Boating NZ December 2017

Last night I watched the first episode of the BBC’s new Blue Planet II series – presented by the irrepressible master of wildlife documentaries, David Attenborough. If you’ve not yet got around to hitting the record button – do so. It’s superb Words cannot do the photography justice. As always, Attenborough sprinkles his commentary with extraordinary facts, observations and insights, and points out that the peerless photography is largely thanks to radical advances in camera technology. We’re fortunate – being alive in 2017 – to be able to enjoy the benefits. New Zealand featured prominently in his globe-trotting itinerary – he explored an intriguing interplay between dolphins and ‘false’ killer whales – a powerful reminder of the rich, wonderful diversity of marine life that lives off our coastline. It also…

From the outside, the old Vos boat shed is a decaying building covered in rusty corrugated sheets peppered with holes. But step inside and you’re instantly transported back to a rich, colourful era of New Zealand’s wooden boatbuilding. The building – owned by the Council’s development arm Panuku – has been earmarked for restoration as part of a strategy to preserve Westhaven’s maritime heritage. It is Auckland’s last surviving boat shed of many that were dedicated to wooden boatbuilding. Rod Marler – Panuku’s director of Design and Place – says the restoration will take place in two phases, and that $4.6million has been earmarked for the first of these. “Stage one begins next year and focuses on stabilising and repairing the basic structure. Stage two will tackle the interior and…

TWO GOLDS AT ENOSHIMA New Zealand sailors walked away from October’s Enoshima Olympic Week regatta in Japan with four medals, including golds to Alex Maloney and Molly Meech in the 49erFX and Tom Saunders in the Laser. It was a good return for the Kiwi contingent and eight of the 10 boats finished inside the top 10. Erica Dawson and Kate Stewart were third in the 49erFX, as were Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn in the 49er. Many countries used the threeday regatta as a first opportunity to race at the venue for the 2020 Olympics and the Laser fleet in particular was littered with world, Olympic and European champions. Meanwhile, Sam Meech has won his first World Cup regatta in Japan’s Gamagori. It was a big result for…

Bavaria says the ‘E’ prefix stands for efficiency, economy and extra space. A tour through the boat quickly corroborates this, but to my mind the ‘E’ might better be attributed to ‘evolution’ – and a healthy dollop of it. Mainly because the design concept is fairly progressive – a significant switch in direction from Bavaria’s earlier launches. She’s an interesting boat, and one that’s obviously resonated with the discerning European boating fraternity – she was recently voted the 2017 European Powerboat of the Year. The first clue to the concept change is the spec sheet – and it’s quite a departure from the conventional planing speedsters typically fitted with twin, high-horsepower engines. Instead, this is a displacement hull. It has a 10.5-tonne dry weight, a single, 300hp engine delivering a…

Following the usual rigmarole of provisioning a small boat with six people’s input into the shopping list, we set sail from the Oak Bay marina in Victoria on a sunny afternoon. The first few days saw us covering a lot of ocean, flying through the beautiful gulf islands with a mighty spinnaker run. It was an opportunity to get used to each other and the boat. To that end, the cramped sleeping quarters in the aft quarter berth were improved significantly with the removal of a protruding fire extinguisher bracket. We quickly figured out the optimum sleeping arrangement involved at least one couple camping on the nearest available beach. After enjoying beautiful anchorages at Pender, Ruxton and Savary Islands, we made our way up through to Desolation Sound. Here we…

Professional sailor Matt Mason has developed a simple solution. It comprises a bolt-on bow appendage, an extended mast and a bigger sail. Together, they radically transform the looks and performance of the standard Opti. Mason calls it the O-Pro. The modification package offers a host of advantages. Not only to young, developing sailors – but also to their families – because it extends the ‘operational window’ of an investment in the standard Optimist. There’s perhaps an element of irony that Mason – with four America’s Cup titles under his belt and years of involvement at the high end of the professional sailing circuit – should be dabbling with what is the most basic of sailing craft. But it all started innocently enough, with his eight-year-old son, William. “William is part…