Again, they gave various

local enthusiasts the opportunity to crew the different legs of the voyage.

The Whitianga yacht Harmony in Fiordland.


Hearing of their intended voyage, Arnie Leigh from Whitianga decided to join them with his 26ft yacht Harmony. As he was preparing for his voyage Arnie’s wife Viv would ask, ‘When are you depart-ing?’’

As time went by this question changed to, ‘When are we departing?’ So these intrepid adventurers, well into their seventies, set sail for Fiordland via North Cape, while Vara had departed some weeks earlier from Tauranga via East Cape.

Interesting to note, from Whitianga it is only eighty miles further sailing north around the top to Nelson rather than via East Cape.

Vara met a gust that topped 98 knots while underway in the Marlborough Sounds, making this area again the windiest of the trip.

On the passage down the West Coast of the South Island Vara was romping along in very fresh condi-tions at night with the boom eased out and a preventer on. Suddenly everything turned to chaos as Vara lurched out of control and things got very messy. The problem turned out to be a blown hydraulic hose on the self-steering unit which meant hand-steering till they reached Milford Sound.

In Fiordland the crew of Vara found the fi ords to have a high number of sharks present. Nephew Nigel had to keep them at bay by prodding them with his spear gun while diving for crays. This upset his girlfriend more than it upset Nigel, but the cray gathering had to stop!

At one anchorage Vara was enjoying the company of a large number of seals that reside there. During the night Nigel headed up on deck as one does in the middle of the night - and was greeted by seals packed so closely about the boat he couldn’t fi nd clear water. Bruce’s snoring (believe me, he can snore!) had attracted

dozens of seals who probably thought the beach master was on board.

In Doubtful Sound, Arnie & Viv arrived to sail in loose company. Harmony so loaded with gear that the boarding ladder was hanging in the rig-ging.

Jerry cans of water and fuel fi lled the side decks, all carefully tied to the life-lines with twists of electrical wire. You can guess what Arnie’s trade was!

Ian and Rhonda Ritchie and myself joined Vara at Stewart Island and caught up on the adventures had so far and enjoyed the company of all.

We explored a small portion of the south coast of Stewart, Port Adventure and Lords River. Harmony had explored Port Pegasus as she arrived into this remote wilderness in the SW of Stewart

Island direct from Fiordland. We were not able to sail back west along the coast due to strong SW winds and rough seas.

Harmony joined us a few days later in Paterson Inlet, here we were all wrapped up in layers of

polar fl eece and warm socks while Arnie & Viv appeared to be wearing layers of cotton skivvies and polo shirts and Viv in bare feet and crocs. These two are tuff!!

We all departed Stewart for Dunedin, 24 hrs away for Vara. Harmony, who averages about 4 knots at best, got caught by a NE change, rough seas and strong winds, that added another 12hrs to their trip. They were totally unfazed.

Dunedin was windy and freezing. Akaroa was warm and beautiful. I departed from there to fl y home, while Ian, Rhonda and Bruce continued up the coast. They passed a huge steel catamaran that spends it’s time long lining between Banks Peninsula and the Chathams. Twenty nine thousand hooks are mechanically baited with barracuda at the rate of two to three per second (it

misses about 10 per cent) and they catch a fi sh on about 10 per cent of the hooks each drop. Impressive.


Arnie and Bruce then joined Alan Waugh on Pacifi c Eagle and sailed for Vanuatu.

You just can’t have too much adventure!

Tauranga Yacht & Power Boat Club

Vara & Harmony Head South

catch a fi sh on about 10 per cent of the hooks each drop. Impressive.


Waugh on Pacifi c Eagle and sailed for Vanuatu.

adventure!By Roger Clark

Above: Bruce Goodwin at the helm - South Coast

Stewart Island.

Right: A Salvin’s Mollymawk.


The Regatta is well run by the Mount Maunganui Yacht Club Legends committee with all types of yachts taking part.

The weekend begins on the Friday when all participating yachts sail to the Mercury Islands. On the Saturday and Sunday there are island races then a sail back home on the Monday. In between there is also time for socializing with beach activities, fi shing, diving and the odd beverage or two along the way. The weekend is always great fun and due to the amazing sponsorship of Power Co, Dave Peet Jewellers, Electrical Works, Steve Marine Supplies, Bridge Marina Travel Life, Mills Reef Winery, Radio Network, Wild Kiwi Clothing, Sew hot monograms and Blokart the prize pool is fantastic. The 2010 Legends we entered was not only a great weekend but we were lucky enough to win the spot prize which was a fi ve-night charter cruis-ing the Whitsunday Islands on a Catalina 32 called “Beachhouse”. The prize was courtesy of Charter Yachts Australia, there was also a travel voucher for $2,500 and $500 spending money courtesy of the sponsors.

So in July 2011 following arrangements with Charter Yachts Australia and Mount Travel agents we (Roy and Chris Petch) set off for our Australian trip. We fl ew to Brisbane then

and internal fl ight to Prosporpine arriving at Airlie Beach.

We stayed in Airlie Beach which itself is the heart and soul of the Whitsunday’s and it proved to be the perfect place to base our Whitsunday holiday. It has a friendly village-type atmosphere with a good selection of shops, restaurants and bars whose main focus is on activities available around the Whit-sunday’s and Great Barrier Reef. There is a board-walk that snakes around the shore-line making walking and exploring very easy and pleasant.

We stayed at the Marina Shores apartments which overlook the Marina. The apartment was both modern and airy and the Manager was very friendly and helpful. The fi rst few days we explored Airlie Beach and also made a trip to Airlie Beach Sailing Club where we handed over the Mount Maunganui pennant which is now proudly displayed within the Club.

The Whitsunday Islands are situated at the heart of the Great Barrier Reef on the north east tropical coast of Queensland. There are many islands within the Whitsunday group. The main islands that the Charter Boats cruise are Hayman Island, Whitsunday Island, Hook Island, Hamilton Island, and Mole Islands.

The Sailing Trip:July 2011 the day began very warm, with

windy S/SE 15 /20/25 knots that remained throughout the week. We arrived at Charter Boats Australia and were met by Rick who took us through the boat, went over charts and the Whitsunday’s bible “100 magic miles”. We passed the test they set and then set off on our trip. The crossing met with both strong winds and tide and made for choppy conditions. All Charter boats have to be anchored for the night by 4 pm so we decided to anchor in Nara’s Inlet on Hook Island which was closest to us and is an all-weather anchorage. Following our gusty crossing we anchored at 3.30 in the beautiful calm cove of Nara’s Inlet. At 4pm each day there is a radio sked where all boats under charter with Charter Yachts call in to detail their current position and tomorrows planned sail. Our fi rst night even though there was wind around the boat never moved, and we witnessed the fi rst of many beautiful sunsets.

In this bay there are some Aboriginal paint-ings that we visited early the next day before leaving Nara’s Inlet. The day was again warm, sunny with clear skies and perfect sailing conditions of SE winds 15 – 20 knots, we set

CLUB NEWSJUNE 2012

Mt Maunganui Yacht Club

Whitsundays weekend

As Members of The Mount Maunganui Yacht Club the

Legends Regatta is an annual event we both look forward to, the Legends Regatta marks the end of the winter racing season and beginning of the summer

season and is held over Labour Weekend.

