________ SAILING TOWARDS A LOCAL WHANGAREI ZEPHYR FLEET _______

  Zephyr Nationals Worser Bay Wellington 2018 - I am sailing Zephyr 195

Imagine it is circa 1680 AD. You live in the province of Lombardy, in the city of Cremona in northern Italy. Your name is Luigi Romano and you are an amateur violin maker and modest violin player. One day someone called Antonio Stradivari rings you up on your cell phone. You have met him a couple of times briefly and know exactly who the maestro is. "Hello Luigi" he says, "It's Antonio Stradivari, the violin maker, I am coming to live in Cremona next month; lets get together sometime soon, we could help each other with some violin making and perhaps play a few duets together." ............. Hold that thought .................

Early in 2017 I wrote a blog post here: http://yachtee.blogspot.co.nz/2017/02/prophecy.html

This blog post is titled 'A Prophecy', which at the time was really just a bit of wishful thinking. But to my surprise and delight my wishful thinking came true when my mate Burnie purchased Whangarei's second Zephyr yacht. When I posted 'A Prophecy' I knew Bernie was looking to possibly buy a Zephyr, so it is a bit of a stretch to use the word 'prophecy', but who am I to let the facts get in the way of a good story.

The story of the arrival of Burnies Zephyr Racing Stripes is posted here: https://yachtee.blogspot.com/2017/02/then-there-were-four-or-is-that-two.html

The story of why, before the Zephyr Nationals Burnie changed the name of his Zephyr from Racing Stripes to its new name of Bad Boy is a story for Burnie to tell - my lips are sealed.

The story of our adventures at the 2018 National Zephyr championships is told here: https://yachtee.blogspot.com/2018/02/zephyr-nationals-2018.html

Then; almost exactly one year out from the 2018 Zephyr Nationals, like lightening out of a blue flagged sky I get a ring from Antonio Stradivari (aka Don Currie).

"Hi there Alden" he said. "We've sold our house in Auckland and have bought a house in Whangarei. We move up on the 22nd of February; let's get together sometime soon, we could help each other with some boat building and perhaps go sailing together" - "Yes! that's great" I replied, immediately empathizing with how Luigi Romano would have felt when Antonio Stradivari held out the hand of friendship and equivalence in a similar way back in the 17th century.

Equivalence is true of course in terms of zealotry for sailing, but in terms of boat building skill Don Currie is a Mr Stradivari of sorts. In terms of sailing skills he has already thrashed me several times on the water which won't do me any harm. But best of all; apart from being an intelligent, interesting and engaging individual, Don has an enthusiasm for boats of all shapes and sizes in general, and a depth, breadth, experience and knowledge of Zephyr construction and sailing in particular, which is going to be a huge asset to our fledgling little fleet.

It is most heartening that there will now be three Zephyrs here in Whangarei sailing and racing regularly. We can hardly call ourselves a fleet yet, but I keep telling myself that providence has a way of casting a fruitful net upon a faithful ocean.

Then there is this: I have heard that there is a another master violin maker who hasn't moved to Cremona in Lombardy, in northern Italy ... Yet.

His name is Giuseppi Guarneri ........... moreover, there are others. The ordinary folk of Lombardy. All with a passion for violin making and playing. I have no doubt they know exactly how to use a cell phone. Luigi Romano is waiting in quiet expectation.

So shipmates here is the drill. The new trio of skippers have decided to sail two days a week. These days being the Tuesday evening racing at the Onerahi Yacht Club (3 - 4 back to back well organised races) and Sundays at Parua Bay Yacht Club. Here the mornings will be taken up with rigging, tuning and discussion combined with on the water sailing and racing tactics practise. In the afternoons we will compete in an all comers series of back to back races - Wood, wind and water, bliss really.

Don Currie (aka Antonio Stradivari) completing the woodwork on the first ever fiberglass hulled Zephyr.

The very high degree of woodworking skill is apparent in the completed fiberglass hulled boat.

Don Currie (left) master mind and master craftsman behind the restoration of 'Julie' complete with traditional wooden mast, boom, beautifully varnished deck and flash wooden rudder and dagger board finished in the traditional manner. (From NZ Boating World  2019).

