Boating NZ February 2018

As someone hyper-aware of Auckland’s hyper-fickle weather – it’s unavoidable when trying to coordinate photographers, video crews, writers, owners and agents for boat reviews – it may come as a surprise to learn that I’ve recently adopted a far more accepting view of the rain. The trigger for this “Paul-on-the-road-to-Damascus” conversion is the catastrophic drought playing out in Cape Town – a city I’ve always considered Auckland’s twin. The two cities share the same latitude and are subjected to very similar weather patterns. Both have wet winters and dry summers, and both are built around the sea, with strong maritime industries, cultures and traditions. For those unaware of the scale of the drought in South Africa’s mother city, analysts are now suggesting Cape Town is likely to be the world’s…

The Tin Tin-inspired shark also looked devilishly sleek on the beach... You would think that a shark or an orca could easily outswim a bunch of butterflies but the 12th annual Tata’s Titanic Cardboard Boat Race sank that theory, literally. Twelve teams rocked up to the Golden Bay event on Sunday, 14 January with home-made boats made of cardboard, tape, paint and creativity. Judges inspected the boats before they got wet, noting crafty use of longitudinal cylinders, taped boxes within boxes, pontoons and even ring frames that would hopefully provide sufficient strength, water-tight integrity, buoyancy and stability for long enough to finish. The women-dominated team of the Community Hospital brought Like a Butterfly, a large platform decorated with about 100 paper butterflies made by the hospital’s elderly residents. The 12…

Nelson’s Iron Duke Sea Scouts have won the Jellicoe Trident, the top award at the 28th National Scout Regatta on Porirua Harbour, held earlier this year. The Trident was first presented in 1924, and the Dukes last held it 50 years ago, in 1967. Nearly 600 youths and volunteers – with a fleet of 80 boats – took part in the triennial event. It attracted 19 contingents representing 27 Scout Groups from across New Zealand – as well as a small group from Australia. The nine-day regatta saw youths competing in sailing, rowing, kayaking and seamanship events. An estimated 15,900 meals were made by a team of volunteers to keep the crews well-fed and energised throughout the event, with all excess food donated to the Salvation Army to help those…

Royal Akarana Yacht Club’s Murray Gilbert and Jonathan Burgess in Ffrenetic took the title in this year’s Flying Fifteen National Championship hosted by Waikawa Boating Club. The nationals – held in the Marlborough Sounds at the top of the South Island for the first time ever – were part of the Lawsons Dry Hills Keelboat Regatta. While the area is renowned for fantastic wine and stunning scenery, it also has a reputation for what out-of-town competitors discovered the locals call ‘Soundsy weather’. Deep coves and high hills make for interesting and hard-to-predict changes in both wind direction and velocity, and the regular ferries add another interesting dimension. “One of the trickiest Nationals in 14 years. No matter how big our lead was it was never comfortable and often evaporated and…

Why be ordinary when I can be original? A 78-year old Australian sailor has completed a record 10th circumnavigation – and like many of the other voyages, this one was mostly single-handed. Jon Sanders returned to Carnarvon in Western Australia aboard Perie Banou II, a S&S 39, late last year. It appears the extraordinary sailor – who underwent open heart surgery in 2015 – lives by an unusual mantra: “Why be ordinary when I can be original?” A native of Fremantle and schooled in Perth, Jon began his sailing career at a young age. He started breaking records and became the darling of the Australian press when he completed a solo triple nonstop circumnavigation in 1988 aboard Parry Endeavour, a 71,000nm journey that took 658 days. Parry Endeavour now takes…

A Zodiac Pro 550 won the coveted 2017 Innovation Award at the 2017 Nautic Paris Boat Show in recognition of it being the first RIB in the world to be equipped with foils. The award was presented to Lorientbased SEAir. The company has been working on the foil development for two years. SEAir founder Richard Forest says the company is finalising the configuration of the flying RIB and it will soon go to market. For more information visit: https://seair.fr Photo: Sébastien Véronèse…