Breaking News


 

And a response from Reliance

21 January 2012

Dear Sir

 

A refreshing and unbiased piece of writing.

I have put the link on http://www.facebook.com/pages/Reliance-Yacht-Management/118413514860609

 

Reliance has delivered thousands of yachts over 25 years and worked with hundreds of captains. All our Captains are experience, qualified professionals. I trust the judgement of each and every one of them. If I didn’t then I wouldn’t use them. They create the passage plans. It is not created for them. Many have questioned the actions of the Captains involved but I do not want to judge those that cannot be here to defend themselves. We were not there.

 

Our policies and business practices are ISO9001 accredited. We have a good safety record and fortunately such events are very rare.

 

Any loss of life is a disaster and our ultimate thoughts must be with the families.

 

Regards

 

Nick Irving

 

 

 



Who's in Charge of a Vessel?

20 January 2012

From Latitude 38:

January 18, 2012 – Waters Everywhere

We always assumed that it was a captain's decision whether to put to sea or not, particularly if bad weather is approaching. But that doesn't seem to be the thinking of British Admiralty Registrar Robert Jervis Kay.

In December of '06, delivery skipper John Anstess of Plymouth, England, and Southern Californian crew Dave Rodman and Richard Beckman, died when the 44-ft Voyage 440 catamaran Cat Shot they were delivering for Reliance Yacht Management of Farnborough, England, got caught in a horrible storm off the coast of Northern California, capsized, and washed up on the beach. Apparently the boat was in something of a rush to be delivered in time for the Seattle Boat Show, although the show was nearly two months away.

The body of Anstess, 55, was never found. His sister sued Reliance in British Admiralty Court in September of '10. Some of the details of the case were just released, but to our mind not the most pertinent stuff. In justifying his decision, Registrar Kay said that Reliance had "pressured" Anstess, who had apparently suggested leaving the boat in San Diego for the winter, into continuing on toward Seattle. Kay went so far as to absolve Anstess, who everyone agreed was a highly trained and extremely experienced mariner, of even partial responsibility for setting sail into a tremendous storm.

Reliance responded angrily to the ruling. "Anstess was a true professional, and it would be a sleight to his character to suggest that he would allow himself to put the crew and boat in undue danger for financial reasons or was pressured to do so by management or non-sailing administrative staff."

We wish the nature of the "pressure" on Anstess had been revealed in detail by Registrar Kay. Perhaps a gun to the forehead of Anstess' oldest son, if he had one, or a knife held to the throat of his mother. With all due respect to the dead, had we been in Anstess' Topsiders, and had we had the weather information he had, we can't imagine anything short of preventing the murder of our family members that could have pressured us to put to sea from San Francisco Bay that morning. "Kiss our ass!" would have been our last words to Reliance after we secured the cat to the dock and left town for somewhere warm.

We have no idea what Cat Shot crewmen Rodman and Beckman were thinking, and if they had objections to continuing. But according the report in the January 2007 issue of Latitude, the weather forecast showed a huge storm was on its way out of the Gulf of Alaska and was due to hit Washington and Oregon in just a few days. You just don't knowingly go out into stuff like that. Particularly in catamarans, which are not immune to flipping in severe weather. After all, it hadn't been that many years before when a Lagoon 42 catamaran departed the Northeast on a delivery to the Caribbean in winter. She got into a bad storm, and neither she or her crew were ever heard from again.

Another consideration is that it's generally easier to go north from San Francisco to Seattle in the winter because heavy weather is more predictable and there are often generous periods of calm between storms.

Clouding the situation is a previous incident that would seem to suggest that Reliance may have asked their delivery skippers to do unsafe things. Just two months before Anstess and his crew were killed, delivery skipper Steve Hobley of Newton Abbot, England, died when the 38-ft catamaran he was delivering across the Atlantic for Reliance was overwhelmed by 45-ft waves and capsized. The two crew, American Kevin Klinges and Ollie Templeman of Poole, England, hung on for 11 hours before the U.S. Coast Guard managed to rescue them. The cat was initially to be delivered across the Atlantic to Miami but part of the way across, Reliance told the captain to change course for the much more northerly Annapolis.