______ ZEPHYR SAILING, EGO, PERVERSITY AND LOSING WEIGHT _____

Last month I towed my Zephyr 'Slipstream' (Zephyr 195 with the red numbers, above) by car to Auckland and raced in the Auckland Zephyr championships. There were seven races over two days. The skippers I met were friendly, helpful and encouraging. I was advised to purchase a new mains'l as the sail that came with the boat was very old and cut very flat (possibly for the more breezy sailing on Wellington harbour from where I purchased 'Slipstream'). We raced offshore between Howick Beach and Waiheke Island. There was a good breeze and I had a wonderful time competing. It was a great learning experience. There were about 18 Zephyrs racing. I was last in every race. I didn't just lose, I lost by a 'Country Mile'. At the time shipmates, I expressed my thoughts regarding this situation in this way: "Bugger".

A few weeks later and after receiving my brand spanking new mains'l (Zephyr 195 with the new blue numbers above) I towed 'Slipstream' down to Auckland for a days racing at French Bay on the Manakau Harbour. There were four races held on this very tidal but delightful piece of water. This time with my new mains'l I wasn't beaten by a country mile - I was just beaten. I was last in every race. There were a couple of hopeful moments where I managed to get around the top mark on the first beat to windward in the middle of the pack; but downwind the other boats just seemed to have that extra bit of boat speed. Shipmates, at the time I described the situation in this way: "Bugger," in fact it was: "Double Bugger" (Because it's happened twice in a row).

Now, at this point it is important to note that the skippers who beat me in the racing are excellent sailors, they know their stuff and nothing I say is intended to detract from their excellent and well deserved placings in the racing. I just want to go faster than them.

One notable fact that I observed during the sailing was that compared to my rotund physical profile all of the other skippers looked somewhat like Norwegian racing sardines. My contrast with this fact rather protruded into the sailing atmosphere much like the proverbial elephant in the room. Bugger. Now elephants in rooms are usually not addressed directly because they are metaphors for things that are obvious but too difficult for people to talk about. I have been eyeballing my elephant and talking to him directly.

My goal is to create optimum racing conditions for myself by making some changes. This of course is no guarantee of success in terms of winning every race - that is unrealistic. But changing the situation of being beaten by a 'Country Mile' into finishing in the top 50% of the fleet is certainly an achievable goal.

My weight analysis (below) takes for granted that all of the following are being integrated at a high level:  Helmsman skill, good boat speed decisions, good route decisions, best use of natural conditions (taking correct windshifts), avoiding other boats and their slowing influence, defending a position (covering, luffing), automatic skills (sailing by feel), conscious fast sailing skills (concentration on the mains'l luff, waves etc), a well tuned boat, speed through the water, correct fluid compromise between pointing for height / bearing away for speed, Good tactics etc........... if all these skills are in place then boat and skipper weight can be examined as part of the full sailing scenario.

My analysis of the weight situation is predicated on the basis that a high power to weight ratio provides more speed. If the boat and skipper of a certain sailing skill weighs considerably more than the sailing opposition of a similar sailing skill then the power to weight ratio will have a considerable influence on the race outcome. I have found this out when racing my Starling dinghy. At 97kgs I am at a disadvantage (especially in light conditions) while racing the Starling when other skippers are weighing in at under 60kgs. The extra 37kgs in the Starling is pretty decisive. Some will give anecdotal evidence of how weight doesn't make any difference but an anecdote is not science and the laws of physics are, well.... the laws of physics.

Analysis:

Extract from Zephyr website:-
How heavy can you be and still sail a Zephyr?
Statistics from this years National Contest.
58-107kg in the Nationals fleet
65 - 86 kg in the top ten and
65 - 92 kg in the top 20 

- My weight when I started sailing my Zephyr was 97kgs

- I am an old (65) but reasonably skilled and experienced small boat sailor. Other competitors many who are 65 +  are also skilled and experienced. So I am competing on a level playing field.

-  My boat is pretty much down to weight at 63 kgs. The class rules determine the minimum weight at 58kgs. Getting 5 kgs out of the boat would help if combined with other weight loss measures - 5kgs alone won't make much of a difference.

-  To achieve my goal I need to lose some weight.

