Innehållsförteckning för January 2017 från Boating NZ

December’s caption winner “Harold, think you will have to buy a bigger smoker.” Congratulations to: Peter Ranyard “I think we need a stronger clothes line..” Runner-up: Steve Sinclair WASSP LANDS $15M R&D GRANT ENL GROUP, PARENT company of Electronic Navigation Ltd, has received a $15m R&D Growth Grant from Callaghan Innovation to help ongoing investment in its WASSP Multibeam Sounder. Callaghan Innovation is a New Zealand government agency that helps businesses succeed through technology and R&D. ENL Group Managing Director Gareth Hodson says the grant assists the company as it looks to expand its product range and increase the company’s export revenue opportunities. “In October we launched our third-generation multibeam sounder. It’s based on a scalable hardware platform with endless possibilities for many new products including bottom classification and biomass…

Amid the widespread political and commercial fallout from the election of Donald Trump to the White House comes a strident, international voice of concern about what impact his policies – such as they are – might have on the global environment. Specifically, his promise to divorce the US from the recently-ratified Paris Agreement, as well as the unequivocal reversal of the clean-energy advances introduced by his predecessor, Barack Obama. Trump’s perception of global warming and climate change has been widely reported: “a bullshit hoax invented by the Chinese.” No, I don’t follow the logic either. THE PARIS AGREEMENT Some 20 years in the making, the Paris Agreement became active in November. It’s a deal signed by more than 100 countries – including the US – and it’s designed to tackle…

 Sea-washed? A lighthouse that stands in the sea. Which immediately gives you some inkling of the difficulties the engineers faced when designing the structure. Difficulties compounded by the conditions: the North Sea thoroughly deserves its reputation as one of the world’s most gruelling marine environments. The 35m high lighthouse was built by a young Scottish engineer, Robert Stevenson, on the Bell Rock (also known as Inchcape). It was a major improvement for safer shipping in the region – the Rock lies just below the surface for all but a few hours – and it had wrecked scores of vessels. At the turn of the 18th century the Rock was claiming up to six ships every winter and the loss of the warship HMS York in 1804 with all hands caused…

“A ship-like, no-nonsense feel.” Weeks of rain, strong winds and a hefty earthquake in North Canterbury; one could hardly call Spring’s environmental conditions benign. Then the very day we’re scheduled to test the Integrity 380 Flybridge, Hughie sends us one out of the box – glorious sun, a gentle breeze and the Waitimata Harbour sparkling at its best. Our test boat on this wonderful day is the flybridge version of the 380 Sedan which has been around a couple of years now. Integrity launches are built by Chinese company Jianghua Marine and most of its models, including this one, are pure displacement hulls aimed at the baby boomer market in Australia, New Zealand and Thailand. HANDLING AND PERFORMANCE HANDLING AND PERFORMANCE Wayne Baston from Laurie Collins is the New Zealand…

Puzzle no. 231 Across 1. NZ marine fish known for feisty fight when caught (7) 5. ___ __ trim - sails not arranged right for point of sail that boat is on (3,2) 8. Goods or wreckage on sea bottom attached to buoy for recovery (5) 9. Sail better than rival in regatta (7) 10. Is swept by currents and tides onto shore (6,2) 11. Late NZ sailor Peter Blake’s official title (3) 13. _____ hard - vessel does this in rough seas (5) 15. Measure depth of sea (5) 17. Short turn or twist in nautical line (3) 19. North Island harbour in photo (8) 23. Hoisting of boat out of water for repair, storage etc (4-3) 24. _____ winds - steady winds near equator that were important for…

 The boat strained at her dock lines, the engine gently cooled and the harbourmaster, Don Ross, wrapped his hand around a cup of coffee in the wheelhouse. “Before the road went through, everything used to come here by boat,” he said. “A little coaster called the Lady Jocelyn used to run out from Auckland on Friday night, load the produce from the dairy factory and head back on Sunday.” He warmed to his story. “I was relief master on her for a while. We sailed from Auckland on one of those flat-calm, dead-still nights with no moon and not a breath of wind. It was in the days of six o’ clock closing and we sailed just after closing time. We’d had a few beers but we weren’t drunk by…

A lady with a dark past THE CHILEAN NAVY’S magnificent four-masted barquentine – La Esmeralda – was among the vessels celebrating our Navy’s 75th anniversary in Auckland last month. The 113m-long, steel-hulled vessel was launched in 1953 and has a long, proud history of training Chilean sailors. She is one of the world’s mightiest tall ships, with a crew of 300 sailors and 90 midshipmen. She is affectionately known as La Dama Blanca – The White Lady. But she carries the stigma of an unfortunate chapter in Chile’s history. During the infamous Augusto Pinochet regime (1973 – 1980) she was used as a floating jail and torture chamber for political prisoners. Several hundred detainees, sympathizers of the ousted socialist President Allende, were taken there and the fate of many of…