Any seasoned skipper knows that you don't deliver a boat across the Atlantic to north of Miami in the winter, and only to Miami because you can almost always quickly dive to the south if trouble starts heading your way. Call us chicken if you want, but had we been in Hobley's shoes, and Reliance had told us to change destinations to Annapolis, we'd have had a simple two-word answer for them. The first would have started with an 'F', and the second would have ended with a 'U'.

According to news reports, crewman Klinges testified that Reliance told Capt. Hobley that if he didn't divert to Annapolis, he wouldn't work for the company again. Shame, shame, shame on Reliance if that's true. But that should have been an idle threat, because who would want to work for a company that would request such a change in route at that time of year? Once again, had it been us, Reliance would have gotten the same two-word response. We would have sailed the catamaran to Miami as originally planned, then chained the boat to the dock until we and our crew got paid in full.

It seems to us that the principle here is who is in the command of a vessel — and we're somewhat surprised to learn that a British Registrar apparently believes it's not the captain, but rather someone — perhaps not even a sailor — in a warm office thousands of miles from the boat itself. Does that seem as weird to you as it does to us?

We want to emphasize that we mourn for those mariners who lost their lives or suffered in these incidents, repeat that we're not privy to all the evidence, and acknowledge that hindsight is 20/20. Nonetheless, if the loss of these sailors' lives is not to be in vain, it will be because all other sailors will have learned that it's the captain of the vessel who should call the shots on the vessel he/she commands. After all, it's the life of his/her crew, as well as himself/herself, that is at stake.

 

- latitude / richard



Here's Des

19 January 2012



Important last Minute Message from BoI Sailing Week

16 January 2012

  • There will be a WIND WARRIOR REGATTA at the Beach Party and we will (with help from officials or the barge) get the boats to Roberton so they don't have to be carried on the race yachts.. People who intend to race their WWs should contact me with their radio frequency so I can pre-sort any clashes.  'Grant Mckinnon' <gmck@xtra.co.nz

 

 

 

“Look forward to leaving the rest of the world behind – and enjoy racing at Bay of islands Sailing Week”



Anniversary Day Regatta

16 January 2012

 

The Power and the Beauty Race on the Waitemata Harbour

in the Oceanbridge Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta

 

 

A huge flotilla of grunty vintage tug and workboats, beautifully restored classic sailing boats, tall ships, waka ama, sloops, multi-hulls, dinghies, dragon boats, America’s Cup prototypes and even radio controlled craft will compete in their respective classes in a full programme of racing in Auckland’s 172nd regatta on Waitemata Harbour on Monday, January 30, the province’s anniversary day.

 

Entries are now open to all sailors to participate in New Zealand’s oldest sporting event and one of the world’s single biggest one day sailing regattas bringing to life Auckland’s sailing heritage in a glorious spectacle of the vintage superstars of the past and the high tech masterpieces of today.

 

The Oceanbridge Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta is a great day out for sailors from the rookie sea scout to the professional sailor and also for the tens of thousands of spectators who can see the maritime and trading history of our harbor-rimmed city in action under paddle, sail and steam power.

 

Bastion Point, North Head, East Coast Bays, Tamaki Drive, Orakei and Princes Wharf, Wynyard Quarter will all offer great vantage points for a big day out starting with the fleet of vintage tugboats leaving the Viaduct Basin at 9:00am on the Monday morning to motor to their race grounds before returning in order of line honours to show off their manoeuvrability and muscle.

The large fleet of some of Auckland’s most beautiful legendary classic yachts will be racing, displaying the artisan craftsmanship of Auckland’s world-class boatbuilding and marine restoration experts.