Now, shipmates bear with me as I explain the next bit of my dissertation. One of the meanings of the word 'Perverse' is: "Contrary to the accepted or expected standard or practice". So shipmates here is the perverse bit:

About four years ago when I weighed 103kgs I had a heart attack; a sobering experience that very nearly killed me. After quadruple heart bypass surgery and a couple of weeks recovery my weight got down to 90kgs. It then climbed back and settled at a steady 97kgs. Since then the very sensible advice from my wife, doctor, cardiologist, hospital surgeons has been:

"Losing weight will: lessen the risk of heart attacks, protect you from developing type two diabetes, help take the strain off your arthritic knee and ankle, enable you to walk longer distances without joint pain and generally enhance your quality of life." - Good stuff and I agree with all of it. But turning it all into action has been difficult - Until I bought a Zephyr sailing dinghy and got beaten by a 'Country Mile.'

Today shipmates I got on the scales as I have done since the campaign began and my current weight is 89. 2kgs............. and falling steadily ............... If I am able to get 5kgs out of the boat and get my own weight down to 80kgs that will be a total reduction of on-board sailing weight of 22kgs - not an insignificant amount. I will then be able to mix the results of the laws of physics with a few Norwegian racing sardines and see what happens to the 'Country Miles!' pah!.......................

............... what common sense and concern for my health hasn't achieved - human pride, competitiveness, bloody mindedness and dented Ego has.  

I shall write a book. I shall call it: THE ZEPHYR DIET. 

________________________ Zephyr Nationals 2018 ______________________

'Slipstream' and I were placed 60th out of 73 boats in the 2018 Zephyr Nationals. After less than two years experience in the Zephyr this placing wasn't really unexpected so I have to say it didn't dent my enjoyment of the event in the slightest. I had a truly wonderful time. It blew like hell ( 20 knots gusting to 28) for the first race (23 boats withdrew) and wasn't much better for the remaining 8 races.  I really struggled in the first few races in the high winds. I reached the top mark in these early races with the cockpit half full of water having been unable to control the heel of the boat when the big squalls drove through.

.

You Tube video - 2018 Zephyr Nationals

All kitted up and ready to go. Launching off the beach had its moments with small waves creating a bit of chaos at times. One boat got away from its skipper and rammed me in the side - my ribs are still recovering.

My mate Bernie never made it to the first race. He sheared off his Zephyrs rudder stock on the way to the start.

Bernie managed to purchase a new rudder stock and we spent a couple of hours drilling and bolting on a new set of rudder gudgeons to the stern of his boat. He raced the next two races but unfortunately strained his back so severely he had to retire from the contest.

The Cook Strait ferry was a constant background presence throughout the sailing on windy Wellington Harbour.

Happily we didn't race on the official last day (Sun Feb 24th) of the contest because the predicted weather prevailed and it blew a steady 35 knots - gusting to 45 knots all day. An extra race was held on both Friday and Saturday in light of the predication of high winds for Sunday. 

Secretly I actually wished we could have sailed - the downwind runs would have been spectacular. I took this photo (above) on the wharf on the seaward side of Te Papa Museum. I also took this photo (below) which is a good symbol of Wellingtons legendary weather.

All construction site scaffolding and various tents on the wharf were held down with arrays of concrete blocks.

Christine and I stayed at the 'Beachfront Wellington Bed and Breakfast' (Extreme left in the photo). This was a beautiful spot across the road from the yacht club, the rigging area and the beach. We went to sleep each night and woke in the morning to the sound of the surf breaking.

After the 3rd race I had a talk to Andy Knowles a former Olympic sailer and very experienced Zephyr sailor about my struggles going to windward in the tough conditions. He gave me some excellent technical advice regarding raking the mast, sailing with the centre board raked and raised about 120 -300mms and freeing the mains'l leech by putting on as much boom vang as I could. This worked well, I was able to keep the boat upright and water free and my placings improved somewhat.

The lesson I learned from the contest was that the Zephyr is a very technical boat to sail fast and that I have only scratched the surface of what the boat is capable of doing. Of course I also need to improve my basic small boat racing skills - getting clear wind right from the gun in a big fleet will be a start.

The positives I took from the whole experience were:

- Completing all 9 races.

- Not capsizing.

- Learning how to sail better to windward in high winds.

- Stonking along with the boat balanced on a knife edge as she planed like hell in a ferocious following wind. 

- Enjoying the company of wife Christine and Lynn and Bernie our traveling companions.

- Meeting some old friends and new friends.

