Boating NZ June 2019

Winter’s grey, rainy skies and icy temperatures are never an inducement to jump into your boat for a spot of cruising or fishing – but it is the perfect time to assess your boating lifestyle and begin planning for the summer ahead. What better place to get your mind into the right space than the annual Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show. This year’s recent event drew record crowds (5% up on last year) and a stellar showing from the marine industry. And it seems the forum achieved its objectives on both sides, with many exhibitors reporting record or near-record sales over the four days. Such alignment is encouraging. It suggests a happy, engaged and enthusiastic boating public – a growing body of boaties who are keen to expand and enhance…

REVIVING A CLASSIC UPGRADE TO A SMARTER MFD LIGHTER, SMALLER, STRONGER MARITIMO 51 www.boatingnz.co.nz…

The 128-foot Naema – built in 2012 – won May’s inaugural Capri Classica Regatta in Naples, an event that attracted four giant schooners. The regatta – the first round of the Schooner Cup Series – was created by the International Schooner Association in conjunction with the International Maxi Association. This Capri event will be followed by September’s Monaco Classic Week and Les Voiles de St Tropez, where the winner will be awarded the Schooner of the Year Trophy. Naema – inspired by the 1938 Alfred Mylne design Panda, raced against Mariette of 1915 (a 138-foot 1915 Nathanael Herreshoff schooner), Orianda (85-foot 1937 Dahlstrom staysail schooner) and Puritan – a 126-foot 1930 Alden gaff schooner. Perhaps the most unusual feature of the regatta is the start protocol. While most yacht races…

A new exhibition at the New Zealand Maritime Museum celebrates the man behind the historic Fosters ship chandlery and one of the country’s most recognised maritime identities, John Street. From lobbying against Robert Muldoon’s boat tax in the 1970s to introducing the Tug Boat race at the Auckland Anniversary Regatta, he’s been the man at the helm of many of Auckland’s maritime projects for over 50 years. Street gifted an eclectic collection of nautical objects to the Maritime Museum in 2017. A selection of these curiosities can now be viewed as part of the exhibition, One Man’s Treasure: John Street and the Fosters Collection. Housed in the Maritime Museum’s Edmiston Gallery, it opened at the end of May and runs to September. The exhibition provides a rare opportunity to take…

…35,000 tons of unexploded bombs, shells and grenades Deadly mustard gas – one of the scourges of WW1 battles such as the Somme – is once again becoming a threat in Europe following the detection of leaks from a massive weapons dump in the North Sea. The ammunition dump is less than a mile off Belgium’s North Sea coastline, close to the Belgian town of Knokke. Buried under a two-mile sandbank are scores of cement-filled containers containing 35,000 tons of unexploded bombs, shells and grenades – mainly German weapons from WW1. While the so-called weapons cemetery has long been considered safe, there are now new fears that the ammo may create problems after traces of both mustard gas and TNT were detected on the sandbank, known as Paardenmarkt. An insidious…

This book pays tribute to the tenacity and sailing skills of four young New Zealanders who sailed an epic voyage in their Chinese junk Golden Lotus in 1962. On their 8,500-mile journey from Hong Kong to New Zealand they confronted violent storms in the South China Sea, Indian Ocean and Tasman Sea. They challenged poisonous and powerful Komodo dragons on an uninhabited Indonesian island, and encountered numerous navigational hazards along Australia’s eastern seaboard. Brian Clifford – master navigator at age 23, orchestrated every aspect of this classic adventure. Skilful celestial navigation, adventurous spirits and the raw energy of a youth crew – combined with total self-reliance – won the day. The book was first printed in 1962 (with a reprint a year later). In this new, revised edition, Brian’s brother…