On_Board_556_July201.. - Mana Cruising Club

FISHINGFishing over the last 6 months would start with Christmas in Queen Charlotte Sound. Every day started with a scallopdive in the Inner Sounds. The fish were uniformly big, tasty and plentiful. Snapper were not abundant, but they were there.Nearing the end of the Blue Cod ban, a by-catch of many trips were blue cod up to 48cm in length, the biggest of these beingcaught south of Luke Rock. Only on one day did we catch fish that were small enough to fit within the current legal catchwindow of 30 - 35cm.It is interesting to look back over 6 months fishing records and seeing patterns that aren’t immediately apparent. Forexample, every second trip seems to say “lumpy with little wind”. A good smattering of panny snapper, the odd bigger fishand the usual blue cod and terakihi offerings are recorded. Several days record plaques of spiny dogs , with a record 12 caughtbefore giving up on the day of the Club Fishing Competition.A couple of noticeable absences, no john dory recorded in this period, whereas in previous years they have been quite prolific,especially around the isolated inshore rocks both north and south of Mana Island when fishing soft plastics. Also for me nolegal Kingfish landed, although kahawai have constantly provided great sport on light tackle. They are often under rated as asport fish on 4kg gear. Lately the kahawai have been in very good nick with plenty of fat, fiesty fish about. Reports of schoolsnapper being caught recently, even though the water temperature one day was down to 13.5 degrees at 78 and with warehoushowing up mid-water. There may be something in global warming after all. The drop offs at the back of Mana and my “getout of jail “ spot at the North End fired as usual. We live in a great country, where we can head out and get a feed of freshfish whenever we feel like it.Dave S6

NEW MEMBERSThe following have been approved for membership to Mana Cruising Club+Chris & Angela Allwood Whitby RegularJames Byrne Camborne Trailer Craft Whistle RegularRick Gibson & Debbie Mears Waikanae Launch Paula Lee RegularSimon Lamb & Janine Hancock Raumati Beach Launch Pacific Pallas RegularMartin Pinder Wellington Trailer Craft Centaurus RegularNeil & Annette Reid Plimmerton Launch Quatramis RegularBill & Margaret Ricketts Raumati Beach Launch Adrenalin RegularMartin & Cathy Scott Paremata Launch Crystal Voyager RegularVic & Merlyn Criscillo Papakowhai AssociatePhil Ready & Debbie Fowler Papakowhai Associate“Ninness offers a full range of funeralservices... and is still locally owned.”A tourist asks an Irishman:“why do SCUBA diversalways fall backwards offtheir boats?”To which the Irishmanreplies: “If they fell forwards,they’d still be in the bloodyboat”.Brenden JacobsenCheryl AmysTodd Wearne17 Kenepuru Drive | Porirua | Phone (04) 237 417418 Kapiti Road | Paraparaumu | Phone (04) 297 0207info@ninness.co.nz | www.ninness.co.nzBUYING ORSELLING REALESTATE?CONTACT TOMMY’S, THE COMPANY THAT SUPPORTS YOU.Pleased to support the Winter Sailing Series.Mana Office I 99 Mana Esplanade, Paremata I 233 069010

FISHING SNIPPETSWell, winter is here and it is time to look back on the summers fishing. We had a very goodsummer on the groper, better than the last few years with big fish caught at all the usual spots- 78mt Rise, Fisherman’s Rock and most reefs off the top of the Sounds. The groper have nowmoved off to deeper waters so the fishing is hard. They will move back to shallower water lateAugust. Blue cod fishing on our coast is hard work, but off the top of the South Island a feedcan still be caught. The new fishing regulations mean only two cod between 300mm- 350mmcan be taken back into the Sounds and they must be whole,[measurable]. Hunters Bank hasbeen producing some good catches of tarakihi if you know what you are doing and the odd pupgroper. The Snapper fishing for some has been fantastic, this Summer with large fish regularlycaught just north of Pukerua Bay. This has now slowed a lot with the water cooling, but the oddsnapper is still turning up. Tuna fishing was patchy this year with the warm water coming andgoing, but some small fish were caught in Cook Strait, not like last year when we caught somevery good albacore tuna just behind Mana Island. We still pick up the odd gurnard while fishingon the sand and some very nice fish were caught just off Mana recently. I did not see a lot ofkingfish while diving this year and don’t know of many being caught. Kahawai schools have beenvery patchy this summer not as many schools around Mana Island as past years. Is this a sign ofthings to come? Will commercial fishinghave an impact on these fish? We are stillvery lucky to have the range of good fishingat our door step and with the advances intechnology there is no excuse for not beingable to catch a feed. Remember only takewhat you need and they will always be therefor next time.AUTHORISED DEALERS FOR:See ya on the water.Jeff Barnes• Volvo Penta• Yanmar• Cummins OnanUnit 1, The Sea Centre100 Port Road, Seaview,Lower HuttWELLINGTONPh: 04-568 8062Phil: 021 648 304Fax: 04-568 8072straitmarine@straitmarine.co.nzwww.straitmarine.co.nzUlric StreetPlimmertonPhone (04) 233 6164Fax (04) 233 6165K P MARINEBuzz Falconer11

