As the foiling program progresses and Secret Agent man begins to foil aerodynamics becomes an issue when it wasnt before. At the speeds we will be doing the aerodynamics of the rig, the dodger, solar pannels, jerry cans, etc. becomes critically important as we progress up the speec curve. Here I have made a sunbrella fairing inbetween the mast and the halyard bag to decrease windage.
Chears,
Eric
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Comments [2]
Boom Vang and Halyard bag with aerodynamics package installed.
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Hello all,
There has been some high calorie confection this fall onboard Secret Agent Man. My latest attempt was "Mommy Cookies" which were a cherished treat and staple food of childhood. Unfortunatly they do not have shortening in New Zealand so I had to improvise. I ended up usind too much butter and sugar and my mommy cookies melted like the bad guy's faces at the end of Indiana Jones. They still tasted good though so I scraped them into the muffin tray and we had Mommy Cookie Crumble for desert. Below is amy with some cinnamon roll pancakes from breakfast out at Islington bay last week. She is stoked at the moment. My job is going well and we are just getting into winter. It has been rainy and windy out. It is nearly dark when I get home at quarter past five but I still have time for a run if I want. Secret Agent Man is fine and sporting a new cover on her boom vang thanks again to our sewing maching which continues to pay for itself.
Thats all for now..
Eric
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Amy with cinnamon roll pancakes.
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The new vang cover.
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Hello All,
Amy and I took the boat out to islington bay for an overnighter. We had a great sail out of Auckland with 15-20kts out of the SW and a strong ebb tide. We sailed onto the anchor in "Izzy" bay after smashing our record from Westhaven Marina. The next morning we were playing dominos after breakfast when we noticed this boat drag its anchor right across the bay. We had seen the crew go ashore with friends and if they were hiking the volcano they might take all day. We sprung into action. I called the coastguard and told them that we were going over to assist the boat. We got the engine on the dinghy and grabbed our stern anchor and a warp.
It was a "Bowman 49" and suffice to say the opperation of it's systems was not intuative. I got the instruments on and descovered we were in 7.5 feet of water. We were being blown onto the Motutapu shore and it was high tide. With help from another cruiser "Ian" and working as a team we got it started just in time. Amy and Ian were able to pull up the ground tackle by hand. We drove the boat back into the anchorage and re set it with more chain out. (Amy reckons they had 25 ft out which was the problem) The same thing happened to us last year in Port Villa and cruisers rescued Secret Agent Man so it felt good to pay it forward. The lesson learned is to locate the batteries first when trying to start a strange boat. Amy left them a note and we sailed home in time for her to make it to an appointment despite the delay.
Cheers
Eric
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Congratulations on the job Amy, smiles all around ;-)
04/22/2013, Auckland, New Zealand
Happy Earth Day!
Today, Eric and I had a delightful discovery. In honor of Earth Day, we made a date of putting around in the dinghy to collect rubbish in our marina neighborhood. We motored along the shore, and gathered quite a bounty of plastics. On our return to Secret Agent Man, we did a sweep of the breakwater, where many rubbish treasures lay lodged and inescapable, when lo and behold, a message in a bottle was wedged between two rocks. Something Eric and I have always fantasized about discovering since childhood had actually happened! Giddy like children once again, we opened the bottle, and discovered the message was in fact written by a youngster the same age as we felt at that very moment... roughly 10 years old. Our imaginations went wild as we read the letter. The message read "Please HELP! We are about to fall off a cliff and die. My name is David" There was a vague picture and a phone number at the bottom of the letter, but without an area code. We assumed it was local, so a little online research revealed the number's location. We dialed it, and sure enough reached the author's mother! She confirmed it with her son, now 22 years old, he and his best friend had written the message roughly 13 years ago. We exchanged stories over the phone, had a few laughs, and will be having them over for tea to give them their treasure back. Today's discovery is one for the books. Happy Earth Day everybody. Perhaps do a little cleanup in your neighborhood today... not only will it make you feel good by doing your part, but you never know what you'll stumble upon.