Rawhiti is one of the latest classic yachts to be joining the regatta after six year restoration with the intricate wood, copper and bronze shaping requiring painstaking work by hand.

“We knocked out 10,000 copper rivets by hand, custom-made bronze cast fittings, hand sanded all the wood till our fingers were calloused and bleeding and ensured every detail was authentic and a work of art,” said co-owner Greg Lee.  “It was a labour of love.  Our 107-year-old Logan Bros. 54-footer had been well and truly butchered in the 1970s, and to see her returned to her original beauty under the exacting standards of classic restorer and boatbuilder Peter Brookes, was seeing history reborn.”

Auckland has an international reputation as a centre of excellence for maritime industries and traditional craftsmanship. Auckland hosts a big fleet of classics, many of them from the1890’s, which have been faithfully restored to their original form. These include Thelma, Rainbow, Ranger, Gloriana, Tawera, Wairiki and Little Jim which will also be out racing on Anniversary Day.

The classic yacht fleet will be moored in the Viaduct on the Sunday evening, January 29, and lit up Mediterranean-style for sightseers to look at them at close quarters.

They will be racing in their respective classes under the eye of visiting super yachts and the regatta flagship, HMNZS Otago with the Governor General and dignitaries on board.

 

There will be dazzling aerobatic displays from the Red Checkers followed by the Warbirds over the city skies and the whole of the downtown viaduct area will become ‘party central’ with free entertainment for all the family. 

 

The family of regatta sponsors is headed by Oceanbridge Shipping Limited, Auckland Council, Ports of Auckland Limited, Classic Hits 97.4FM, Lion Foundation and the Spirit of Adventure Trust and Southern Trust.

 

For more information and entry forms go to:

www.regatta.org.nz or phone 0800 REGATTA (0800 734 2882) or checkout our Facebook page

It costs $15.00 for centreboard yachts and radio controlled yachts to enter and $25.00 for tugboats, keelboats and multihulls.

 



Here's Des

12 January 2012



Jim Young Honoured

12 January 2012

Here's one I missed, Jim Young in the New year's Honours list (OK I don't take a lot of notice of such things, mea culpa). Thanks to Dr Bob for bringing it to my attention.

 

http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/north-shore-times/6245272/Yachting-man-honoured

 



Marine Medics Course

11 January 2012

Coastguard Boating Education Service Marine Medics (Coastal)
January 21st  and 22nd at RAYC

The coastal marine medic course is a 16 hour course (two days) specifically designed to teach you the skills, and give you the confidence to manage an emergency or medical event where limited equipment is available and help is up to 24 hours away. This course is big step up from your "work" first aid course, where the Ambulance is minutes away.

Instructors will also provide practical advise on first aid supplies.

Yacht Lifelines instructors are former special services, and are excellent with real world first aid. The course is recognised by Coastguard.

Cost $240 (worth every cent if you save a life)
Please contact Sally Garrett - sally@expeditioncoppelia.com to confirm your place.



Kiwi Laser Radials dominate Australian Youth Championships

11 January 2012

 

 

Six New Zealand Laser Radial sailors were within the top 10 at the Australian Youth Championships which finished this week in Queensland.

 

Andrew McKenzie (Kohimarama) was the top placed Kiwi but equal on points with Matthew Kempkers (Wakatere), they collectively took home Silver and Bronze in a fleet of forty boats. The string of five race wins gave Andrew the jump up on the tie break over his training partner.

 

In total, fifteen young New Zealanders attended this event in Brisbane in five classes; the Laser Radial, 29er, 420, Hobie 16 and the Techno 293 windsurfer.

 

This event was one used by the sailors to prepare for the upcoming YNZ Youth Selection Trials to attend the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships in July 2012. The selection trials will include Sail Auckland (3-7 February 2012) and their respective class national championships.