Continued ...


BATTERYWAREHOUSE

CLUB NEWS

sail travelling up the west coast of Hook Island passed Stonehaven Bay towards Manta Ray and Luncheon Bay where we anchored for lunch and then fi nally sailing into Butterfl y Bay Hook Island where we anchored for the rest of the day and night. We went snorkeling as there is a reef running around the entire bay. We experienced our fi rst strong wind “bullets” which are hill winds that gust through the bays.

The next day we decided to sail down the eastern side of Hook and Whitsunday island but the winds and strong tides from the SSE made us turn back sailing through the Hook Passage where we saw three hump backed whales frolicking in the sea putting on a wonderful show. We sailed to CID harbour and anchored at Sawmill Bay. The winds and “bullets” were strong but the bay was calm so we went ashore for a walk talking a bottle of sparkling wine and settled down to watch another brilliant sunset.

Following another perfect night’s sleep we sailed down to Hamilton Island which is at the bottom of the Whitsunday Island where we again met with strong winds and tides so sailed over to Stonehaven Bay on Hook Island for the night where we picked up a buoy for the night. In the bay where we swam we came across sea turtles and saw our fi rst shoal of Bat fi sh.

For our last day we sailed to the east coast of Hayman Island and anchored at Blue Pearl Bay where we spent a day of snorkeling a fantastic reef, the best we had seen on our trip it was truly amazing. Swimming back to the boat we were followed by another shoal of Bat Fish this time they hung around the boat letting us swim with them, and also touch them, they even tried to eat our toes when we were sitting on the back of the boat removing our fi ns. Following this magical day we sailed in perfect conditions down to Nara’s Inlet for our fi nal night at sea.

Highlights: Really too many to record, but Pearl Bay was probably the highlight for us the snorkeling and isolation of the beach were fantastic. Also sailing in shorts and tee-shirts during the winter was brilliant.

We hope to do this trip again in the future and for any boatie it’s a trip that should be top of your bucket list so thanks once again to the Spon-sors of the Legends Regatta and the Mount Maunganui Yacht Club for making it happen.

By Chris and Roy Petch

Magical day’s at seaContinued ...

Some crays, a few fi sh and some stunning pictures were brought back from the Mount Underwater Club’s recent Aldermans trip.

Eight divers on board the Mantra left Tauranga on a Friday, and overnighted at The Mayor before heading to the Aldermen on Satur-day morning.

They were on site in the water on their fi rst dive before 9am, with two more dives during the day, before setting up for the night dive, writes Steven grant in the club newsletter.

“We set up for the night about 500 metres from our third dive site. It was 16 metres to the seafl oor here. Dale and I were the only ones going to check out the nocturnal habits of the local aquatic commu-nity, the rest had dinner to get ready for us.

“Night diving is great. Everything is just so much more focussed. Ian had anchored in a real pretty spot, lots of boulders and kelp with a channel of sand about 10 metres wide running through the site. This enabled me to check lots of differing styles of night time activities. Most of our day-time fi sh were jammed in little nooks and crannies, while the big eyes were out in the open partying up big time.

“On the sand things were quite enthralling as the spearos had fi lleted their fi sh and disposed of the unwanted pieces. These had landed very conveniently on the sand, so I bumped into a feeding frenzy of juvenile snapper. The poor little buggers wondered what the ____ when I bowled up and turned on the video light, I can confi rm most snapper do move at the speed of light.”

Steven ended his dive half an hour early because of low battery power.

More pictures are on the Mount Underwater Club’s facebook page. There is a link from the club website: mtunderwater.tauranga.co.nz

Aldermans dive trip


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Of all the benefi ts of participating in Women on Water, perhaps the

most important for many of us has been meeting other women

who enjoy sailing.

Little did I know how completely this idea would apply to me when, two years ago, I raced with WOW for the fi rst time.

Being new to Tauranga, I mainly looked upon WOW as an opportune way to learn more about the physical dynamics of the har-bour. It also seemed the perfect way to get out on the water, not owning a yacht myself.

WOW did indeed help me to learn the harbour, and gave me much-loved hours under sail. Above all, however, it gave me the opportunity to create friendships with people who love sailing.

Dear Tina, we only met a couple of months ago, but you seem like an adventurous person. Would you consider buying a boat with me? Little budget, big fun.

Dear Nicole, yeeeeeessssssss!!!!!

Dear Tina, sounds great. And I suppose I’d better make sure my husband agrees!

Whereupon we began a search for the perfect (within budget) yacht, which we found before too long in the form of an H-28. As the yacht had no recorded name, we felt safe coming up with one, and after some discus-sion we chose Menagerie, which is French for “a collection of wild, exotic animals.”

Never does this name seem more fi tting than when we are sailing: Two WOW ladies, one husband (when he’s in town), fi ve children, and an infl atable dolphin.

If the one husband is out of town, we’re not averse to bringing another kid or another infl atable animal, usually a turtle.

And we’ve found, much to our delight, that Tauranga Harbour is host to many nooks that work perfectly for the two- or three-day family “voyage.”

We can literally leave our mooring at 4 p.m. and be anchoring an hour (or less) later, ready for a weekend on the water.

The kids row themselves to shore, the adults congratulate themselves, and we give a cheer to WOW for helping us to get started. There’s also

a bit of time for weekday sailing, sans kids, and the occasional singlehanded sail as well.

There is always more to learn, always more fun to have, and I am forever grateful that WOW has played a key role in creating the spark of an idea that became our Menagerie.

CLUB NEWSTYPBC Women on Water

By Nicole Harris

The people you meet


CLUB NEWS

Every year I look forward to Laurence and Annette Flude’s tournament ‘The Tile Depot Snapper

Classic’. I have fi shed with Laurie for quite a few years on ‘Gulfseeker’ and my boat was starting to become a bit of a

garden ornament so I decided last year to start fi shing the comp in my boat.

With my original fi shing buddy that I fi shed with last year having to pull out of this comp due to an overseas rugby coaching contract I asked Jason (Jock) Groom, a well-known snapper guru, if he wanted to fi sh. He was keen as he hasn’t fi shed many comps since joining the Te Kaha fi shing club a couple of years ago.

We headed to Mayor after briefi ng on Friday night and fi shed for a while but with not much success.

At about 11pm we headed in to the Bay and had a great sleep out of the sloppy conditions. Expecting to be woken by the Bell birds and Tui’s at about 5am we didn’t set any alarms for a wake-up call. The birds must have had a sleep-in so we had a bit of a late start at around 6.30am.

Overnight the wind had swung in our favour and our baits, mainly the small Mackerel we got the night before started to get nailed on just about every cast. By 10am we had a respectable tally of snapper including Jock’s 3rd placed 6.300kg fi sh. It was then that my Bait-runner screamed off and when it pulled up solid I knew it was a goodie! Luckily it was on 15kg and with a hard drag setting I managed to pull it from the kelp and steer it to the boat. We estimated it to be in the 10 kilo range but hoped it would be bigger.

