________________ Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta 2016 _______________

 There she was in all her red splendour in the early morning light. She looked exactly as she did one year ago.

Once on board I took a quick tour of the boat and this is the only thing I noticed that was different from last year - one hell of a bend in the stock of the CQR / Plough anchor - it must have been one hell of a jolt to have bent that!

I sailed the harbour race with my brother Christopher this year. That's him in the foreground in the striped T - Shirt  working on the coffee - grinder winch hauling up the mainsail.

The days events began with the annual Tug Boat race which kicked up quite a lot of choppy water.  The huge wake made any yachts that were too close, pitch and roll, as this little H28 is doing.

The launch 'Te Hauraki' is owned by Steinlagers skipper Alastair Deaves father. We all gave a big cheer as she raced past in the Tug - Boat race. She was small fry compared to some of the massive Tugs racing, but she seemed to be keeping up with the big fat fellas.

The 'William C Daldy' was the only coal fired steam driven Tug in the race.

One of two old Americas Cup yachts that are now in use on Auckland harbour as daily charter yachts. These boats are very fast and quite a match for Steinlager 2.

These are the two flag choices that the New Zealand public will vote on later this year. We will either retain the old flag which combines the Union Jack on a dark blue background with four red stars (The Southern Cross) or we will have a new flag which combines a white silver fern boarded at the top with black and the red stars of the Southern Cross on a light blue background.

Visually from a distance the old flag stood out the best of the two. From a distance the new flag looked a bit washed out in comparison. Closer up (We sailed under the Auckland Harbour bridge) the new flag looked good.

The scow 'Ted Ashby' being put through her paces. One hundred years ago the Auckland coast was full of these coastal trading scows. Before the development of roads and railways these were New Zealands equivalent of the Thames Trading Barge.

The famous amateur built 'Innismara' hoisting her mainsail. She was built as a 'Ranger Beater';  Ranger being an A Class racing yacht designed by Knud Reimers that was unbeatable for decades on Aucklands Waitemata Harbour.

 A Dragon Class yacht, one of the prettiest little boats ever designed, getting the spinnaker pole down.

Traditional Polynesian catamaran heading towards Auckland Harbour bridge.

There were a number of old traditional gaff riggers sailing in the regatta.

Off we go heading for North Head in the distance and then up harbour to the windward buoy.

As we were sailing on the wind at 12 knots the trimaran Vodaphone flew past as if we were standing still. She must have been doing well over 25 knots. This is the trimaran that beat the 80 foot Maxi Lion NZ  that I raced on, by 14 hours in the Auckland to the Bay of Islands Coastal Classic race in 2015.

Speeding back up harbour to a line honours win in the big monohull division.

It was great to share the experience with my brother Chris who I think is now a starter for this years Coastal Classic aboard Steinlager 2 ....... Great!!

_______ TAURIKURA AND THE HOKEY POKEY ICECREAM TEST _________

This house with Taurikura written on it is just up the hill from Taurikura bay and opposite the Taurikura General Store. Whenever I launch my kayak at Taurikura I always do my special patented air temperature test.

The temperature test involves buying a large Hokey Pokey icecream. Today I failed in being able to lick all melting Hokey Pokey icecream before most of it ran down the cone and onto my hand. This was important empirical information. - Consulting my patented Hokey Pokey Air Temperature Chart I ascertained that today it was extremely hot. I never listen to anecdotal evidence, only a true scientific test meets my standards.

If you have never tasted Hokey Pokey ice cream before (which is considered by people of impeccable culinary taste as nectar of the gods) I suggest you book a flight to New Zealand immediately.

I launched at Taurikura on a typical summers weekend day in Northland. Families were enjoying themselves at the beach.

This is moi trying to look cool in my new $23.90 clip on sun glasses - alas cool is a temperature that doesn't seem to suit me - I am better with a HPICCone cone in my hand.

On my way with High Island on the port side and Little Munroe Bay around the headland in the distance.

This a house I remember being built in Little Munroe Bay in the 1970s. It has a rather unique rood line. The roof has been constructed by draping hessian sack cloth over large sloping roof beams, reinforced with wire mesh and then plastered with ferro cement concrete.

Kiwis at play in Little Munroe Bay. These jet ski thingies are not really my cup of tea, not only because of the amount of noise they make but because the people who ride them seem to want to show off in nice quiet anchorages and ignore all the common sense speed imperatives.

The large flax plant is called an Epiphyte which is a plant that grows on other plants or trees but is not parasitic to its host. I remember being on a school camp and one evening seeing one of these crash down suddenly - thank goodness it didn't happen the next day when we were in the bush doing our camp activities.