RISING SEA TEMPERATURES ARE being blamed for the disappearance from the eastern Mediterranean of a shellfish used thousands of years ago for making purple dye. The red-mouthed rock shell (stramonita haemastoma) was one of main sources of Tyrian purple dye for fashionistas and royalty in the ancient world – and understandably became one of the Mediterranean’s most valuable trading products. It’s estimated that thousands of shells were required to produce a single kilo of the dye. But now the shell has all but disappeared. An Israeli survey of the area notes the almost total disappearance of the species. Marine biologist Gil Rilov says the mollusc is one of a number of species to have vanished from eastern Mediterranean coastal waters. Some 38 of 59 mollusc species once common on Levant…

A PERMANENTLY MOORED, 18m underwater viewing vessel is one of the main drawcards of The Reef Project, a new marine research and education initiative in the Marlborough Sounds. The Marlborough Sounds Marine Research and Education Centre has been established by Lochmara Lodge, Conservation Kids NZ and the Marlborough Sounds Wildlife Recovery Trust. Based in Lochmara Bay, the project includes an outdoor, land-based auditorium. The auditorium is an ideal area for educational presentations and guest speakers. The underwater observatory focuses on marine research and education, becoming an underwater classroom for school or university groups and local, national and international visitors. Stingrays, crayfish, and sharks are just a few of the Marlborough Sounds marine species that guests are able to see and learn about via guided tours and interpretive, on-board displays. Run…

ORGANISERS OF THE Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show have upped the ante for next year’s event in Auckland (Greenlane’s ASB Showgrounds – May 18-21). The show’s Grand Prize is a 7m Surtees 700 Game Fisher, powered by twin Yamaha 115hp four-stroke engines. Packed full of extras, it’s worth more than $150,000. The package – which must be won – is open to everyone who buys their show ticket on-line or at the gate. The Surtees 700 Game Fisher is one of the builder’s most popular offshore models. With its large cockpit, the 700 Game Fisher’s deck space is maximised for serious fishers. This model features an open hardtop and a 280-litre fuel tank. Also included is a painted hull and cabin, sliding hardtop windows, canvas cockpit shade extension, sleeping infills…

This three-tonne lifestyle statement is the first Super Air Nautique G23 in New Zealand with a super-charged engine – a grunty 6.3-litre V8 developing 550hp. Presented on a locally-built, high-quality trailer, it represents a threeway collaboration between Nautique’s New Zealand importers, Enduro Trailers and Balex Marine, the company responsible for the innovative Balex Automatic Boat Loader system. What sets the Enduro trailer apart from the American-built trailers Nautiques usually ride on is the fact it features rollers as well as bunks. To launch and retrieve a boat successfully, a bunk trailer needs to be completely submerged. Depending on the launching ramp, this can mean backing the tow vehicle a long way into the water, which is not great for either the trailer or the vehicle, especially in salt water. WATCH…

 Most of the action – Pirate Radio that Rocked vs a Grandmother Government that created obstacles to muffle it – took place on the waters near Great Barrier Island where veterans of the original Radio Hauraki crew recently gathered to reminisce and relive the glory days of radio. Radio Hauraki first found a voice in 1965 when New Zealand journalist David Gapes returned home after a stint in Sydney. He’d seen how broadcasting operated there, shared between the public service Australian Broadcasting Commission and several privately-owned stations. Here, the New Zealand Broadcasting Commission held a monopoly on the airwaves and resisted would-be privately owned broadcasters with an arsenal of technicalities and obscure parliamentary powers. “In New Zealand,” Gape is quoted as saying, “we had inflicted on us the radio of…

“The interior layout is really appealing to New Zealanders...”  The Italians live by the concept of ‘la bella figura’ – literally ‘the beautiful figure’, but going beyond outward appearance to include a sense of style, grace and gentility. Anyone who has been to Italy has seen it in action – no one walks down the street in jandals and a crumpled T-shirt, eating takeaways and shouting into their mobile phone. After all, this is the country which gave the world Michelangelo, Vivaldi and gelato. So what might you expect in an Italiandesigned motor yacht? Something like the Navetta 58, produced by Absolute Yachts in Piacenza, northern Italy. While at first sight there is no doubt it looks somewhat unusual to Kiwi eyes, accustomed to the look of a Formula, Vindex…