The fi shing dropped away after that so we pulled the pin and with a deteriorating weather forecast we went chasing Puka before it got any worse. With only four small fi sh under 10kg we headed to the sheltered western side of the Island for an unproductive fi sh, then went in to Hon-eymoon Bay and tied up to Laurie and Pete in ‘Gulfseeker’. The massive lump of Laurie’s 64kg Bass was iced up in a tarp in the boats cockpit. What an awesome fi sh! You could imagine there were a few big stories fl oating around that night. I’m not quite sure why Laurie was running around in his undies at one point though. He said he had wet pants but I don’t know? Maybe Pete can tell us more??

A very slow Sunday saw us home and all cleaned up by 3pm ready for weigh-in.

Thanks to Jock for the great weekend and the clock you chose for Muzz looks great on your wall.

Thanks again to Lawrence and Annette from the Tile Depot for the great tournament and hope to be back next year to try again.

Classic snapper tourney

By Mitch Pennell, Tauranga game Fishing Club

Lighting the way with virtual beacons

A New Zealand company is winning international awards for a development that can prevent accidents

like the Rena’s grounding.

Auckland company Vesper Marine’s virtual AIS beacon tech-nology, has already received multiple international technology and innovation awards this year for the virtual beacon.

Vesper Marine originally developed the Watchmate AIS colli-sion avoidance system for use on smaller vessels, such as yachts and launches.

Tauranga based cruising sailors Robert and Laura Wright have been using Watchmate on board their ketch Shearwater for the last four years and he swears by it.

The AIS lets them know ships are about before they can even see them, says Robert. There is a range of adjustable alarm set-tings to sound on time, or distance to any likely collision.

“Ours is only the receiver it’s not a transponder, which means the ships can’t see us but we can see them,” says Robert.

Since installing Watchmate four years ago the Wrights have sailed from New Zealand to Fiji and back, to Vanuatu New Caledonia and back and also local cruises round the Hauraki Gulf and Whangarei areas.

AIS which means Automatic Identifi cation System, is required on all ships over 300 tonnes. The Rena had one.

AIS is a dedicated VHF radio transceiver continually transmit-ting a ship’s name, course, speed and position as well as its size.

It receives the same information being transmitted by other ships in its immediate area. The information is fed to the ship’s electronic chart plotter and collision avoidance system. Typically a ship’s VHF radio range is 20 miles or more, providing ample time for collision avoidance calculations and implementation long before any collision is imminent.

An AIS transceiver can also be placed on buoys. The buoy marking the underwater Tarapunga Rock near the entrance to Doubtful Sound, was unable to survive seven metre seas. The rock is now the site of the country’s fi rst virtual AIS beacon, a system that can also work for Astrolabe Reef - Schooner Rocks, Brewis Shoal, Okaparu Reef, and other local hazards awaiting the next Rena.

The Virtual AIS Beacon is created by sending a signal from one location to mark a remote point. The remote point displays on the ship’s chart plotter, AIS display or other receiving equip-ment.

The Tarapunga Rock transmitter is located on nearby Secre-tary Island. The Astrolabe Reef transmitter could be located on Motiti Island.

Cruise ships entering Doubtful Sound can now identify Tarapunga Rock from ten nautical miles out to sea, and about two nautical miles when travelling down the down towards the Tasman Sea.

It would mean that when the Rena’s navigation offi cer altered course ten degrees to port about 1.30am on October 5, steering the ship directly at Astrolabe Reef, a virtual AIS beacon would have tripped the ship’s collision alarm while ship was still 20 miles away and in plenty of time to make a turn.


Mastertech Marine has a pair of special combos being shown currently with the

stars being the new range Suzuki four stroke outboards on the back.

Special boat,

“What we want to do is let people know that there’s a couple of new models of boat that we have here, the two brands we are very proud of having for sale - the Extreme 540, very good vessel as well and the Buccaneer 495, which is also a new model,” says proprietor Karl Rastrick.

The Extreme is a stand-out, award winning aluminium hulled product that people are very interested and excited about. Buccaneer have been in business 36 years and is New Zea-land’s leading production fi breglass

boat manufacturer. They are a very popular brand.

Mastertech Marine stock both brands and is showing them with the new model Suzuki engines.

“We have rigged them specifi cally to show not only the capabilities of the engines but the capabilities of the boats as well,” says Karl.

“We have chosen this engine, we believe it is a very special engine, and we have put them on the two best boats to show them what we have.”

The Extreme 540 is running the

From front cover


very special engine

Karl Rastrick of Mastertech Marine with one of the new range Suzuki four stroke outboards.

Suzuki 80hp engine and the Buccaneer 495 is powered by the Suzuki 90hp engine.

The A series engines share the same block, and the Suzuki lean burn control system.

“What that means is we are getting fuel consumption that is lower and fuel economy that is better than anything we have seen before by quite substantial amounts,” says Karl.

“Typically we’d be pretty excited by a boat doing 1.5 nautical miles per litre of fuel. The Extreme is videoed doing 2.5

miles per litre of fuel. It’s just staggering how good that is.”

It means a range of about 50 nauti-cal miles on a tote tank – further than Tauranga-Mayor and back, where in the past it would be a tote tank there and a tote tank back, says Karl.

“We are so confi dent on the fuel consumption we get that we challenge anybody to beat it.”

Suzuki recently dropped their prices on the 2012 range, making the engines a real prospect for people looking to upgrade says Karl.

“If they have a motor they want to upgrade because they are fi nding it is a bit thirsty, carburettor two stroke motors – it’s a very real opportunity to get into something much more economical.

Suzuki dropped the price on the 90hp by $3,500 about a month ago.

“It’s a game changer as far as we are concerned. We should be able to sell a better engine for a much cheaper price than our competitors can. Look us up if you want to experience these engines if you are considering your current engine is too hungry and you want to repower.”


very special engine

Karl Rastrick of Mastertech Marine with one of the new range Suzuki four stroke outboards.

Suzuki 80hp engine and the Buccaneer 495 is powered by the Suzuki 90hp engine.

The A series engines share the same block, and the Suzuki lean burn control system.

“What that means is we are getting fuel consumption that is lower and fuel economy that is better than anything we have seen before by quite substantial amounts,” says Karl.

“Typically we’d be pretty excited by a boat doing 1.5 nautical miles per litre of fuel. The Extreme is videoed doing 2.5

miles per litre of fuel. It’s just staggering how good that is.”

It means a range of about 50 nauti-cal miles on a tote tank – further than Tauranga-Mayor and back, where in the past it would be a tote tank there and a tote tank back, says Karl.

“We are so confi dent on the fuel consumption we get that we challenge anybody to beat it.”

Suzuki recently dropped their prices on the 2012 range, making the engines a real prospect for people looking to upgrade says Karl.

“If they have a motor they want to upgrade because they are fi nding it is a bit thirsty, carburettor two stroke motors – it’s a very real opportunity to get into something much more economical.

Suzuki dropped the price on the 90hp by $3,500 about a month ago.

