Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2019 i Cruising Helmsman

NZ MARINE has worked closely with Auckland Council, resulting in a proposed daily anchoring fee for foreign flagged vessels in Auckland’s harbour being dropped. NZ Marine is the country’s marine industry association and represents marine companies and their respective boat builders and apprentices. Executive director, Peter Busfield, happily noted that NZ Marine “were able to help council appreciate just how much of a deterrent a daily anchoring fee would have been to foreign vessels planning to visit our shores, particularly for the Prada and America’s Cup in 2020/21.” “We are keeping the door open for superyacht visitors from around the globe who want to experience our beautiful part of the world now and in the future,” Busfield says. https://at.govt.nz/about-us/harbourmaster/…

I TRY not to be swayed by first impressions. I like to give myself a week or two before I really make up my mind about a place. By then, the thrill of arriving has worn off and the reality of our surroundings has had a chance to sink in. However, some places make more of an impression than most. The small town of Lata on Ndende island, our first landfall in the Solomon’s, was one of those places. Approaching the beach in our dinghy I was surprised to see that the high tide line was not a collection of plastic bags and left thongs, as is the norm these days. Instead it was a wall of crushed soft drink cans, each one sharper than the next; all waiting to…

IF you have a fibreglass boat, which many of us do, have you ever wondered about the quality? I have and suspect this question comes to mind fairly often when pounding into a nasty sea and the forecast is for more. In such circumstances every little quiver and creak is a question for the watch person; how much of a question may depend on our fibreglass mouldings. Mouldings in this instance fall into two categories: the shape and function of the part/boat/moulding; plus how it will affect the comfort or liveability of the vessel and the construction, both materials and quality inherent in the build. Both big questions with little answers, with most of the answers centred on cost with a bit of design, technique and skill thrown in. WATER…

AFTER receiving new funding, James Cook University scientists are recruiting people living in Queensland to train to log sightings of misplaced sea creatures. JCU’s associate professor Jan Strugnell runs the Queensland arm of the ‘Range extension database and mapping project’ (Redmap). “What it aims to do is reach as many citizen scientists as possible and engage them in logging their photos of ‘out-of-range’ species through the Redmap app or online interactive website,” she said. Dr Strugnell said an example of an ‘out-of-range species’ would be a barramundi sighted south of Bundaberg, or a spine-cheek clownfish sighted south of Cairns. “We want the data to map which Australian marine species may be moving house in response to changes in the marine environment, such as ocean warming,” she said. Redmap Australia received…

HANSE YACHTS, Germany, has purchased French catamaran builder Privilège Marine. “This is the ideal time for us to take over the company completely and expand our multi-brand strategy,” says Dr Jens Gerhardt, CEO of Hanse Yachts. “Privilège has a healthy order book of more than 25 million euros. The catamaran market remains attractive, it is the fastest growing of all global sailing markets and has doubled in less than five years.” Privilège has been a manufacturer of luxury catamarans for more than 30 years and produces both yachts and motor cats. Last year, three new catamaran models were announced and marketed simultaneously under the leadership of Hanse Yachts. Privilège now totally benefits from the worldwide distribution network of Hanse Yachts with its 230 dealers in 90 countries. The catamaran range…

• we kept a large supply of trade items on board while in the Solomon’s. Pencils and notebooks were popular with the kids, as were barrettes, fishing line and hooks. Adult T-shirts and children’s clothing and hats were requested, plus rice, sugar and tea were popular, especially when in communities far from urban centres. • Solomon Islanders are very social people and will often visit your boat just for “story”, sometimes hanging around past their welcome, particularly the kids. We found announcing in a friendly manner that it was “time to get back to work” or “time to go home” would clear the crowd of canoes. • saltwater crocodile are widespread in the Solomon Islands. It is advisable to ask locals about recent croc sighting and attacks before swimming in…

