Boating NZ November 2017

Introduce the subject of boating and boat ownership at a BBQ or dinner party, and someone will inevitably offer a variation of the well-worn maxim: “a boat is a hole in the water into which you pour money.” And while there are boat owners who might ruefully agree with this sentiment, I think it’s a little lop-sided. It tends to overlook the subtle but powerful benefits of messing about in boats – the emotional and spiritual equilibrium it brings to one’s life. The sense of freedom, adventure, engaging with the elements in a tangible way, belonging to a colourful (if slightly-eccentric) fraternity – all fostering, in some way, stronger family/social bonds. The sea has an intriguing ability to wash over times of trouble. Two articles in this issue set me…

To get their hay to market cost-effectively, Bangladeshi farmers near the town of Sirajganj have to think creatively, even if dangerously. Without mechanised transport – or even roads – the Jamuna River serves as the perfect highway. But because the market is three day’s travel by boat, multiple trips are too time-consuming and costly. Single-delivery voyages are much more profitable, and if the load is bigger than the carrier – well, the advantage of using two boats is that it more than doubles carrying capacity… Rafted together, the two flat-bottomed boats are skilfully packed and demand precision, synchronised manoeuvring from the skippers. The mobile haystacks are 12m wide and 6m high.…

ETNZ’s Andy Maloney and his crew of Sam Meech, Shaun Mason and Harry Thurston, won the recent RNZYS Yachting Developments New Zealand Match-racing Championships in hectic conditions in Auckland. It was a day for surviving out on the water with the wind well over 25 knots and some heavy 35- knot gusts coming through the course. Mistakes were costly and easy to make, but it did make for an extremely entertaining spectacle. The first semi-final saw Maloney up against RNZYS YTP graduate Dave Hazard in a bestof- three match-up. The second semi-final was a RNZYS student-versus-teacher match-up between Leo Takahashi and his coach Graeme Sutherland, which the latter won. It’s been a great year for Maloney who won the 35th America’s Cup in Bermuda with ETNZ, and he can now…

British Antarctic Survey scientists are among a team of experts planning to investigate the seafloor uncovered by A-68 – the trillion-tonne iceberg that calved from the Larsen Ice Shelf in July. Aboard the Royal Research Ship James Clark Ross, they plan to visit this summer and hope to find never-seen-before species on the newly-exposed seafloor – an area they believe has been covered by ice for 120,000 years. “We don’t really know what we’ll find; that’s what’s so exciting,” says marine biologist Dr Katrin Linse, the team leader. “This area’s had no sunlight and so has had no food coming in through phytoplankton.” A-68 – some 6,000 km2 in size – is one of the biggest ever recorded in the Antarctic. Scientists estimate its average thickness at 190m, though there…

America’s Cup racing pays dividends. That’s the message from the New Zealand Marine Industry following the announcement of the 36th America’s Cup protocol last month. “More than $700m was injected into New Zealand after the Cup was last held here, 14 years ago,” Peter Montgomery told an industry meeting, following the protocol announcement. Adds Peter Busfield, NZ Marine executive director: “When New Zealand won the Cup in 1995, the marine industry was instrumental in convincing the Ports of Auckland, then owners of the Viaduct Harbour, to make provision for superyachts in addition to the syndicate bases. “This gave Auckland a new ‘front door’, with the building of the Viaduct Harbour, and its superyacht and charter boat berthage, open public spaces and restaurants. “AC36 has the potential to attract an estimated…

Professor Charles Eason, chief executive of Nelson’s Cawthron Institute, has been awarded the Thomson Medal by the Royal Society Te Apārangi. The medal’s awarded for outstanding contributions to the organisation, support, and application of science or technology in New Zealand. Eason oversees more than 200 scientists, and under his leadership, new funding has been secured and new buildings and laboratories built. These include the world’s largest mussel hatchery, funded by Sanford Ltd, which opened in the Cawthron Aquaculture Park in 2015. This facility allowed Cawthron to build on its expertise in aquaculture breeding, seafood safety, nutraceuticals and coastal and freshwater ecology. The medal selection committee said Eason’s ability to link scientific innovation with commercial experience has had a global impact in the areas of chemical toxicity, pest control, food safety,…