“It’s a game changer as far as we are concerned. We should be able to sell a better engine for a much cheaper price than our competitors can. Look us up if you want to experience these engines if you are considering your current engine is too hungry and you want to repower.”



Rob Everett and Trish Rae from Waipuna Hospice and Nick Earl and Bryce Dinneen

from Wish 4 Fish.

Good catch for charities

The weather may have been stink for the annual police fishing contest this year, but two Tauranga charities still came away with

a good catch from the day.

Contest organiser Rob Everitt from the Tauranga South Police station handed the cheques over to the Waipuna Hospice and Wish for Fish recently.

The police fishing contest raised $3500 for Wish4Fish and $3000 for Waipuna Hospice. A $1000 donation to Tauranga Volunteer Coastguard was made earlier.

Wish4Fish is a new charity formed to give those with physical and mental disabilities access to the water, for fishing or just a harbour cruise, says its founder Bryce Dineen.

“The whole idea of Wish4Fish is if you want to nominate someone and send in an email and then will get them on the

next trip,” says Bryce.Wish4Fish is also looking for corporate

or commercial sponsors. The website is Wish4Fish.co.nz.

The highly popular contest draws com-petitors from across the North Island. This year, 230 fishers took part, includ-ing 75 police – one for each boat.



Brewer gets the Boat Sales big tick

The Tauranga Boat Sales Tick pre-sale inspection programme continues to expand and get results. Recent TBS Tick sales include the Oliver 4000

“Meandros”. The exclusive TBS Tick played a key role in the outcome.

Our feature TBS Tick boat this time is Brewer – an excellent example of the classic Pelin Challenger which has been executed in a sedan style launch. The Challenger design is known for its stability and handling in even the toughest New Zealand conditions.

Brewer was fi rst launched in 2004 and has

been continually maintained and upgraded. She is powered by a single 370hp Cum-mins diesel which provides both economy and performance, and features a Lewmar bowthruster for a bit of help in tight manoeuvring. Her large cockpit works well for fi shing, diving, and socializing. Her cur-rent owners are avid divers and fi nd the big duckboard and double walk through tran-som ideally suited for easy diving. Plenty of crayfi sh and scallops have boarded this vessel over the years!

Brewer’s light and airy interior features one double berth and four singles in two

cabins. The salon and helm station have plenty of seating and good views through the large windows.

This well presented vessel is ideally suited for all around boating be it with family or friends. Style, comfort and safety combine to make Brewer a boat not to miss.

Brewer is currently offered for sale through Tauranga Boat Sales and can be viewed on our exclusive sales berth at Tauranga bridge marina.

A light, bright

interior.

Brewer, excellent example of a Pelin Challenger.

our exclusive sales berth at Tauranga


12 FOOT ALUMINIUM boat with trailer - no outboard. Trailer is in good condition with Rego and WOF Quintrex Dart model with removable flooring, no leaks! Comes with two newly varnished oars anchor and rope spare tyre for the trailer and awning (not set up yet though). Working Navigation lights which have easy to hook up crocodile clips – battery not included. $2500 ono ph or text to view 027 561 1106 30 FT HARTLEY TIDESONG GOP – 3mtr Beam, out riggers, 8 knots, furruno sounder, garmin GPS, auto pilot, VHF, 2 burner gas stove, electric toilet, auto bilge pump, 2 live bait tanks, 2 ice boxes, duel steering, electric winch. Just been antifouled and repainted. Permanent berth at Sulphur Point Marina. $35 per week. $26,000 ono. Ph 07 548 2114 or 0275482114.MARKLINE 900 – 12 metre Sulphur Point berth available extra. Volvo 200HP Diesel. One double, 4 single berths. Flybridge, Furuno Sounder, GPS, 2VHF’S. Fridge & Freezer, shore power. $90,000. Ph 07 576 6443.WARN BOAT WINCH - $150.00 as new. Ph Dennis 570 2071STARLING - “CARPE DIEM” 1130, Profession-ally built & launched oct 1994, Built on same jig as “Helter Skelter” (1131), This yacht and fittings are in excellent condition Has been compliant with Bow Jig. Extras include Aluminium Beach Trolley, Road Cover and Spare Mast. Asking Price $3,900.00. Telephone 021 120 7060.CATAMARAN - 3yr old 11.4 mtr, Roger Simpson, Wildside, Twin 10 hp Yanmar, Diesels. 3 Queen, Size Double berth. Galley. Nav Station, Heads. Saloon. Usual instruments. Ph 07 866 5157 or email [email protected] PUMP - 25PSI, Sureflow. As New $120. Ph 0274 333 220.FOLDING PROP - briski, 16 x 12. 25mm shaft. Right handed NZ. $500 ono. Very good condition. Ph 021 243 5555QUARTER SHARE IN VINDEX 10 METRE LAUNCH - Shaft drive, 180 hp Ford Diesel Turbo, Sleeps 6, two showers, 3 steering stations cruises 10-12 kts. This syndicate has been operating suc-cessfully for 6yrs. A great opportunity to enjoy the pleasures a launch offers whilst sharing the costs. Based at Tauranga Bridge Marina. Price $20,000 Ph 548 2314.HARTLEY TS18 - ‘Antares’ is in really good condi-tion. Trailer has WOF. She has been beautifully built inside and out with painted wood interior and can sleep up to 4 people. Comes with Honda 5HP outboard motor with stand for easy storage. Drop keel makes her a great family boat for going to places in and around the harbour. She has had new aluminium mast and rigging by Mike McCormack and new winch and guide bars added to trailer, for easy launch and retrieval. All ready to go for 2011. Asking price $4,500 ono. Phone Ian Gray 07 578 5022 or 027 572 9439.4.95 ALUMINIUM MAST AND SAIL - plus centre board, rudder and anchor. All in V.G. condition. Open to reasonable offers. Please ring 576 0294 (has answer phone).