- Being amazed by the skill and fortitude of Zephyr sailors (Over 40 of the skippers were aged 60 or more - with one over 70).

- Enjoying great breakfasts every morning cooked by Craig the B'n'B owner (I told him I am going to nominate him for TVs Master Chef).

- Racing in a really big fleet

- Watching 73 beautiful, beautiful Zephyrs sailing.

- Experiencing a really well run contest; well done Worser Bay Yacht Club!

- Going to sleep and waking to the sound of surf breaking.

 

The 2019 Zephyr Nationals will be held in Tauranga - I will be there.

________________ WALNUT SHELL, FLOUR AND WATER _______________

Yesterday as I was preparing to go for a sail a publication arrived for me in the mail. This slim A4 sized volume of 50 pages gives a good overview of the history of the yacht designer Des Townsons Zephyr class sailing dinghy.

As someone who has built or renovated a variety of boats over the last 40 years and wrestled with G - Clamps and various glues I was delighted to read this:

"The 50th anniversary of the Zephyr class was run at Milford Cruising Club in Jan 2006 and attracted the largest ever Zehphr national championship fleet of 83 boats. From the designer came the following words for the regatta programme:

"When the 21st anniversary of the Zephyr class was celebrated in 1977  by the French Bay Boating Club, it was quite an historic occasion, as the life expectancy of a dinghy in 1956 was about ten years. Most Zephyrs are constructed of untreated pinus radiata, the timber blamed by the building industry for the rotting homes problem. The glue used was heavily extended with walnut shell, flour and water. Much of the styling of the Zephyr is influenced by the traditional form of the North Sea fishing boats dating back to the mid 19th century. So we have a classic built of inferior timber bonded (in effect) with a flour and water paste, and of antiquated styling. That the Zephyr has remained durable and popular for 50 years is good cause for further celebration. I therefore welcome you to this significant regatta and trust you will have an enjoyable regatta."

The slim volume that arrived in the mail also provided me with some other interesting information. Over 500 Zephyr have now been built. Hull numbers #1 to #233 were built in Auckland during the second half of  the 1950s by Des Townson himself. My Zephyr 'Slipstream' is hull #195 which means it's at least 50 years old and held together by a glue "heavily extended with walnut shell, flour and water" !  Yikes!!!!!

(On reflection, a Stradivarius Violin is not held together with modern epoxy or resorcinol glues either - I really like the comparison).

____________________________ 'SLIPSTREAM' __________________________

There she was peeping out from the bottom of the boat rack at the Worser Bay Boating Club in Wellington. She is the Zephyr Class sailing dinghy 'Slipstream' which I have just purchased; thus finally settling the choice of a bigger sailing dinghy which has been occupying my thoughts for some time.

The round bilge Zephyr Class is the big sister of my current hard chine Starling sailing dinghy. Both were designed by the talented New Zealand yacht designer Des Townson. There are fleets of Zephyrs all over New Zealand providing plenty of competition. The Zephyr class has become a very popular choice for older sailors, being big enough to provide challenging and exciting sailing, but not so big that older sailors find them exhausting.

The 2018 NZ Zephyr nationals will be held at Worser Bay Boating Club which is a great venue for sailing - I will definitely be a starter. 

'Slipstream' has the Zephyr class emblem painted on her bows. 

'Slipstream' is a basic no frills example and will require quite a bit of work to get her up to the standard I would like. I will sail and race her this summer and do the required restoration work over winter.

It was a nice trip south to pick up the boat, being one of those journeys where everything goes right. I managed to drive an uneventful 12 hours non stop to Wellington and stayed with friends in the Stokes Valley just out of Wellington city. The weather was sunny and agreeable and the road dry and safe. I did the drive back to Whangarei over a two day period, completing a round trip of 1600km.

The seller of 'Slipstream' was an affable and engaging semi retired airline pilot. After we had loaded the boat onto my road trailer we did the business over lunch at his house five minutes from the yacht club. With the wheels off the beach trolley everything fitted and tied down well. A slight shortening of the beach trolley wheel base will see the whole outfit fitting well.

I thought the name 'Slipstream' with its aero and hydrodynamic connotations was an appropriately named yacht for an airline pilot and I myself have a nice coincidence with my new boat. 'Slipstreams' sail number is 195. This is the same sail number as my little 'P' Class yacht 'Elusive' that I raced in the National 'P' Class Championships in Wellington in 1968. When I do the Zephyr Nationals in Wellington in 2018 it will be a span of 50 years!