The great advantage of a kayak is the ability to get really close in to the shore. I love this paddling this close shore / water boundary.

Paddling back to Taurikura. Interesting erosion patterns and nice clear water.

As I drew closer to Taurikura I came upon a wedding taking place under some huge Pohutakawa trees. I actually heard the words ... "Do you Johnathon take ........ " come floating across the water.

I thought of American Blogger Dan when I took this photo. This pair of birds (wonder if they are formally married?) are of the genus Black Featherus Long Red Billus.

By the look of the big thick wooden filleting board on the back of the boat, if the Mullet aren't stunned as they are pulled over the side of the boat they soon will be.

Nice waterside homes in Taurikura Bay. It's always been my dream to live like this but these properties are very expensive.

Back to Taurikura beach where I launched my kayak from.

Kayak back on the top of my car and ready to go. I am now all ready for the drive up the hill to the Taurikura General Store and the compulsory daily temperature test.

_________ Steinlager 2 (Again) - Auckland Anniversary Regatta 2016 ________

Time seems to go past faster as you get older - I can't quite believe that it has been one year since the last Auckland Anniversary Regatta.

This year I am booked on board for the day with my brother Christopher. He was a bit miffed that I didn't ask him to sail with me and my mate David on Lion NZ in last years Coastal Classic but as I pointed out to him;

 "The last time we sailed together was on Mariner when we sailed her back from the Bay of Islands - You were very sea sick and said to me as you chundered over the side, 'Don't ask me to go F - ing sailing again... Ever! "

I was told these words were said (understandably)  under the duress of 'Mal de mer' ....... I am very glad about that as it's always great to hang out and go sailing with my bros.

So we leave the Auckland Viaduct Basin at 8.45am Monday 1st February, ready to do battle under a predicted  sunny sky and 15 knots of Easterly wind - I can hardly wait.

( Berths are available to the general public at $150 pp for the day. The money is used by the NZ Sailing Trust to maintain these great old 'Whitbread Around the World' racing yachts. Both Steinlager 2 and Lion NZ are mainly used by the trust for school sailing programmes ). 

......................................... FIRST PADDLE OF THE YEAR .......................................

I got together a few days ago with my two brothers Tony and Chris for a paddle on Whangarei Harbour. Unexpectedly today Tony presented me with this framed photograph of moi sitting in my kayak. He said that he thought it was a great photo and decided to get it printed and framed for me - which was a very nice gesture on his part (Thanks Bro) - although I am a bit dubious about having such a large visage of myself following me around the room like the eyes on the Mona Lisa painting.

Tony (on the left) and Chris (right) have just given me a hand to get my kayak off my roof rack and onto its launching trolley. My system of a roller bar tied to the bike rack mounted on the tow bar works well and with two pairs of extra hands the job was very easy.

Chris was trying out for the first time an inflatable kayak he had purchased on NZ TradeMe.

Inflated and ready to go. This 'Pathfinder' kayak is the double paddle version and as Tony declined to be the second crew member (Chris couldn't find the second life jacket among his gear)  I had my doubts as to its single paddle performance in the wind that was starting to blow.

Downwind the inflatable worked well although with the absence of the weight of a second person the boat rode high in the water and would have performed better with a 20 litre plastic container of water up towards the bow.

We did a circumnavigation of Limestone Island, an old route of mine. Paddling up the southern side of the island and heading directly into the wind and waves the inflatable made no progress at all. This was despite the fact that Chris is a strong and capable paddler in a kayak. But he found he was going backwards. So Chris got into shallow water with the intention of towing his boat by hand to the top of the island but quickly found himself sinking up to his knees in the mud.

So the solution was to tow him. I was quite happy to do this as it gave me the chance to try out a tow rope I had on board the kayak all set up for just this kind of occasion.  Here the yellow tow rope with its little float is clipped onto the inflatables bow loop.

I found towing Chris hard work despite the fact that he was still paddling. I expended about four times the amount of energy for approximately a quarter of the speed I had been doing previously.

I think this experience shows up the limitations of inflatable boats compared with displacement type hulls made of various materials. I have a small inflatable dinghy which works well with a small outboard motor but which is pretty much impossible to row into the wind when it is very choppy and windy making it dangerous in anything other than very moderate conditions.

With a length of  5.3 metres (Just over 17 feet) the Tasman Express sea kayak is excellent for day and expedition kayaking. When I get into a rhythm I am able to maintain a good forward speed for long lengths of time, even when loaded up with gear in its generous stowage compartments. The low profile and flared bow enables the kayak to perform extremely well in rough seas and windy conditions. I find the rudder (which is controlled by foot pedals) extremely useful for turning and prevents the kayak from 'weather vanning' in cross wind conditons.