MOORING - C6 The Strand, Town Reach, Tauranga, new survey. Upto 10.5m. $1000 spent on survey. $4000 ono. Contact 07 307 9097 or 027 307 9009.MOORING - Waikaraeo Estuary #5. Good position, good swing, good depth. Fully rebuilt. Suit up to 29’ boat. Phone 07 576 1309MOORING – Sheltered Waikerio Estuary, TGA. Rego Number W020. $3000. Ph Don 027 430 5185.KEELER PARTNERSHIP 1/3 share in well main-tained Farr 1104 in Westhaven. Share with 2 other experienced owners. Fully equipped inc mod cockpit, electric head, tiller pilot, RIB dinghy and outboard, near new 29hp motor c/w 3 bladed prop, capstan, cockpit shower, dodger etc. Cruise the Gulf and keep your boat at home. $38,000 ono. Phone Jonathan Gravit 0274 754 169 or email [email protected] - 26’ vanderstadt centreboarder, on launching trailer in hardstand. Very nice condition. 8HP yamaha outboard, alloy s/s rig. $12,990 neg. Ph 0274 272 054.SPINNAKER - off Davidson 32. 11.5m-6.8m, orange/white. In good condition $600. Phone 06 868 832828ft Keeler - a well maintained gulf cruiser, sleeps 5, Yanmar diesel engine, Furling headsail. $28,000 ono. Phone, 07 864 7432.LAUNCH - Steel launch, 30’. View B46 Tauranga Marina. $48,000. Phone 07 843 4392 or mobile 027 620 9712.HARTLEY 16 QUIKSILVER mast and sails. Offers. Ph 07 576 0207.TRAILER YACHT VENTURE 20 - Good condition on trailer price $5000 phone 027 332 3369WING PADDLES - Brand new, used twice in demos. Rochfort,carbon shafts and blades. Pair would suit double kayak, racing or fast cruiser or will sell sepa-rately. $300 each. 0274 996 747LAUNCH - Steel launch 30’. View B46 Tauranga Marina. $48,000. Ph 07 843 4392 or 027 620 9712GENOA - well used but ok. Hoist 44’, foot 23’. Offers. Ph 07 552 4419HOOD MAINSAIL - as new, for Davidson 31. Hoist 31’ 9”, foot 8’ 10” with slides on hoist and foot, also boom for davidson 31 9’ 8” overall. Ph 07 552 4419CODAN SSB MKII - and antenna. Offers Ph 07 552 4419.33FT WOODEN LAUNCH, 70h/p ford. GPS, VHF, stereo, auto pilot, electric capstan. Sleeps 3, 2 burner cooker and oven, electric toilet, game rigged. Good condition, on rented swing mooring. Best of offer $20k. Ph 021 0277 4294TRIMARAN - 30’ piver, 15hp outboard, good condition, easily sailed. $18,000. Phone Grant Lawton 07 552 0737 or 021 057 5755MOTOR SAILOR - 37’ LOA Kauri, shoal draft, twin keels. 20 Horse Yanmar. Painted ready for season. $66,000ono. Ph 07 211 9200.MOORING - Tanners Point. Good location, just been reconditioned. $6000. Phone Grant Lawton 07 552 0737 or 021 057 5755WOODEN MAST and boom with standing riggings, free for removal. Ph 0274 393 028

For Sale

Call Finance for all marine finance 07-574 0002 or 0274 435 524 available 7 days

MOORING AVAILABLE to rent Te Puna.Good depth and close to wharf. Suit boat up to 30ft.Ph 548 0006.MOORING - Omokoroa. Phone 021 114 7339.Mooring to lease - Tanners Point. Suit launch or multihull. Long term. ph 5490091SWING MOORING - for rent or sale at Tanners Point. Recently serviced. Ph 578 0230 or 027 491 5616.MOORING FOR RENT - Pilot Bay PT47 $25 per week. Phone 07 843 4392 or 027 620 9712MOORING FOR RENT - Waikaraeo Estuary. Phone 07 843 4392 or 027 620 9712MOORING FOR RENT OR PURCHASE – Phone Peter 027 491 5616 or 578 0230MOORING - handy to Omokoroa Boat Club, suit up to 30’ boat. $17 per week. Ph 027 201 5113.MOORING - Tanners Point. Good location, just been reconditioned. $6000. Phone Grant Lawton 07 552 0737 or 021 057 5755MOORING - Omokoroa, close to beach. $20 per week. Registered mooring. Ph 07 548 0328.MOORING - Closest mooring to wharf at Pilot Bay. Limited terms. $100 per month. Heavy mooring. Ph 575 9895 or 027 622 0451. MOORING available for rent or sale. Pilot Bay, excellent position. Ph Ian 07 570 0333MOORING to rent. Pilot Bay. Closest to wharf. Deep water. $110 per week. Ph 027 622 0451.

36FT HERRESHOFF, $45,000. without Mast & Sail. Idea, restore then go to cruising the world. Available, 12m Marina berth Sulphurpoint. Ph 07 544 3675

WantedWANTED TO RENT: Swing mooring for 25ft yacht, also short term marina berth. Phone/text Marc, 027 200 2316.HARTLEY 16 Fibreglass trailer sailer. Ph 07 576 0207.SPINNAKER to fit a Noelex 30. Ph 06 868 8328.BIG ANCHORS - anything considered. Ph Tony 575 8264.SWING MOORING - Pilot Bay. Suitable for H28 yacht, preferably close to shore for purchase or rent. Ph 572 2205 or 021 155 1245.

To Rent


BATTERIESBattery Warehouse Ph/Fax: 07 578 8056 25 Marsh Street, Tauranga0274 894 056Battery Direct NZFree delivery in [email protected] 267 468BOAT MAINTENANCEGemCo LtdR63 Hewletts Rd, Mount MaunganuiPh 572 2411Hutcheson BoatbuildersPh:07-578 8312

Robert Page Engineering27 Glasgow Street, Tauranga

Ph:07 578 4171

www.robertpage.co.nz

Matamata Motor Trimmers & UpholsteryBoat clears, canvas work, upholstery

Ph: 07 571 4421

Cnr Mirrielees & Cross Roads, Tauranga

Oceanz Stainless EngineeringPh:07-571 4130

30-34 Mirrielees Road, Tauranga

www.southernoceanmarine.co.nz

BOAT SALESChallenger Boats142 Newton Road, Mount Maunganui

Ph 07 575 0497

www.challengerboats.co.nz

Gulf Group Marine BrokersPh 07 579 9716


www.gulfgroup.co.nz

Hutcheson Boatbuilders07-578 8312

Mastertech Marine60 Whiore Avenue,

The Lakes, Tauriko

Tauranga

Ph:579 4240

www.mastertech.co.nz

BOAT SALESTauranga Boat SalesTauranga Bridge Marina: 07 575 0512

Sulphur Point Marina: 07 571 8443

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.taurangaboatsales.co.nz

CHANDLERYSteves Marine SuppliesPh: 07 578 9593

18 Cross Road, Sulphur Point, Tauranga

DELIVERIESRoss Hislop Ph: 07 543 1023, mob 0274 770078Email: [email protected] Bay Marine Electronics Robert McAllister

Ph: 07 577 0250

www.baymarineelectronics.co.nz

FINANCEAFB Accept Finance Brokers Ph: 07 574 0002

FISHING & DIVINGBig Fish Bait and Tackle CoPh/Fax 07 575 9056

15 Newton St, Mount Maunganui

Ph/Fax 573 4493

155 Jellicoe Street, Te Puke

Blue Ocean Charters LtdPh 0800 224 278

www.blueocean.co.nz


Mount Dive Shop15 Newton Street, Mount Maunganui

Ph: 575 4418

Tauranga Marine Charters MV Manutere Brett Keller

Ph: 07 552 6283

0274 351 353

Email: [email protected]

INSURANCETauranga InsurancePh: 571 0405

195 Devonport Rd,

Tauranga

KAYAKINGCanoe & Kayak BOPPh:574 7415

3/5 MacDonald St,

Mt Maunganui

OPEN 7 DAYS 9-5pm

Viking Kayaks Specialising in fishing and recreational kayaks.