y Club members, supported by many passengers from Picton on servicelaunches. The bay was packed with probably more vessels than it hasever seenBRIGHT’Sbefore and a picturesque scene indeed it made.On his arrival, His Excellency was greeted by Commodore Holdawayand his Flag Officers and escorted to the beach where the ceremonywas commenced immediately with a brief speech from our Commodorewelcoming the Governor General.His Excellency then spoke, evidencing an intimate knowledge of theevent being commemorated and a more than passing knowledge ofthe history and progress of the Mana Cruising Club, and concludedby unveiling the memorial. His Excellency was then introduced to ourCommittee and other notables and, this marking the end of the officialfunction, his party then passed along the beach where proceedingsHome & Tradetook on the nature of an informal get-together for the next half hour.The informality was punctuated briefly while those present listened toStockists of Marine chandlerythe running of a race in which His Excellency’s horse, His Ex, was astarter. As often happens and in productsracing the distinction of an owner does notnecessarily rub off on his horse and the Governor General ( if he had7 Paremata Crescentvisited the T.A.B. earlier in the day-which is open to doubt) had to settlefor the consolation prize Paremataof a dividend off a place-getting bracket-matewhile His Ex ran `down the track`.Continuing alongphthe04beach233until8009he had met most of those presentHis Excellency was finally piped to sea again (by Piper Neil McPheeof the Mana Cruising Club Pipe Band). Before rejoining the M.L. theGovernor General and official party then went for a burn in the jet boatsby courtesy of Club member, Bill Betts, and his merry men, finallyembarking for the return to Picton shortly after 4:00pm.had occurred had Cook been able to rendezvous on the time as hispersonal mana with the Maoris of the area was • high QUALITY and YOU he CAN certainly TRUST• OPTIMAL STARTING POWERhad the knack of getting along well with them. However, in his• HIGH CYCLING CAPABILITYabsence the event did occur and Burney’s bravery is • DUAL now TERMINALS fittingly• MAINTENANCE FREEcommemorated.The unveiling ceremony was in all respects a model of organisationand co-operation on the part of many people. For a start the weatherwas most kind, a light nor’west breeze and a blazing sun. Club boatswere beached in the appointed area and the beach cleaned up andmemorial veiled with the blue ensign. A little later the MarlboroughHarbour Board had a punt and gang-plank towed into position forthe reception of distinguished guests and visitors. The MarlboroughCruising Club provided a jet boat service for general patrol duties andthe transport of V.I.P.s and guests from ship to shore.Precisely at 2:45pm the first of three Naval M.L.s under CommanderCooper, R.N.Z.V.R. with His Excellency aboard appeared around thesouthern point of the bay and the official party stepped ashore forthe commencement of the unveiling ceremony. The party, headedby his Excellency, included his sons Jonathon and Jeremy Porritt, hisaide-de-camp, Ft. Lt Locke, R.A.F., Rear Admiral Carr, C.N.S. andCommodore McDowell, D.C.N.S. Also present as official guests weremembers of the Marlborough Harbour Board and wives, Committeemembers 19 of the Railway N.Z. Historic Ave, Lower Places Hutt Trust, - the 04 Commissioner 569 6285 forLands 42 Adelaide from Blenheim, Road, Newtown, and Flag Officers, Wellington Committee-men - 04 384 7074 andHonorary Life Members of the Club. The ceremony was well attendedCITY SEA CANVAS1 2 3MAKERS OF QUALITY COVERSPh 021 434 971P O R T R O A D S E AVI E WSpring SpecialDodger recovered& New Sail coverup to 32’ $1,850.00 Inc GSTOffer ends 31st October 200912 13