 

For detailed results and more information on the Australian Youth Championships see the event website www.youthchamps.org.au

 

Follow New Zealand’s youth sailing community online www.facebook.com/YNZyouth



Proof that there is life south of the Bombays

11 January 2012

 

Thanks to Moneyshot

 

 



Miracle Bottom Paint Revealed

10 January 2012

From Latitude 38:

January 9, 2012 – California

In the January issue of Latitude 38 you'll read about this writer's final haulout in a four-year study on the effectiveness of the biocide Econea in bottom paint. Since the first haulout, we've been impressed with only one test paint — a water-based version — that consistently outperformed its fellow test paints and the copper-based control paint. The identities of each test paint's manufacturer was a closely guarded secret but study coordinator Jack Hickey agreed to ask Econea big wigs to put me in touch with the manufacturer, at the very least so we could effuse all over their paint.

 


The water-based test paint (on the right) was not only the best test paint, it's the best paint we've ever used. And now we know who makes it...
Photo Latitude / LaDonna
© 2012 Latitude 38 Publishing, LLC

 

Dave Janus, the Director of Sales & Marketing for Janssen PMP, the company that commissioned the study, worked his magic, and this was the very encouraging email we received from Pettit's Manager of Product Development, Frank Winkelman:

"The paint is currently in for EPA registration. If all goes well, we should have approval sometime in 2012. I have seen your glowing reports on our water-based Econea product over the last few years — my local sales guys have kept me informed — and I will let you know when we obtain our EPA approval on this exciting new product.

"In the interim, we do have Ultima ECO, the solvent-based version of this product, which is available now. It was not one of the items included in the California testing but performs almost as well as the water-based Econea product, and it does meet all of the existing air quality rules in effect in California. It's just days away from approval in California, but has been approved in just about every other state in the Union."

The bad news is that we'll have to wait a couple years before our beloved water-based paint is available, but the good news is that the fresh bottom job we just put on will last at least that long. And as soon as the product is released, our readers will be among the first to know.

- latitude / ladonna



BAY of ISLANDS SAILING WEEK January 23 - 27, 2012

10 January 2012


REGATTA RAMBLINGS


Issue #8 January 2012


IT’S ALMOST time to race – We’re organised – Bring it on

Registration January 23 - Racing January 24……….
The Bay of Islands is a natural for Yacht racing. Bay of Islands Sailing Week will have some good competition on the water; three modified TP52s will be racing in A Division – bookings are still coming in – the divisions are growing with excellent fleets in the Passage Divisions and Sports Boats. Go to the website and take a look. Enter now.
More local information:
Tall Ships Saturday January 7 was successful despite the rain and the (misunderstood) forecast, with at least 25 enthusiastic boats and crews in the Bay; heavy Weather courses were organised.

 

Rubbish Barge

Rubbish Barge moored off Motorua Island over previous summers will NOT be in operation this summer. An alternate rubbish collection system is being trialed. Until 20 February the usual mainland based rubbish sites will be available: Kaingahoa Bay (Rawhiti) and Te Uenga Bay. In addition, until 12 February rubbish and recyclables collection will be available from Matauwhi Bay carpark in Russell and Opua (beside refueling jetty). Blue ‘East West Waste’ rubbish bags or stickers are available from outlets. DOC asks for continued support to keep the Islands of the Bay beautiful and pest free.
Ray Haslar, Andrew Riddell, David Hope-Lewis, Lesley Haslar, Allen Jones, Annette Jones, Michael Briggs and our Event Coordinator, Melanie McDiarmid. Suggestions and comments are always appreciated. info@bayofislandssailingweek.org.nz



Matakana Raid

9 January 2012



OptiWorlds

8 January 2012



Dhow Racing

8 January 2012

Chris Cameron sent these shots of the dhow racing in Abu Dhabi. Dare I say it looks way more interesting than the Volvo Promotional Tour.