0800 529 253

www.vikingkayaks.co.nz

MARINATauranga Bridge MarinaPh: 07 575 8264 Fax: 07 575 8369

VHF: Ch 73 “Bridge Marina”

RIGGINGMike McCormick Ph: 578 3071

59 Mirrielees Rd, Tauranga

TRAILERSPrescott TrailersPh 07-573 9130

29 Station Rd, Te Puke

www..prescotttrailers.co.nz

Greerton EngineeringPh 541 0024

64 Maleme Street

TAURANGA

www.greertoneng.co.nz

CLUB CONTACTSMount Maunganui Yacht ClubPh: 542 0305

Omokoroa Boat ClubJohn Budden Ph: 548 1180

Alan Roberts Ph: 579 1967

Tauranga Game Fishing ClubKeith Allen Dr, Sulphur Point

Tauranga

Ph: 578 6203

Tauranga Marine Industry Assn.PO Box 13303 TaurangaSteve Glover www.tmia.co.nz or [email protected] Yacht & Power Boat ClubPO Box 14352 Tauranga

Ph 578 5512

Directory


trailer boat launcher

Is your tow vehicle sagging?

after setting rear springs

before - on a lean

Danny Sunkel, reinventing the wheel

Danny and a custom made Tefl on impregnated wheel.


Among the many things different about Danny Sunkel’s wave piercing, self-righting, trimaran trans-tasman

rowboat, is the rowing position.

As with the rest of the 11.8 metre boat it will be made of carbon fi bre, but the unu-sual part is the sliding outriggers.

They’ve been banned in international rowing competition ever since Peter Kolbe won the gold medal at the 1981 world scull-ing champs using a sliding rigger design.

“There were a few people starting to use it but from that point on it dropped into the background because it wasn’t being used in world competitive rowing,” says Danny.

“It’s tended to pop up more in one-off ocean rowing dinghies and there are various examples round the world.”

The attraction with sliding riggers is the design is inherently more effi cient than the

more common sliding seat.With the rower’s body mass staying in one

place, there is no momentum lost on the back stroke. The rowers’ body says in one position and the feet move.

“It increases the length of your stroke,” says Danny. “Your shafts are parallel to the water longer, you tend to get a more effi cient stroke.

“In saying that, and in an ocean rowboat - and this is one of the things we have to work through - is how much more benefi t given that you are not rowing on a fl at lake.”

The design work on the sliding outriggers was completed just before Waterline went to press. The completed carbon fi bre structure may be ready for testing in late June.

It is also designed by LOMOcean director Andre Moltschaniwskyj, and will be con-structed at Pachoud Yachts.

“It’s not just how to make it but how to

build it bullet proof, because it’s one of the key things. If it breaks it’s all over. I can’t wait, its been a fair while coming.”

As part of the total re-think from fi rst principles, Danny’s project has actually involved re-inventing the wheel.

Slider wheels are a notorious source of problems for long distance rowers because salt can seize the bearings.

Most people use roller blade wheels, but they still have spacers and bearings. Danny’s new wheels are turned from a tefl on impreg-nated bearing plastic.

It’s the same material normally used in

rudder bearings. The rudder on Danny’s boat is breakable, and he’s working through a procedure to replace it while at sea – from on board – using a yet to be built carbon boat hook.

It’s part of the approach of keeping things simple so that if they do break they can be repaired or replaced.

Steering will be by auto pilot, aided by the canard, the centre board near the bow, a feature borrowed from Chinese junk design.

The porpoise-like wave piercing bow of Danny’s boat is a solution to a big problem facing long distance rowers – the boat slows down every time it encounters a wave.

When the boat weighs close to a tonne and the waves are ocean rollers, a rower can easily go backwards.

The wave piercing bow breaks the wave allowing the boat through the wave crests with reduced loss of momentum and less

effort.Fully loaded it will

weigh about 900-1000kg with Danny on board. It’s about the same or slightly heavier than most solo boats which are in the region of 800-1000kg, says Danny but more effi cient in many ways.

The weight is beginning to nudge the limits a little, says Danny.

“We have built as light as we possibly can, but at the end of the day I have got to survive in it too. It’s still going to be lighter than the other boats given that it is a considerable bit bigger.”

The foam cores for the outriggers and fl oats were

machined on the fi ve axis cutter at CAD 3D Profi les and Mouldings in Birch Ave.

Danny’s planning to row for the Gold Coast after departing from the Hokianga in the summer of 2013.

The return journey will be attempted later the same year when he hopes to pick up the westerlies towards the end of September-October, and set out from southern New South Wales - northern Victoria with the aim of landing near New Plymouth.

If anyone wants to get involved, Danny can be contacted [email protected]


The launching of the trans tas tri maran.


trailer boat launcher

Is your tow vehicle sagging?

after setting rear springs

before - on a lean


Danny and a custom made Tefl on impregnated wheel.


Among the many things different about Danny Sunkel’s wave piercing, self-righting, trimaran trans-tasman

rowboat, is the rowing position.

As with the rest of the 11.8 metre boat it will be made of carbon fi bre, but the unu-sual part is the sliding outriggers.

They’ve been banned in international rowing competition ever since Peter Kolbe won the gold medal at the 1981 world scull-ing champs using a sliding rigger design.

“There were a few people starting to use it but from that point on it dropped into the background because it wasn’t being used in world competitive rowing,” says Danny.

“It’s tended to pop up more in one-off ocean rowing dinghies and there are various examples round the world.”

The attraction with sliding riggers is the design is inherently more effi cient than the

more common sliding seat.With the rower’s body mass staying in one

place, there is no momentum lost on the back stroke. The rowers’ body says in one position and the feet move.

“It increases the length of your stroke,” says Danny. “Your shafts are parallel to the water longer, you tend to get a more effi cient stroke.

“In saying that, and in an ocean rowboat - and this is one of the things we have to work through - is how much more benefi t given that you are not rowing on a fl at lake.”

The design work on the sliding outriggers was completed just before Waterline went to press. The completed carbon fi bre structure may be ready for testing in late June.

It is also designed by LOMOcean director Andre Moltschaniwskyj, and will be con-structed at Pachoud Yachts.

“It’s not just how to make it but how to

build it bullet proof, because it’s one of the key things. If it breaks it’s all over. I can’t wait, its been a fair while coming.”

As part of the total re-think from fi rst principles, Danny’s project has actually involved re-inventing the wheel.

Slider wheels are a notorious source of problems for long distance rowers because salt can seize the bearings.

Most people use roller blade wheels, but they still have spacers and bearings. Danny’s new wheels are turned from a tefl on impreg-nated bearing plastic.

It’s the same material normally used in

rudder bearings. The rudder on Danny’s boat is breakable, and he’s working through a procedure to replace it while at sea – from on board – using a yet to be built carbon boat hook.

It’s part of the approach of keeping things simple so that if they do break they can be repaired or replaced.

Steering will be by auto pilot, aided by the canard, the centre board near the bow, a feature borrowed from Chinese junk design.

The porpoise-like wave piercing bow of Danny’s boat is a solution to a big problem facing long distance rowers – the boat slows down every time it encounters a wave.

When the boat weighs close to a tonne and the waves are ocean rollers, a rower can easily go backwards.