From theGalleyFISH PATE250gms delicate-textured, skinless, boneless fish (frozen may be used)125 gms cream cheese 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce1 tspn lemon juice salt and pepper to taste1. Poach and flake fish or foil-bake and flake. 2. Place fish, cream cheese, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce in a food processor orblender and blend until mixture is thick and smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 3. Spoon into a suitable container, cover withmelted butter to seal if desired. Store in fridge for up to three days. 4. Serve on crackers, toast triangles or French bread.(Makes 1 1/2 cups)VARIATIONS:1. Smoked Fish Pate. Replace fish with 250 gms hot - or cold- smoked fish, skinned and boned. If fish is cold-smoked, foil-bake at 180oC for 20 -25 minutes. 2. Oyster pate. In step 2, replace fish with 12 oysters, chopped, and add 1 gherkin, roughly chopped.Trade & ExchangeTrade and ExchangeFor Sale:For Mana Sale: Marina Jorgenson Berth C18. 14 metre built berth. 36ftkauri To planked, discuss details, contact canoe Melva stern on 526 9043. keeler.13

Wednesday Night SpeakerBrian & Vicky Eames and crew will talk about theirPacific Islands cruising experiences and show somephotos of Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia atthe Mana Cruising Club.Wednesday20th July 1930hrs.CLEAR THE DECKS MONSTER SALELine 7 BeaconLifejacketsWere$109.90Now$64.90Hutchwilco150N ManualWere: $179.00Now: $129.00Bite Flasher Rigs3 FOR $25.00Usually $11.50 EachRovex AltusLW Sets20LW set$99.0030LW set$139.00“purchase either of thesesets and recieve $50worth of tackle FREE ”Go Further!!22.7L Plastic Fuel TanksWere$99.00Now$54.90Main Road NorthParaparaumuPhone 04-298 5931Email : parts@boatcity.co.nzwww.boatcity.co.nz14

Quiz NightRUGBY WORLD CUP THEMEADVERTISINGPROOF*** Diesel Polishing ***(Cleansing)CUSTOMER DAVE ANDERSON MOTORCYCLE PUBLISHING 20SALES REP CHAEATA PUBLICATION WFilters diesel to remove water andforeign matter through filters andmicrobial decontamination unitDESIGNER Rurwin SECTION APROOFED 10/6/2010 1:28:53 PM SIZE 6.AD ID 3177013AA FAXPLEASE APPROVE THIS AD AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. NOTE THAT ANY ALTCall Alick Jenner(04) 565-0174MUST BE FINALISED BY OUR MATERIAL DEADLINE.Saturday 13th August 5-30pm for 6pm start.Pizzas available from the Club kitchen at $15 per pizza.Teams must register by Wednesday 10th August.Cost to register: $50 per team.6 members per team and a maximum of twenty teams, so registerquickly.When you register, your team will draw their Rugby World CupTeam.Your team will be expected to dress so that the team will be easilyrecognizable as the one you drew as your World Cup Team.You will receive a copy of the National Anthem of your WCT.You may have a team of up to 4 cheer leaders.There will be a guest referee to officiate the quiz.Final details will be issued at registration.Seaview Marina100 Port RoadLower HuttPh 04 566 5240Fax 04 566 6469Email wellington@gulfgroup.co.nzMARINE BROKERS LTDwww.gulfgroup.co.nzBuzz Falconer 027 444 2037Trevor Burgess 029 620 0290Bert Reeves 027 460 6115Nigel Misseldine 021 415 220• Road Bikes• Trail Bikes• ATVs• Kids’ Bikes3177013AA397 Queen Street, MastertonPhone: 06 370 0033 | Ron 0274 484 166 | Mark 027 4484 770➧Email: mark@daveanderson.co.nz | www.daveanderson.co.nz15Fairfax Media makes every effort to create advertisements to meet your specific needs. Please note in some instance