Made of polyethylene I have found the hull pretty flexible and forgiving, especially when I have found myself dumped on the top of rocks by a receding swell whilst engaging in what us kayakers call, "Doing a bit of rock gardening".

Perhaps the biggest lesson of this little trip (or reminder really) was the value of Whanau (family). I love doing stuff with the Bros!

............... IF IT CAN FLOAT ITS BOUND TO BE A WHOLE LOT OF FUN ...............

I first saw this utube video on this interesting Blog that I follow:  http://intheboatshed.net/

What is not to like about these little compact packets of fun?  Powered by a small sail on an unstayed mast and steered by an oar over the gunwale they are simplicity itself and they look lightweight enough for even an aging old sailor like myself to lift onto the roof rack of a car.

They don't seem to have any centerboard, the oar and the chine doing the job of lateral resistance ( although there may be a small skeg on the keel line ).

Obviously not designed for open water they seem ideal for cruising around very shoal areas of creeks, lakes and harbours. The only change I think I would make would be to build in a watertight compartment in the bow and stern........ not just to make things easier if you were to capsize ....... but because all sailors in their 60s have the crucial task of playing at Pirates, Explorers and Swallows and Amazons which requires a dry place to store the best kind of  bo'suns stores (Food and drink).

They look like one hell of a lot of fun! ..... and fun is good.

............... VIXEN and the Halabisky family - The Spirit of Simplicity ...............

Take the link below to hear the story of the Halabisky family and their life together on the yacht 'Vixen'. 

Video:      https://vimeo.com/139102400?r=wbstnews.wed.01.06.16/

http://www.woodenboat.com/whiskey_plank/circumnavigating-children

_________ IT WAS ALL OK FOR THE LAST RACE OF THE YEAR __________

Yesterday my cousin Stephen Smith loaned me his OK Dinghy for the last races of the Onerahi Yacht Clubs Tuesday evening 'Twilight Series'. I raced in three back to back races and enjoyed myself immensely. I was the only OK dinghy sailor on the water and raced with others within the Laser fleet.

The wind was not as strong as last weeks series where I capsized 3 times sailing my Starling and didn't finish any races. This week, I completed all the races mainly because I found this bigger boat more suited to my size. It's a boat for someone of adult size and I found it more stable and easy to move around in. I found my weight suits this size; any movement within the cockpit doesn't alter the trim of the boat to the extent it does to the Starling.

I found the Ok Dinghy fast, relatively docile compared to the Starling and very forgiving in its manners. Despite its much bigger sail area, the rig can be easily tuned when sailing to suit the wind conditions. I found the hiking position much easier on my legs than on the Starling. This was a surprise to me as I thought that stacking out to windward for any length of time would be the deal breaker, but it wasn't nearly as difficult as I had imagined and I was able to stack out comfortably for lengthy periods of time.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Auckland and had a look at a couple of OK Dinghies for sale. Whether I purchase one is a question I will have to think very carefully about. Certainly the result of yesterdays sail has proved to myself that I am still capable of coping with one of these bigger boats.

The Nemesis Of 2000+ Years of Dualistic Theological Thinking

I listened to this Gordon Lightfoot song recently. I find it deeply, deeply haunting.

One of the verses in the song contains these lyrics:

"Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?"

I think the implications of Lightfoots question is really the achilles heel and perhaps the nemesis of 2000 years of Christian thinking that lives in a theologically dualistic world. By dualistic I mean: We are here, and over there is a separate cosmic entity called God. Given the proclaimed nature of this God (Loving, forgiving, omnipotent and a worker of miracles) Christianity has never been able to answer the simple question - If God is omnipotent and loving why is there so much suffering in the world?

Put another way: What was God doing when he invented child cancer? Having an 'off day' ? If so, why doesn't he do something about it?

The way I deal with this question is to seek out wisdom from both the dualistic and non - dualistic traditions. By non- dualistic I mean:  The idea that the universe and all its multiplicity are ultimately expressions or appearances of one essential reality. This removes the reliance on the concept of a supposed 'Loving God' who ends up being a contradiction in terms.