 Back in 2012 Ulrika and I began looking seriously at the possibility of taking a few years off to go sailing. We returned from our first tropical island cruise in 1989 in our little 32-foot Cavalier, and had dreamed of living aboard ever since. For this new adventure, though, we knew we needed a bigger boat. While coaching at the World Sailing regatta in Spain 2014, Adamite came to my attention. We knew instinctively that she was the one for us. We bought her over the phone and celebrated with a good Spanish red. Our intention is to sail around New Zealand, and during the stops tackle as much mountain biking, surfing and tramping as we can. We want to explore new places and discover new anchorages and absorb the…

IF YOU’RE WORRIED about the impact of rising sea levels on your home, you might like to consider one of these futuristic floating homes as an alternative. Designed by Naples-based marine architects Jet Capsule, the UFO is a twostorey floating house with a middle disc measuring 12.55m and a waterline length of 40m. The interior has 2.2m of head room, while the vessel itself has a height of six metres. The concept vessel has two half-spherical shells as passenger compartments and a floating disc used as a sundeck. There is a shower room on the lower deck and energy comes from the sun, wind or water. Owners would be able to customise the exterior and interior to their liking, including a garden with trees or a cycling path. Guests can…

THE WRECKS OF three Dutch ships sunk off Indonesia during WWII appeared to have disappeared from the sea bed, scavenged – it seems – for their scrap metal. The Netherlands defence ministry has confirmed that the wrecks of HNLMS De Ruyter and HNLMS Java are completely missing, and that a large piece of HNLMS Kortenaer has vanished. All three ships sank during the Battle of the Java Sea – a disastrous defeat for Dutch, British, American and Australian sailors by Japanese forces in February 1942. About 2,200 people died when the ships went down, including 900 Dutch nationals and 250 people of Indonesian Dutch origin. The wrecks are a war grave, and were first found by divers in 2002. But during a recent expedition – to commemorate next year’s 75th…

GOLD MEDALLISTS PETER BURLING and Blair Tuke have again stamped their mark in New Zealand sailing’s history books, taking out the sport’s top award for the fourth consecutive year. The acclaimed 49er skiff pair were named the winners of the 2016 HRG Sailor of the Year at the recent Volvo Yachting Excellence Awards, proving they are truly in a league of their own following a dominant Olympic campaign which culminated in Rio gold this year. Burling and Tuke made history last year when they won the Sir Bernard Fergusson Trophy for the third time – a feat no other individual or crew had ever achieved since it was first awarded in 1963. This year, the pair have pushed that record just a little further out of reach, with their names…

There are plenty of closed islands to choose from if we scratch the surface of the waters just beyond our immediate shores – heavily quarantined wildlife reserves such as Little Barrier, The Snares, Stephens Island, Kapiti and Mana, Chetwodes and Trios, Three Kings and others. Strict biosecurity also applies to New Zealand’s only scientific island reserve – Te Pakeka Maud Island – which is almost exclusively restricted to scientific observation activity. For DOC Rangers Frank Higgott and Sue Caldwell, their fiveyear posting on Maud Island means total dedication. “We really have no other life than this island,” says Frank with not even a hint of ruefulness. “But we wouldn’t have it any other way!” As Kiwis we have a lot to be grateful for with people like Frank and Sue,…

Protectors make big splash in WA THE NEW ZEALAND designed and built Rayglass Protector range is proving increasingly popular in Western Australia. Rayglass’s Perth Dealer, Alf Barbagollo, has just taken delivery of a new large shipment of RIBs, all of which have been pre-sold. The latest additions to Western Australia’s pleasure boat fleet include versatile 9- and 11.5-metre centre consoles and 12.5m luxury Cabin SLs. Success in Western Australia follows success for Protector on the country’s east coast, especially in Queensland where they are often used for fast cruising to Great Barrier Reef and offshore fishing. Manufactured in Auckland at Rayglass’s state-of-the-art facility in Mt Wellington, Protectors have found favour in most parts of the globe, especially in Europe, the United States, Scandinavia, Russia, Asia and throughout the Pacific. The…

 Until relatively recently marine refrigeration was typically powered by the main engine via a belt-driven compressor. These systems usually comprised a standard, automotive air-conditioning compressor, a custom-made, water-cooled heat exchanger and a locally-manufactured stainless steel cabinet. The system’s weak link, obviously, is this: if the engine’s not running neither is your refrigeration, and every time you extract food or drinks the fridge loses cooling performance. As luck would have it, there is a relatively inexpensive kit to supplement and improve the cooling system. This kit comprises a small, aluminium cold plate (evaporator), a Danfoss (Secop) Direct DC compressor and a thermostat – and it retails for under $1,000. As a supplement to the existing mechanical system, you’ll have a no-nonsense, air-cooled refrigeration system that will maintain your fridge 24/7. Follow…