The Night Train –“6 Days in a Leaky Boat”I thought you might like an account of our problems during the2-Handed Round North Island Race. As you will know by nowwe pulled out of the race on the second Leg from Mangonui toWellington. This was great disappointment to Dave Molen and I,given the huge effort we had put to getting ‘The Night Train’ racereadyand especially since we both knew that the conditions on Leg2 were really suiting us.To recap, we sailed TNT up from Mana a week before the race startand spent the time in Westhaven Marina ticking off the final list ofprep work. Conditions on the first leg from Auckland to Mangonuiwere not to our liking at all – we rarely had any more than thefaintest of winds and TNT struggled to get moving. It took us 6hours to ghost 2 miles around Cape Brett! What’s worse was that Idecided to leave my big overlapping Genoa at home (in my defenceI thought it would be a heavy weather race, and mostly downwind,so I went all out on the spinnakers, code 0 and gennaker). Thatone big headsail would have made a huge difference and I reallyregretted not having it. Dave said nothing when I told him!We had moments of yachting pleasure though, despite feelingunderpowered most of the time. The best section of Leg 1 was amidnight blast under a full moon from Cape Brett north past theCavalli Islands to Doubtless Bay. ‘Caro Vito’ had just about caughtus up at midnight as they brought up a growing breeze. At ourwatch-change Dave told me he thought they would pass us in a fewminutes, so we hauled out the Code 0 and unfurled it. TNT tookoff and we sped away from the big black boat. We never droppedbelow 8 knots in 10 knots of true wind, and managed to overtake11 boats in 6 hours (3 of which re-took us on the final mile to thefinish line as the wind died away – bugger!). This made up for allthe frustration earlier in the leg as we watched the lighter boats sailoff into the sunset.After a day’s break Leg 2 from Mangonui to Wellington started inghosting conditions again. We crept over the start line and veryslowly clawed across Doubtless Bay and up around the KarikariPeninsula. Wind was rarely above 5 knots and much of the time wewere parked up in holes. As we made ground up Great ExhibitionBay we had a nice sail alongside Dave Chalmers on ‘Vesper’ – thesun was out and all was well until I got a call from home on themobile to tell me the Christchurch earthquake had just struck. Thehorrific news rippled through the fleet and on TNT we were greatlyrelieved to know we had no close friends or family affected, and ourworkmates down there at the time were all safe.We (me, not Dave I should add) messed up this Leg from about halfway to North Cape. We had hooked into a nice northerly breeze andwe stayed heading offshore on port tack going well. The other boatswe were ahead of then tacked back towards the Northland coastmid afternoon. We didn’t. The breeze went more west – we werestuffed! The breeze then died altogether and we were left becalmed.We spent the rest of the next 12 hours trying to get back all the lostground and claw around Cape Reinga. It was early morning whenwe finally got past Cape Maria van Dieman and beat out into abuilding southerly.Dave was grinning from ear to ear now as we crashed through 2metre seas heading for Wellington. ‘The Night Train’ loves theseconditions and we were struggling to keep her from launchingherself off the waves and flying home. We were about 15 milesWest of 90 Mile Beach and doing a steady 7.5 knots hard on thewind. We had decided to make our first tack back towards the coastmid-afternoon to see what the opposite angle looked like, and to seewhat the angle to the swells would be like.Almost as soon as we tacked I went below to get some food. Whatgreeted me was the forward part of the boat full of water. Water wassloshing up the sides of the forward sole, lifting the floorboards upand down as we went through each wave. The water tasted salty soI presumed it was coming from somewhere forward. The forwardhead bilge and shower tray was full of water; the main bilge areawas full from the mast forward. We quickly set up our manualbilge pump (a big portable Edson) and pumped out as much of thewater as we could. We couldn’t find where the water was coming in.On the previous tack all was well we thought. We concluded thatsomething must have just broken. We considered it could be hulldamage (we were pounding off waves), or a through-hull had sprunga leak, or the keel joint was loose (we had a new keel installed 12months back). We never for a moment thought it could be waterfrom inside the boat – it tasted salty, so it must have come fromoutside, right?After ripping up the floorboards, and feeling round all the throughhulls and searching for a leak, we still couldn’t find where it wascoming in. At this stage there was still lots of water sloshing aroundbut it wasn’t flooding in. We had slowed the boat down and triedto keep things a bit less bumpy but the conditions were not helpingus.Dave and I talked over options. We were not sinking, but our nextsafe haven was New Plymouth and this was two days sail away,crashing into a building southerly and a nasty chop.I decided that this was not a prudent choice and we had no realoption but to turn around and head back up around North Capeand then down to the nearest shelter back in Mangonui to sort outwhat was wrong. This meant withdrawing from the race we hadspent the last 12 months preparing for, which was a very difficultpill to swallow.On the way back we pumped out another load of water as we wentround Cape Reinga and then had a very slow slog overnight backto where we had come from. I know Dave was as disappointed asI was during this time but he never once complained or questionedmy decision. However, we both felt lousy and were stuffed when wearrived back in Mongonui at daybreak. We dropped the pick andwent to bed.16