So what is my personal path? My path requires the capacity to stay well away from organised religion, gurus, teachers, ashrams, monasteries and all other god awful monstrosities built on the ego and hubris of others. It is not a movement or a cause. It's the meeting of a few people, or one on one with a wise friend. The path requires reading, filtering what you read and then practising and integrating wisdom into everyday life. Living with paradox the wise ones gathering from both the non dualistic and the dualistic path advise that:  Adhering to an impeccable moral code ( Buddhism, Christianity and other spiritual paths have lots of this stuff), meditation, mindfulness, pilgrimage, prayer, contemplation, practising " The Golden Rule" *  and involving yourself in the world doing the things you love leads to personal transformation, wisdom and knowing beyond mere words. The crux of all of this is developing the capacity to transcend the 'ego' or the 'self' (selfishness). This process of personal transformation is a life long journey. Peace, insight and enlightenment is obtained during this transformational process by putting others first.  In other words - Changing the world requires changing yourself first. Easy to say, hard to implement. That's why proselytising should be kept to a minimum. You should walk the talk - not talk the walk.

That's my Christmas message to the individual reader - If you like it, great, if you don't, disregard it instantly and seek out your own knowledge of your Self.

*  The Golden Rule :     http://www.religioustolerance.org/reciproc.htm

________________________ MERRY CHRISTMAS ________________________

Merry Christmas Shipmates

The Mariner Project - Part 2

This is where perhaps the majority of engines in yachts around 30 feet (9metres) live - in the stern of the boat, under the cockpit and behind the companionway steps. 'Mariners' engine is no exception.

When I sailed recently in the Coastal Classic race on board 'Lion New Zealand' the skipper in his briefing remarked that " Lions marine toilets (she had 2) were made by people who hate sailors". Everyone laughed. The boat owners among us laughed a bit more wryly and would have added marine diesel engines to the list. Engines and toilets are extremely useful, but they also smell,  can leak stuff everywhere, get blocked with stuff and sometimes decide not to work just when you need them the most. Of course us boat owners also have to take some responsibility and admit that things might work a lot more reliably if we did the routine maintenance.

This is 'Mariners' 11HP Arona Diesel engine. It is made by Fiat in Italy. It is mounted horizontally on the engine beds and power is transferred through a 'V' drive gearbox. This means that the engine has the fly-wheel facing the stern. The engine was installed when I launched the boat in 1979. It is an old simple single cylinder motor. The main problem over the years has been oil leaking mainly from the sump plate seals. Despite a drip tray underneath the engine, oil inevitably gets into the bilge with the resultant smell and mess.

On first inspection there are six problems I can see that require attention - there may be more.

1 - The engine will start and run, but doesn't pump any coolant water through the system. This may be a problem with the water pump or more likely the water jacket around the cylinder head may be clogged up with 35 years of metal 'scale' and rust.

2 - Salt water ingress has rusted the angle iron that the engine mounts are bolted to.

3 -  Many parts of the engine are rusty and need attention.

4 -  The engine mounts need renewing.

5 - Oil leaks from the engine sump plate continue despite a number of attempts to tighten the nuts up.

6 - The traditional dripping stern gland continues to drip and needs to changed to one of those new fangled non-drip varieties.

Today I had a long talk to Kurt on board his 40 foot Junk rigged schooner that is fitted with an Eco Friendly Electric Motor. More of that later!

The Mariner Project - Part 1

There are no more excuses. I now have a fully restored Starling sailing dinghy for exercise and diversion from the slings and arrows of outrageous retirement - so...... no more procrastination. I must now bite the bullet and get Mariners marine diesel engine either repaired or replaced. There is a lot more sailing to do before the letting go of 'Old Cold Nose' for the very last time by this old sailor.

I am toying with the idea of competing next year in the Auckland to Russell Coastal Classic, not as I did this year on board Lion New Zealand but on my very own beloved Mariner. So I have about eleven months to do this engine work and some others tweaks to the boat that will make her a little bit more fun to sail. Remember shipmates, sailing is serious fun ..........  (Except when it's hell on earth - a howling gale, lee shore, moonless night, no bloody clue where you are, wet and seasick) ........ and serious fun is yee-hahingly good.

TWO D.N.F.s - ONE D.N.S. - OH WELL, WORSE THINGS HAPPEN AT SEA

The acronyms on race summary sheets DNF and DNS mean "Did Not Finish" and "Did Not Start" respectively. Two DNFs and one DNS sums up my second race outing yesterday evening. I was very excited before racing because it was blowing about 15 - 20 knots and I knew that I would be very competitive in this wind strength - and I was - until on three separate occasions in the first two races I capsized in spectacular fashion. To be fair to myself I have to say that I wasn't the only one suffering from multi - capsize syndrome as nearly everyone (except the winning Starling - which wasn't me! ) had a turn at getting thoroughly wet during the evening.

These photos are a bit deceptive as they don't really show how hard it was blowing, but it was fair funneling between Limestone Island and the mainland at Onerahi.