Zephyr 195 - 'Slipstream'

P Class 195 - 'Elusive' 

____________________ DAGGER BOARD WOES _____________________

 State of the art advanced epoxy carbon fibre foam sandwich Zephyr rudder, tiller and dagger board. Cost - NZ$3000.

 
My Zephyr 'Slipstream's spare dagger board that I have lengthened - cost of mods: NZ$50.

Earlier this week I launched my Zephyr with the intention of going racing. I was very keen to try out my 'new' lengthened and freshly painted dagger board. This was to be my moment of triumph, my new board would have me sailing away from the competition; pointing and footing faster than a Norwegian racing sardine with a new set of scales.

I clambered aboard and after pushing down the rudder I picked up the dagger board and tried to insert it in the dagger board case. It didn't and wouldn't fit. It would not go in, insert, go down, slot in, be pushed in or do as it was told by 'Slipstream's polite skipper. The board was simply too thick for the dagger board case  ............ bugger.

What's that I hear you ask ? - "Didn't you think to try it out in the dagger board case before you went to all the trouble of launching the boat ? .....  no I bloody didn't and stop your laughing right now.

When I got home I laid a long steel ruler along both sides of the centerboard and found the problem. The problem is best explained by that hardy old mixed metaphor of a first presumption having a domino effect upon all the down stream presumptions so that the whole outfit collapses like a deck of cards ..... bugger - the truth is that's it's not just the dagger board that is a bit thick.

Of course I could solve all my Zephyr appendage problems by simply going out and purchasing a state of the art set of foils as depicted in the first photograph (above); but there are a couple of problems that I would have to grapple with.

'Slipstream' was purchased for $4000. A state of the art set of foils costs $3000 - I am not sure I could live with the yawning contradiction in values - a bit like purchasing a second hand 1950s Volvo motorcar and fitting a couple of solid gold, diamond encrusted hubcaps ............  yes, yes, yes I know there's no logic to any of this, but it is My, logic ..... which gets stretched when I know the hubcaps wouldn't add a jot of anything to the Volvo, but a set of light weight perfectly aerofoil carbon fibre foils would certainly add something to the speed of 'Slipstream'.

The second problem is that I am a great ranter about the cost of sailing and how this is a barrier for many young people getting into the sport. My argument in terms of competitive sailing is that if class rules banned hugely expensive exotic materials everyone would still be racing on a level playing field, cost would not be a barrier, people could more easily fix their own gear when it broke and .....

.......... the money saved could be used to purchase a real small yacht like a NZ  Zephyr and everyone would be smiling and live happily ever after ........ Shipmates, I rest my case .......

...... back in the boatyard, I will fix the problem and be ready for the next round of racing and the Auckland Zephyr Championships in a couple of weeks time.

______ WE DON'T GO SOUTH - 2022 ZEPHYR NATIONALS CANCELLED _____

  The 2022 Zephyr Nationals at Worser Bay in Wellingon have been cancelled - such is life in a world wide plague.

Hello All,

Unfortunately I am sending this email to all Zephyr contestants to let you all know that we’ve made the very difficult decision to cancel the upcoming 2022 Zephyr National Champs planned at Worser Bay 3-6 Feb and that we will be rescheduling the next Zephyr national champs at WBBC for a similar time in 2023 (still TBC).

The key factors driving this decision have been:

• Our expected event attendance numbers, including sailors, support people and our club volunteers, would likely exceed the maximum 100 person limit for events operating under My Vaccine Pass requirements for the Red level, so this event would be pushing the boundaries of the guidelines in the protection framework, even if overall numbers dropped below 100 for the event.
• Omicron is the most highly contagious variant of Covid-19 so far and the NZ Government have warned that they expect this variant to infect many more people and spread far more quickly than previous variants, as people infected with Omicron often have low level symptoms or are asymptomatic at the initial infection stages, which can also be difficult to detect through early testing. The Govt has signalled that over the next few weeks we could expect several hundreds or even thousands of new community transmitted infections per day.
• A number of our key volunteers have also communicated their concerns about being involved in such a large event operating 2 weeks into the Covid Red level, due to the risks and uncertainty about potentially unaware infected participants that may also be attending the event.