The wave piercing bow breaks the wave allowing the boat through the wave crests with reduced loss of momentum and less

effort.Fully loaded it will

weigh about 900-1000kg with Danny on board. It’s about the same or slightly heavier than most solo boats which are in the region of 800-1000kg, says Danny but more effi cient in many ways.

The weight is beginning to nudge the limits a little, says Danny.

“We have built as light as we possibly can, but at the end of the day I have got to survive in it too. It’s still going to be lighter than the other boats given that it is a considerable bit bigger.”

The foam cores for the outriggers and fl oats were

machined on the fi ve axis cutter at CAD 3D Profi les and Mouldings in Birch Ave.

Danny’s planning to row for the Gold Coast after departing from the Hokianga in the summer of 2013.

The return journey will be attempted later the same year when he hopes to pick up the westerlies towards the end of September-October, and set out from southern New South Wales - northern Victoria with the aim of landing near New Plymouth.

If anyone wants to get involved, Danny can be contacted [email protected]


The launching of the trans tas tri maran.


I found myself happily ensconced on board a ship bound for the east

coast of USA via Panama.

She was a worn out elderly ship of dubi-ous fi tness. The crew were Burmese with limited English, a despotic Korean Chief Engineer and a newly promoted Chief Offi cer on his fi rst voyage as Master, neither of whom spoke English in a manner that was easy to understand for me or the rest of the crew. I was looking after a cargo of highly valued fruit. The fruit required stringent carriage conditions, constant accurate monitoring and well maintained refrigeration machinery on board capable of instigating any changes required to main-tain the fruit in top condition. This, I was assured by several people at departure time, would be an interesting voyage.

It wasn’t long into the voyage when I formed the impression that the value of the cardboard packaging containing the fruit was likely to have more value than any mar-itime Steptoe knackery would pay for this entire ship as scrap. Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) is where a generation or two under a military dictatorship seemed to have sapped the life and creativity from the crew. They received pitiful wages, bad food, shocking living conditions and the dangers of a ship that was, how would I best describe it in one word? Yes, I know....stuffed.

The Chief Engineer and Captain were from a culture that was quite alien to the non Korean crew, and to me too as it hap-pened. It seems that the elder on board, the Chief engineer, held authority over the captain because the Master was 15 years or so was younger. Not sure how that works but the Captain was defi nitely number two, and the 70 something Chief Engineer was undeniably to all on board, the boss. That was the ranking hierarchy, but for all practical purposes the second offi cer, a well spoken intelligent and capable Burmese national, actually ran the old vessel to the

best of his ability quite independently from the Master and the Chief engineer.

The ship was beset with problems from the onset of the voyage. Cooling, power, wiring, temperature probes and essential auxiliary engines to maintain our cargo were all very suspect. Not long into the voyage toward the East Coast of USA, the ship was directed by the charter company to Tahiti, to pick up a trouble shooter. A very clever Dutch Reefer Engineer fl ew in to Tahiti and was bought aboard by the pilot. It was hoped that his expertise would be able to address the problems which had been concerning the ship’s charterer and the cargo owner. At best it was hoped he would be able to get the cargo to the East Coast of the US with suffi cient market value to limit the likely losses they faced.

ChaosThe voyage from Tahiti through to

Panama was chaotic. Watches, as offi cers spent time getting paper work in order for an expected inspection, were often not kept so the vessel often ploughed through the nights without a lookout for long periods of time. Safety was severely compromised but not, it seemed, of any concern to anyone else on board except me and the trouble-shooter.

There were Anchor winch issues when we arrived at Balboa. A terminally blown up auxiliary motor, and since the remain-ing two were barely able to produce the power that a similar single engine in average condition would have, this didn’t bode well for the cargo. The loading of an emergency power generator on the deck at Cristobel wasn’t without drama either.

After moving to an anchorage, the discov-ery that the pump on the diesel tank that was to service the power generator, a huge thing the size of a container, had a 240 volt pump while the ship’s power was only 120 volts, caused some concern. Just another issue to joining the many problems that caused the trouble shooter’s head to bleed

from his constant scratching.Eventually we sailed into the Atlantic

from Cristobal. A breakdown off Cuba had the ship wallowing for six hours without the main engine, then at the entrance to the Delaware River the US Coastguard stopped the vessel. They had been given prior warn-ing as to the ship’s condition and wanted to check her out thoroughly before allowing her to proceed up the busy confi ned chan-nels to Philadelphia where the fruit, and I, were to be discharged.

InspectionAfter a rigorous six or seven hour inspec-

tion, which included putting the crew through all their safety drills, lowering the life boats which were still oar powered, and fi ring up powerful fi re pumps while the hose that had been inspected earlier was still uncoiled and draped all over the wing deck. The hose took off like a demented snake as soon as the pump came on and the river pilot and I, who had been standing on the wing deck, dived for the safety of the bridge fl oor, slamming the door behind us. The heavy hose battered at the door spraying massive quantities of water over everything and setting various crew members into enhanced panic mode.

The US Coastguard fi nally, and rather surprisingly, gave a restricted OK for the voyage to proceed toward the fruit berth at Wilmington, and for the fruit to be dis-charged should she make it that far.

‘She’s been an interesting voyage I bet.’ One of them said shaking his head sideways with a lock of mock dismay.

And that should have been the end of it. Another six hours and I thought I would be home free. Wish in one hand and pour fl at beer into the other and see what gets full fi rst because I almost became a victim of 9/11.

NEXT INSTALMENT: The story of how US Homeland security attempted to

interfere with Graeme’s travel plans.

Stranger things happen at sea


The addition of a hard wood sheer strake, thwarts and engine pad to a fibreglass dinghy hull lift it clear of competitors and fill a gap in the

market, says builder Max Laver.

He’s been building the dinghies in his Omokoroa shed for about a year now, and says the prototype buyer was prepared to pay more than the asking price.

He put a coat of oil on the wood turned the dinghy upside down in the back yard, and had time to notice the wood weath-

ered really well, before someone came along and wanted to buy it.

Max is using Tatajuba, a Brazilian timber that compares favourably with oak, but is darker in colour. It’s also known as Bagassa or poor man’s teak, says Max.

He’s named the design Teddington after Teddington Lock on the River Thames, upstream from the city of London. The Teddington 7.4 is of unknown ancestry, but shares looks with the Seabird fibreglass dinghy.The Teddington originates in the South Island.

“A fellow had a wooden boat, didn’t know

what the design was,” says Max. “It was a New Zealand boat and he had another boat builder take a mould off it. And then he did nothing with it, and I picked it up.

“It wasn’t a great mould, so I lengthened it a bit, made a new mould and renamed it. I have no idea what the design was originally.”

He’s been asked about adding a centre board case, but says he’s getting more inquiries about a bigger boat, a nine or ten foot version.

“On that one I would look at putting a centre board in. She’s 7’4”, a nice size for one person to go rowing about in, or fishing or for a tender. But a bigger one would be ideal for putting a sail on for sure.”

Max has been a boat builder for 15-16 years, and has worked in New Zealand for six years.

He’s been working on the dinghy for the last year, tweaking the design.