In the first race I was second to the top mark close behind a very skillful and accomplished teenage girl who always sails superbly. Downwind she really showed her skills by planing away in a shower of spray and gybing skillfully back onto what was a flat run to the bottom mark. My attempts to follow suit had me capsizing twice in a row. On both occasions the centerboard came out of the centerboard case and started to float away. I spent a lot of time trying to get it back in its slot so that I could heave on it and right the boat again.

In the second race, again I was doing very well only being pipped to the first mark by a whisker - but then again while sailing flat off downwind I came off a wave with the boat rolling to windward, over corrected and ended up in the tide again. This time I ended up under the boat with the main sheet wound around my neck and the deck banging on my head. Again the centerboard had fallen out and I spent a lot of time getting it back into the the centerboard case. By the time I got back into the boat for a third time I was pretty exhausted and decided to call it a day.

BUT - as I sailed back to the club house to the beer and barbecued sausages I hardly felt hard done by. The water was very pleasant to capsize into as it is warmed while flowing into Whangarei Harbour over several large sand banks that have been baking in the sun all day. Also, in this big wind memories came flooding back from my early sailing years as I felt again the joy of small boat sailing: Thrashing to windward, then planning off downwind in a flurry of spray and wind - very, very, very good for this old buggers soul I can tell you.

LESSONS LEARNED:

1 - "Always wear a life jacket". Wise words. I would have drowned without one.

2 - I am showing my age. Hiking out for long periods of time at 64 years of age is very taxing. I need not just the set of compression pads to protect the underneath of my thighs, I also require a set for my calf muscles.

3 - The boat requires another self bailer. In these choppy conditions I had water coming green over the bow and filling the cockpit.

4 - I need a piece of shock cord (something that all Starlings have - something I had overlooked) to hold the center board in place when capsized.

5 - I need to make sure that I do a thorough boat inspection before launching. I failed to see that I hadn't re-tied the hiking straps back up with shock cord which made getting my feet under the straps harder after each tack.

6 - "She'll be right" is not good enough - I thought the two loose sail battens in the mains'l that I knew required new elastic in the sail pocket (to hold suitable tension on them) would be ok. But in this full sail breeze one of them popped out when the sail was flogging in the wind. I took the sail into 'Calibre Sails' today to get fixed.

7 - My little Starling looks beautiful in all her varnished glory - BUT - she is also very slippery to work in. I slide like hell all over my beautiful varnished cockpit floor slats LOL and the deck isn't much different. Many racing yachts have non skid tape or painted out patches in high use areas - But I know all of this - My keeler Mariners' deck and cockpit are all painted out in non skid paint. I think I will have to do something about that if I continue to race.

8 - "Practise makes perfect" so the saying goes. I would settle... not for perfection, but for just staying upright throughout the racing. So a bit of practise is required in a less frenetic context where I can get used to a few of the old moves. You can't teach an old sea dog new tricks - that's because he needs to teach the new tricks to himself - with a bit of practise.

STARLING SAIL CONTROLS

George from 'Mid-Atlantic Musings'  http://mid-atlanticmusings.blogspot.co.nz/ asked if I would post some photos of the Starlings sail controls - So these are for you George and anyone else who is interested.

This photograph (Above) is NOT my Starling - This is a photograph of a very, very  nice Starling that I took at the Auckland Boat Show a few years ago. At the time I was just at the stage of thinking about getting a small centerboard yacht again. I liked this very orderly well thought out set up, so when it came time to do my own boat I printed this photograph out, taped it to a piece of cardboard and used it as a reference as I set up my own boat.

The rest of the photos are of my own boats setup which is a direct copy of the Boat Show Starling except that I mounted all the turning blocks and cam cleats on little teak blocks.

The outside control is the mains'l cunningham rope. The middle control is the mains'l out haul and the inner most is the kicking strap control. The controls are repeated on the other side of the boat.

Two of the jamb cleats came with the boat when I bought it, two I bought second hand and two I purchased new. I can't believe how expensive yacht fittings have become. A set of 6 of these cleats brand new would cost NZ$550.

At the present time there are no jam cleats on the side decks to take the mainsheet, as there is a jam cleat incorporated into the last main sheet ratchet block just about the center case in the cockpit. But I am not happy with this and may change this arrangement.

These photos were taken today before competing in my second series of races. The weather was the same as last week; mainly light winds of around 12kph. But when it freshened up a couple of times and we all had to start stacking out I became competitive. I was happy today with a couple of third placings. What I am looking forward to is a really big wind that will make the boat plane downwind.

These Tuesday evening races are very pleasant and I was surprised at how warm the water was ( I got plenty wet enough!)