I do understand that this must be very disappointing news for those of you who have registered and looking forward to sailing at these championships, as well as for many of our organising committee members who have done a lot of great work towards the planning of this regatta.  But I do strongly feel that managing the impending risks to the health and safety of our sailors and volunteers is the highest priority in this situation. I do hope you understand this too.  It certainly has been a tough decision to make.

I will be meeting with our organising committee this week to further work through the impacts of this cancellation and to also look at how we can refund as much of the registration and dinner fees as possible, so I will be in touch again soon with more information as it becomes available.

Best Regards

John Kliffen

WZOA President and 2022 Organising Committee Chairman

 

____________ MY OLD MATE SLIPSTREAM AND I HEAD SOUTH ____________

I found this photograph on the Zephyr Instagram site. I (on the left) am talking to a fellow Zepherite on the beach at Manly (A beach on the Whangaparoa Peninsula slightly north of Auckland New Zealand) while my yellow Zephyr 'Slipstream' looks on - on the occasion of the 2021 National contest.

This comment from the Instagram site sums up the spirit of sailing a Zephyr - and I say amen to all this:

 

Next month I head south again to Worser Bay Wellington for the 2022 National Zephyr Championships. I hope to improve on my placings at the other two Nationals I have raced in (60th Worser Bay 2018 and 46th Manly 2021). At 70 years of age a placing in the top half of the fleet will be very pleasing indeed.

What I like about this photo (taken in 2021 at the Nationals in Manly) is that my second hand $4000 home renovated Zephyr (195 in the photo) is ahead of 703 which is one of the new beautiful fiberglass Zephyrs that are now available costing north of $25,000. It's races like this that makes all the renovation blood, sweat and tears worthwhile! Of course it doesn't stop me thinking that a brand spanking new fiberglass model would be rather nice.

What the weather will be like at this years Nationals in Wellington is anybodies guess - but one thing we all know in New Zealand is that if it blows in Wellington - it BLOWS!

So shipmates I'll soon be hitching up the mellow yellow Slippy and heading south - can't wait.

ZEPHYR NATIONALS 2021 - WHANGAPAROA, AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND

With two National contests under our belts 'Slipstream' and I are now old mates in all of this.

Here are some screen shots (with unfortunately the lower image quality) from the Zephyr Owners Association website of the 2021 Nationals held at the Manly Sailing Club over the last 4 days. My Zephyr 'Slipstream' 195 can be seen (on the right) in the above photo at the start of one of the 3 races that were held on the first day in heavy wind conditions (18 - 20 knots with gusts up to 30 knots).

This screen shot is taken from a video on the website and shows moi in deep mains'l contemplation mood - not that it helped much. 

The only two yellow boats in the fleet - to leeward of me is Zephyr 200 'Big Bird' from Wellington.

                                        There were always obstacles at the leeward mark.

Photo of the contest. Tony Millar wipes out in the heavy weather race.

 

Preparing to gybe - always a game of Russian roulette.

 

On a big wind day racing off downwind is the most exciting point of sailing.

My cunning plan was to slay the fleet with my secret weapon which was a set of home made wooden sail battens. They worked well in the survival conditions of the first days racing but unfortunately were a disaster on the second light air days racing.

Day One - 20 knot north easterly wind, gusting 25 - 30 knots, with a big sea running. I reveled in these conditions and was in overall 34th place out of 70 boats after 3 races. I only capsized once (losing one place as a result). The windward legs were exhausting - the awesome downwind rides were thrilling and slightly unnerving.

Day Two - 25 - 35 knot NE wind - sailing canceled for the day.

Day Three - Light, patchy wind which never got above about 4 knots. Very shifty with big holes in the breeze. My battens and my crap sailing skills let me down. Big shifts meant that if you picked the wrong side of the course in the early windward stages you lost big time. My position dropped to 46th overall.

Day Four - Seafog, no wind. Racing cancelled - prize giving in the afternoon.

I am pleased and positive about a few things:

- I was determined to improve on my last Zephyr Nationals result (60th out of 73 entrants) at Worser Bay in Wellington in 2018. My over all position this time was 46th out of 70 entrants), a reasonable improvement.

- In the Masters section of the competition (Ages 60 - 69years) I was placed 5th out of 12 old buggers - so that was a positive result.