 



Paper tigers

6 January 2012

The 2012 Mitre 10 MEGA NZ Paper Tiger National Championships drew to a close today with the final day of racing and another 2 races completed in very light conditions.

 

Dinamic Canvas Race Seven saw Ian Maclennan (Takapuna, Auckland) take the victory in a close contest ahead of Mark Bell (Ponsonby, Auckland) and Bob Preston (Nelson).

 

Olex NZ Ltd Race Eight saw Bob Preston take honours ahead of Mark Bell following a tight fought race between the top 4 with multiple lead changes.

 

Bob Preston (Nelson) has won the regatta from Ryan (Rowdy) Leatham (New Plymouth) and Mark Bell (Ponsonby, Auckland).  Dave Shaw (Nelson) and Scott Pedersen (Napier) round out the top five.

Competition in the B Grade is was incredibly tight with Denis Leatham (New Plymouth) coming out on top after a week of intense racing.  Dylan Taylor (New Plymouth) has won the C Grade, while Jane Thomassen is the new once again the Women's Champion.

 

Final press release with full winning details to follow shortly.

Full results can be found at:  http://www.sportsground.co.nz/ClubSite.asp?SiteID=5533&PageTypeID=18



Weta Demo Sails

6 January 2012

Want to have a go on the Weta? Two demo boats will be at St Heliers beach on Saturday and Milford Beach on Sunday as part of the NZ Beach Tour sports day. Come down and check it out.



2012 Mitre 10 MEGA NZ Paper Tiger National Championships - Day 4

5 January 2012

Following a rest day yesterday The 2012 Mitre 10 MEGA NZ Paper Tiger National Championships got back into action today with the third day of racing and another 3 races completed in 8-12 knots of breeze and blue skies this afternoon.

 

Industrial Chemistry Services Race Four saw Mark Bell (Ponsonby, Auckland) take honours following a hard fought battle with Dave Shaw (Nelson).  Bob Preston (Nelson) came through on the final leg to sneak a second place.

 

IED Lifting Centre Race Five saw Preston take the victory with a dominant performance where he lead from start to finish.  Finally finishing 2 minutes ahead of the second placed boat.

 

Contact Energy Ltd Rave Six saw Bell take honours following an intense battle between the top four boats, with the result not decided until the final few metres before the finish line.

 

After the completion of day four, Bob Preston has the lead by one point from Ryan (Rowdy) Leatham (New Plymouth) and Mark Bell a further two point back.  Dave Shaw and Scott Pedersen round out the top five.

Competition in the B Grade is still tight with Denis Leatham (New Plymouth) in 11th overall coming out on top following today's racing.  Jamie Hatch (New Plymouth) is currently leading the C Grade in 13th overall, but there are only 4 points between the first three boats in this grade.  Jane Thomassen (Evans Bay, Wellington) is currently the first Female in 37th overall, however the title is still up for grabs with Pauline Sutherland (New Plymouth) only four points behind.

 

The competition draws to a close tomorrow (Friday 6 Jan), with competition still incredibly close and all titles still up for grabs, it will be a restless night for many competitors and some dreams will be made while others are broken in the final day tomorrow.

 

Full results can be found at:  http://www.sportsground.co.nz/ClubSite.asp?SiteID=5533&PageTypeID=18

 

The Organising Committee and the New Zealand Paper Tiger Owners Association would like to thank the following sponsors for their contribution to the event.

Major Sponsor:  Mitre 10 MEGA

Additional Sponsors:  Tiger Automation Ltd, Jacksons Flooring, Kaefer Services Ltd, Rimu Electrical Ltd, Industrial Chemistry Services, IED Lifting Centre Ltd, Contact Energy Ltd, Dinamic Canvas Ltd, Olex NZ Ltd, Busing Russell Chartered Accountants, Gusto Resturant & Cafe, Mermaid Gallery.

 



Here's Des

5 January 2012



Opti Worlds

5 January 2012

Website here