SO how do you enhance your relationship? First up think of the accommodation: usually it is a damp, salt rich, often warm environment; the very environment to encourage corrosion. What can be done? CHAIN LOCKERS CH has been looking at chain lockers, it is amazing how inappropriate some are. Some lockers on new yachts have drain holes so high in the locker that it is inevitable that the bottom of the locker and its contents, the chain, are constantly under water. If you never deploy all your chain you would simply not know that you have the perfect location to ensure the life of your chain is minimised. Devoid of attention will lead to the chain at the bottom of some lockers quickly corrode, even despite the galvanising, into one…

KEVIN Dibley has quietly gathered an excellent global reputation for both racing and cruising yachts. When it comes to designing dedicated bluewater cruising yachts, knowing how to mix those two factors efficiently is key. Working with Kraken’s concept designer and Kraken founder, Dick Beaumont, Dibley has designed a yacht based on a tripod philosophy of redundancy, comfort and safety upon which all other components must sit. REDUNDANCY All winches are Harken and, while the correct size for each winch is calculated, the company installs the next size up. All Dyneema rope is used on the running rigging, which is strong, stiff and easily respliced and replaced. Kraken are even looking at replacing the standing rigging with Dyneema in later models. The engine room is a delight. Accessed on the starboard…

SO, you are thinking of buying a project boat? I have a word of advice for you: don’t! “But she has such beautiful lines,” you say. Ah yes, we said that too. It is not the lines that matter, it’s the many thousands of dollars required to fill in those lines that will break you. I suppose everyone has one boat renovation in them. But you should be 100 per cent sure that this boat will meet your needs for the rest of your natural boating life, so help you Neptune. We were looking for a boat to sail the world. Our combined sailing experience was minimal, I had sailed the Queensland coast over fifteen years ago but Gary had never sailed, he was an ex-farmer who had fished from…

THE Panama Canal has published a proposal to modify its current tolls structure. Shipping in the dry bulk segment will have its tolls matched to the later larger Neopanamax container vessels accommodated with the recently installed locks. The proposal also aims to change the tolls structure for cruise ships from a ‘per berth’ to a ‘per passenger’ basis, making it easier for cruise lines to transfer transit costs to its customers. Tolls for small vessels (minimum tolls) and for the local tourism market are being revised upwards to take into account the resources used in the transit and the complexity of accommodating these vessels within the locks’ chambers. The new tolls are expected to take effect on January 1, 2020. www.pancanal.com/peajes.…

SAD FAMILY LOSS It was a story that came out of nowhere that saddened readers of mysailing this month. On a bad day on the water off Newcastle an 11.7 metre catamaran overturned and, while two people were rescued, three people also drowned. A married elderly couple and a family friend drowned, leaving two survivors clutching to the overturned wreckage. The two survivors were the couple’s son and granddaughter who suffered hypothermia in the wintery waters, but were discharged the next day. It is understood all crew were wearing lifejackets and an EPIRB was triggered early on. Winds were westerly and over 30 knots. It might indicate that good seamanship is just as important as following all proper safety procedures. facebook.com/CruisingHelmsman…

THANKS to Slartibartfast from the ‘Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy’, for creating coastlines and specialising in fjords. He excelled himself with his award winning Norwegian design. For many months in the northern summer of 2018 we: Simon Pahor, our charter guests and I, poked our way into 27 of Norway’s countless coastal destinations and sailed around its “lovely crinkly edges” drinking up its picturesque exquisiteness. Like Slartibartfast I am inspired to rhapsodise about this experience and have departed Norway wanting to continue exploring its 13,500 nautical miles of coastline. It is a long and narrow country that plunges into the Norwegian Sea. It’s deeply notched with fjords and fringed with more than 50,000 islands, meandering inside passages, rocks and skerries. It stretches from 57° to 81° north if you count…

I WAS dozing in my bunk, surfacing from the bleary ocean of sleep, with Laranda lying off the beach in the stunning bay on the south east of the island of Elafonisos. The island the ancient Greeks called ‘The asses jaw’. We were both having a rest, Laranda and I, after a stormy crossing of the Aegean from Santorini to Cape Malea. With the wind and sea on her starboard quarter, there had been no stopping her. For most of that crossing, all through the night, I was tied in the cockpit to avoid being thrown out of it. The sea was running fast and passing under us without coming aboard. But I had the tiller lashed with some slack in case a pesky wave might try to heave us…