- I learnt a great deal, talked to a lot of interesting and talented sailors about sailing in general and tuning Zephyrs in particular, gaining a lot of new insights to try out over the next 12 months.

- Despite only two race days I enjoyed the sailing immensely (especially the first day) and are determined to do better again next year when the Nationals return to Worser Bay in Wellington - I'll be there.

_________ I'LL GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS __________

                                       Great to have some friendly help for my arthritic sailors legs while getting my boat ashore.

Well shipmates I'm at it again - another boat renovation. This time it is a much needed repair and renovation job on 'Slipstream' my 60 year old Zephyr class yacht. It's all a labour of love, something that I can lose myself in. There is a hard to explain deep satisfaction and achievement to all this that is kind of spiritual. Some would find such a notion as ridiculous or even profane; but there you are.

Making a start so off comes the paint.

There were about eight holes in the boat. The large one in the bow combined with glue lines and evidence of the scarfing of timber shows that the boat had in the past been extensively damaged. My guess is that some time in her 60+ year life she has possibly come off a road trailer or run up onto rocks with great force. The holes were exposed when I removed all the chopped strand fiberglass cloth and a considerable thickness of fairing compound.

The deep areas that look like someone has taken to the boat with a grinder are exactly that - areas ground out. I thought that it might have been areas of rot, but I think it is more likely to be areas of de-lamination of the three skinned hull.

Everything is off or out that's coming off or out except for the centre case.

Dealing to the damage with strips of 1.5mm Gaboon plywood, the ubiquitous West System Glue and a staple gun - rather than chopped strand mat and bog - shiver me timbers, but this is a Wooden Boat!!

My good friend and fellow Zephyr sailor Don Currie removes the centre case with my good friend and fellow Zephyr sailor Bernie's renovator tool. Both of these Zephyr sailor friends are frequent visitors, lenders of tools and the source of boat loads of advice and encouragement.

Don then fitted the boats new centre case which he had very, very generously made for me. Don is an extremely talented wood worker, who like me, revels in any kind of woodwork to do with boats.

Here is the reason that this renovation was timely. When removing the old mast step, a large part of the keel came crumbling out as well. This part of the keel was saturated with water and was soft and manky. The loading in this area is huge and I am lucky that the mast hadn't been driven through the bottom of the boat a long time ago.

I have scarfed in a metre of new keel and installed a new mast step on top of two layers of double bias fiberglass cloth which provides a "pan" for the keelson and maststep to sit on. The "pan" repairs and strongly reinforces this area of high mast compression stress.

So far, so good. Yesterday (With Bernies help) we flipped the boat upside down again and I have begun the job of fairing the hull. There is some distance to go before I am sailing again, but a few of the main construction jobs are now completed.

__________ MARINER DOESN'T HEAD NORTH - MIXED FEELINGS __________

Today was a bit of a watershed. Karl the haul out manager introduced me to Jeff who renovates marine diesel engines. He is able to do the whole 'Whoa to Goa' - engine beds, mounts, shaft, prop, stern gland, engine, electrics etc, etc. I am pleased that I have found someone who can do the work locally here in Whangarei  especially as I am now confronted with the unexpected work that is required concerning the water ingress around the keel. But I am a bit sad that a swash buckling engine-less pirate raid north is not now required. Cussing parrots on shoulders, bottles of rum and roaming the Spanish main will have to be put to one side for more basic things:

Today I bought a new anchor and talked to Terrry a stainless steel fabricator wizard who will modify 'Mariners' bow fitting to make my new anchor self stowing. For years I have pulled the Danforth onto the deck under the lifelines and secured it to the anchor bollard. At 65 years of age I don't want to endure these gymnastics any more and will be doing other modifications to make my retirement sailing a whole lot easier, namely:

1 - I will get Brendon from 'Canvas and Covers' (who made an excellent boat cover for my Zephyr 'Slipstream') to make a 'Stacker system' for the mains'l complete with Lazy Jacks which will ensure that the (to be modified) fully battened mains'l can be tamed with ease.

2 - Install a roller - furl jib system. This modification has been a long time coming and will make stowing the jib a synch.

3 - Install a removable inner fore stay (with High Field lever) to which I can set a small jib (including a storm jib) which will be installed aft of the roller furler. This system is something I have seen on my good mate and companion Zephyr centreboard dinghy sailor  Bernies 39' Cavalier  yacht.