“I haven’t sold a lot of them, just trying to get the word out there. It’s hard to get that a dinghy in that size, there’s really no one selling that type of dinghy anymore.”

The dinghies are hand laid in chop strand mat. Unlike factory productions, the gel coat colour is optional.

“I’m currently building navy blue one for a company in the South island and that’s going to come up pretty sweet.”

Instead of being just holes in the fibre-glass, the rowlock barrels are turned 316 stainless with a lip, set into the gunwhales.

Flotation tanks are set into the bow and stern, that can also double as lockers.

A gap in the dinghy market

By Andrew Campbell

Hand made dinghies, in any colour you like.


Cruising the Caribbean while get-ting paid for it? Sounds all a bit too

good to be true but that’s exactly what 27 year old Sam Webb is doing.

Sam’s one of many young Kiwis on an OE working on superyachts around the world. Last heard, Sam was on board a luxury motor yacht leaving the picturesque Bequia before heading to Tobago Cays.

“I’m loving every minute of it,” says Sam. “Although sometimes it gets a bit hectic cooking for 12 crew and 10 guests – break-fast, lunch and dinner!

“The industry has turned out to be every-thing I imagined and more. The travelling side of it is amazing; for the last six nights I have gone to sleep in one country and woken up in another. I don’t know of any other job where you could do this!”

Sam’s worked on the yacht for the last six months as a chef having completed a STCW qualification with Bay of Plenty Polytechnic.

“The Polytech course was great prepara-tion for my job. Aside from the fact that I had to have the qualification to get a job on a superyacht in the first place, it gave

me more than just a basic understanding of both how to survive in an emergency and how to live on a yacht with a lot of other crew in a confined space.

“Since completing my qual and talking to people who’ve completed the same qual in other places both in NZ and abroad, there is no doubt in my mind that the Polytech’s course is by far the most indepth and informative.”

If you’re thinking of working on cruise ships, superyachts, oil rigs, merchant ves-sels or in the commercial fishing industry anywhere in the world then having a STCW95 qualification is an international requirement.

Bay of Plenty Polytechnic has limited spaces available in July, August and Sep-tember. Call 0800 BOPPOLY for more information.

Polytechnic opening international doorsSam doing his fire fighting training.


Dennis Lobb saw the article about Noel’s project in Waterline Magazine in June 2011, and contacted him. They have been emailing regularly since and Dennis is visiting next summer.

Dennis built Crew Cut in New Plymouth’ launching the John Hacker 23 design in 1961.

Crew Cut is one of four of the design built in New Plymouth at the time, and it was Dennis’ tales of Crew Cuts subsequent adven-tures across the Pacifi c that inspired Noel to build his fi rst boat – and his decision to purchase when he found it on TradeMe.

Noel’s 16 month restoration of Crew Cut is almost completed with the yacht returning to the water in May.

Noel’s been working on the extensive refi t seven days a week and eight hours a day, while driving the Luv Boat, The Spirit in his ‘spare’ time.

Noel’s completely restored the interior, tweaking the cabin to include a galley, and adding a new engine. He built a new push pit for the cockpit, did a little bit of remodelling on the keel, and restored the original cutter rig.

The colour scheme is also close to Dennis Lobb’s original, says Noel – apart from the yellow cabin and barber-shop striped mast, a photo of which was another fi nd during the re-build.

When Noel found Crew Cut on TradeMe, she was owned by a young bloke in Auckland

after sitting in Whangarei for about 30 years.Built of strip planked Oregon with lami-

nated spotted gum ribs, Noel found the hull was sound, but there was a bit of dry rot about the chain plates and a few cracks in the deck, which was built in transverse planked kauri.

“They didn’t have plywood in those days,” says Noel.

The cabin roof is double diagonal kauri and the deck beams are longitudinal to preserve headroom. It’s a solution that seems to work says Noel.

He stripped, everdured and painted the interior, and every cupboard door, drawer and facing.

The keel which used to be full length is now ‘modernised’ and re-shaped into a fi n keel with a skeg rudder. The cutaway wood was found to be wet, which resulted in the whole thing being stripped back, dried out and glassed.

He thinks he took about 30kg of wood off the keel, and a similar amount off the stainless rudder shaft when he shortened it.

“I took about 120kg off her but I probably put as much back in,” says Noel.

TradeMe continued to be a good source. Noel found the stainless railing he built the push pit from on Trademe. He bought two pushpits second hand and cut them up and re-welded them.

“I got a lot of things off TradeMe,” says Noel, “The pushpit, the folding prop...”

Crew Cut came with a good mast, Tufnell winches on the mast and bronze deck winches. She’s also got a good suit of sails, a legacy from an earlier attempt to change the rig.

Noel’s restored the original cuter rig, putting the chainplates back on for the forward lower shrouds, and reinstalling the inner fore stay for the stays’l.

Before buying the Luv Boat business the Reeves spent seven years cruising the Pacifi c on board Kyrie, a 43 foot Wilf O’Kell design that Noel launched in 1980.

On Crew Cut they expect to get in mid-week sailing over the winter.

“We hope to sail further afi eld in our retire-ment,” says Natalie Reeves. “That’s what we have done it for.”

Dennis Lobb was really touched when he saw the “New Plymouth” home port on the rejuvenated boat says Noel.

Dennis sailed Crew Cut to Lord Howe Island, Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef, The Solomons Norfolk Island…and she hasn’t been back to New Plymouth since.

Noel’s intending to register New Plymouth as Crew Cut’s home port if he ever takes her off shore again.

Dennis is now living in Australia, but is planning to return to New Zealand later in the year, and will be visiting the Reeves and taking a look at Crew Cut.

Photo galleries from the project are at http://www.facebook.com/Crewcut2010

Love Boat fleet expansion

By Andrew Campbell

The original builder is among some of the unexpected things that have come to light during Noel Reeves restoration of the

yacht Crew Cut.

Dennis Lobb saw the article about Noel’s after sitting in Whangarei for about 30 years.after sitting in Whangarei for about 30 years. Crew Cut came with a good mast, Tufnell

Natalie and Noel on board Crew Cut


She is powered by a 120hp Ford Diesel has a 6’ draft and weighs 15 tonnes. Taiho is fully surveyed to carry nine passengers on a day trip and six passengers overnight.

Taiho fi shed Mayor Island waters for many years and has had many fi sh to her credit.

Brian Worthington skippered Taiho for 14 years but it was in his father’s hands prior.

Ross Worthington caught many game fi sh off Taiho including win-ning the nationals one year with three blue marlin and a stripey.

Taiho is now on the market and Brian Worthington, who knows the boat very well, is marketing the old girl.

She is presented in tidy order with her classic lines and full survey. Taiho has six berths, a toilet fridge freezer four burner stove and

oven, live bait tank, game rigged game chair, two helm stations.Taiho is on the market for $89,000. Contact Brian Worthington at Gulf Group Marine Brokers for

more information.

Taiho, meaning heart of the tree, is a classic 40’ kauri carvel planked launch built of 1” kauri planking by Swanson’s

Boat Yard in Picton in 1957.

A boat with heart



Documents

WL June 2012