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Hello all,
Just getting settled back into life on Secret Agent Man after a two week mission to Opti Nationals in Timaru. Timaru is on the South Island, on the east coast between Christchurch and Dunedin. I also delivered a boat to a guy in Wanaka so ended up with a proper tour of the country. The drive down was hard. Ten hours the first day. Verry little sleep in the van waiting for the ferry and then twelve hours from Picton to Wanaka. The drive was stunning which helped pass the time. Amy burned me some CDs which also helped. After delivering and helping assemble the boat (a hobie cat) it was off to Timaru for Nationals. There was 35 Aussies, a few kids from New Caledonia, and a couple of hundred Kiwis. My job wasw to run the mobile shop out of the van and coach. I looked after kids in the green fleet who didnt have a coach or whose coach had to be on the open fleet course which was a mile out to sea. It was so much fun coaching. It was very good for the shop to have a coach on the water in a branded up coach boat. Just like old times. Sailing, BBQ, frisbee and socializing. Some people took it pretty seriously as it was a worlds qualifier but everyone had a good time. The south island is epic and I was lucky to get to do the trip. Good to be back though as I was very much missed by both my girls.
Cheers,
Eric
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Green fleet action. Nationals could definatly be characterized as a light air regatta but there was one day out of the five days of racing with 12 knots. It was blowing out of the SE and it is pretty much open water. The swell got up right away but hardly any of the kids got scared or couldnt handle it.
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Opti sailors. Somewhere in here are four of my kids from the watershed team Emily Ostend is on the right in the foreground. She came third out of 55 boats in the green fleet.
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The van and coach boat at a lake between Wanaka and Timaru. There was a large Hobie cat in boxes on the lower part of the boat trailer which I delivered to a customer in Wanaka.
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Not too shabby...
Amy's mom, Laura, gave her travel scrabble for her birthday and we have been playing. Amy also plays online with her mom so I have had to up my game. I am very competitive and have been PISSED several times at how Amy scores points. I have always thougt that the game was about how long and creative the words were and how big your vocabulary was. It turns out that is not how you win at scrabble. It is multiple word combinations and hitting the bonus squares. There is a list of two letter words that you have never spoken or heard of that are actually words that you have to be onboard with in order to compete with her. I have won once by one point and this board was a 295 to 293 victory for Amy. I challange anyone to post a comment with the word "ut" in it.
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04/08/2013, Westhaven Marina, Auckland
While daylight hours and outdoor breakfast days are dwindling at this end of the world, we are grateful for every waking moment, but its mornings like these that make the air smell fresher and the coffee taste sweeter.
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04/08/2013, Auckland, New Zealand
French acrobats performing on their boat in front of the Viaduct Harbour steps. This couple, plus their two daughters, have been sailing around the world on their 30' boat, financed entirely by donations given for their performances. They call their lifestyle a circusnavigation. It was an incredible show!
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Hello All,
Here is a report from Secret Agent Man as we just are wrapping up an epic summer. My job at the Water Shed is going great. I am up to speed with how to run the shop and have been taking the van to regattas. Amy and I have been getting out on the boat a lot on the weekends. We can leave in the evening when I get off work and have two nights out at Rangitoto or Motuhie. I think Amy wrote about it below. It is really nice to get out there. It would be like if Vashon Island was a state park with a volcano on it.
Amy is still looking for work. She has had some great interviews and some opportunaties on the burner as I write but no victory yet. I keep telling her that it will just happen in a day and all will be well. Other than sailing and working we have been full on making friends and playing. We play pickup ultimate frisbee but I am on the DL having wasted my ankle playing tennis last week. It is Ok.
Here is a picture of the start of the OKI 24 Hr race. It is at lake Pupuke in Takapuna and is sailed in lasers. Local businesses sponsor teams of two. The race is non stop for 24 hours from 2:00 Sat to 2:00 Sunday. There is prize money and with a NZ $2000 first prize lots of good sailors come with their famalies and make a weekend out of it. There is a massive campground and food vendors as well as a pontoon at the lap gate where your kids can swim all day. The lake is only minutes from our shop so I took the van and set up the mobile regatta shop.
Eric
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