4 - Relocate the current mains'l sheeting track from the bridge deck to the cabin top just in front of the spray dodger.

5 - Change the current folding canvas dodger to a rigid dodger  - again Bernies Cav 39 'Morning Mist' has a good example of a rigid dodger.

All of these modifications will make retirement sailing safer, drier and easier.

Bernies Cav 39 "Morning Mist' (Above in photo) is hauled out at the moment in the same boatyard as 'Mariner' which has meant that the 'Apres Work' beer sessions elicit oceans of talk about racing our Zephyrs together, the upcoming Zephyr Nationals next year and the whole gamut of keel boat and centre board sailing - great stuff. Us old yachtee buggers need a good dose of this sailing camaraderie.

This photograph of Bernies yacht shows a good example of a cabin top mounted mains'l track system. It also shows a good example of the only kind of rigid spray dodger that I would ever contemplate fitting. The frame of the boats old canvas, soft, folding dodger has been used as a pattern for the rigid one. The stainless steel frame of the soft dodger is used as a building armature or mold. Thin plywood is bent and glued over the frame, building up layers of plywood until its final coat of fiberglass cloth and resin - the mold has been removed and is not part of the completed dodger. It means that a more streamlined look is obtained as opposed to the more 'boxy' versions that occur when the vertical and horizontal planes of the cabin truck are used as reference points.

Working on Mariner; Modifying Mariners old dinghy tender into a gaff riffed day sailer; Working on my Zephyr 'Slipstream'; fixing up Mariners new small lightweight tender .......... I might be retired but I have never been busier!

______________________ WINTER SERIES UPDATE ______________________

My Zephyr 'Slipstream's new rudder. The rudder head and permanently attached tiller are bare carbon fibre. The rudder blade is carbon fibre manufactured with a white gel coat covering 90% of the carbon fibre on the blade with a bare carbon fibre trailing edge. The white gel coat versions of these foils are easier to repair in the event of damage.
 
There have been 15 races to date in the Combined Clubs Winter Series. The racing consists of 3 back to back races at each of the clubs on a rotational basis. As each of the clubs are at different locations on Whangarei harbour it makes for three different, interesting venues. My placings to date have been:

10 First places.

2 Second places.

2 Third places.

1 Fourth place - for a total of 24 points.
After 15 races I continue to lead the series by 9 points.
There are 6 more races to go in the series.

After having spent the last 12 months doing a complete restoration on the boat these placings are very pleasing and justify all the hard work that went into this restoration and refurbishment.

The enhanced boat performance is due to a combination of small and big improvements in various areas which I outlined in the previous blog post.

I agree with one of my competitors who once said, "In yacht racing it's the nut behind the wheel that makes the difference and wins the races" - True enough I say, so long as it's a level playing field. I think the restoration has now created a level playing field. But the locals races are among differing classes of yachts and with different handicaps making up the mix. Although there are 3 Zephyrs that usually race I am the only Zephyr competing in this years winter series. The true test will be when I take the boat down to Auckland and race in true one design races in a fleet of other Zephyrs.
Having said that, one yardstick that is significant is the four hours I spent recently on the harbour racing against Don in his Zephyr 'Venture'. Before I did the restoration he was beating me in races by a country mile. During our friendly four hours of racing the boats were pretty evenly matched with Don (being 20kgs lighter than me) having a slight advantage downwind while I had a slight advantage upwind.

One of the main improvements has been a new set of light weight carbon fibre foils. These have made a palpable difference to the performance. The boat simply slips along without any turbulence around the rudder head at the stern and without that feeling in the tiller that the boat is dragging a small bucket. My line honours winning margins have increased significantly so that I am now able to save my handicap, something that in the past was problematic as it has been very difficult to get enough of a winning margin on the courses which are of moderate length to save my handicap.

 Above is a photograph from XPL Composites website. These are the bare carbon fibre versions of my new Zephyr foils.

 The dagger board has been finished in a similar manner to the rudder.

A good matching pair that are making a considerable contribution to the boats extra speed.

As I type this I am watching and listening to our Great Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who is addressing the nation on television regarding a new community outbreak of Covid19 and the new lockdown procedures. I hope these dark times both in New Zealand and around the world pass sooner rather than later so that we can all go sailing again - literally and metaphorically.