fitted the new keel they added an extra floor frame to support theslightly different keel shape. What they omitted was to put limberholes in it. A pool of water that had collected against this new floorframe but the water was stopped from flowing forward and downhillinto the main bilge area (where the main bilge pump is located).The water had to have come from somewhere aft of this new floorso I started tracking this down. It was brackish water. It had to beeither the engine cooling pipes, the aft-most water tanks (two), orthe hot water cylinder that tees into the engine heat exchanger.Later in the morning we awoke to a friendly call from a passinglocal in his dinghy. He had heard of our plight and had come overto offer us help. Graeme Moore was fantastic – Mangonui has a realpositive set of memories for us as a result of meeting Graeme. Hedid everything possible including inviting us for dinner and lendingus his dinghy and offering to arrange an urgent slip if we needed it.He really brightened up our flagging spirits.Anyway, the water level had not increased overnight so we pumpedthe boat completely dry and towelled out all the bilges and startedour hunt for the leak.At this stage we still thought it was most likely to be either damageto the hull or a pressure leak in a corroded through-hull. The idea itcould be the new keel we thought was possible but unlikely.To cut a very long story short we spent the next three days rulingout things, rather than finding the source. We dived under the boatto check for damage. It was fine as far as we could see. We wentfor test sails to check for high pressure leaks in the though-hulls.We couldn’t even reproduce the leaks on the open water sail southto the beautiful Whangaroa Harbour. At Whangaroa we met upwith Nikki and Doug on ‘Karie-L’. It was great to see them bothand Doug dived with me to check out the keel again. We foundnothing wrong.It was about this point that I started to suspect it could be freshwater so I dismantled the furniture to get access to the most likelytanks (we have 3 separate tanks). I thought I could see a small holein one of the corners of one tank but this tank was almost emptyat this stage, so it was difficult to test this theory, but it soundedplausible.Next day we headed down to Kerikeri as Dave had to get a flighthome. My plan was to fill up the water tanks there and check forleaks. Dave left for the airport. I carried on looking.The next day I found a clue. When the guys at Lloyd StevensonsIt took another day to isolate it to a leaking hot water cylinder, butwhat I need to understand was how this relatively small amount ofwater (I reckoned about 3 gallons) could build up into so muchup forward. Water was running out of the cylinder whenever theengine was running. It would run down from the hot water cylinderand end up against the new floor frame and sit there until we wereheeling over. If we heeled to starboard it flowed around the newfloor frame and ran into the main bilge area normally to be pumpedout with general bilge water (we get some running the inside of themast when it rains).However if we heeled to port it would work its way forward past thecollection area and under some circumstances (high angles of heeland lots of pitching) can get ‘stuck’ in three big pooling areas of theforward bilge to starboard. A contributing factor to what happenedwas that one of the limber holes up forward was also blocked. Daveand I found this when we were drying out the bilges early on butwe didn’t get the significance of it at the time. This blockage waspreventing any bilge water that did run forward from running backaft again.All this resulted in the leaking water from the hot water cylinderaccumulating in the hidden sections of the bilge on the starboardside and building up volume there until it all flowed over the lastframe under the mast and into the forward head where it built upsome more (we don’t use this head at sea so we didn’t notice it) andthen over the door sill into the forward most bilge where it got stuckdue to the blocked limber hole. That’s where I first saw it!In all likelihood the amount of water I saw had built up quietlyin the hidden bilge area for several days from when the hot watercylinder started leaking. It just took the increased heel and pitchingto move it out of its collection areas and over the floorboards.So, there you are. A simple leak that confused the hell out of usand ruined our race. Why was it salty? Probably because it swilledaround in the salty bilge. It tasted like salt water to me, but it wasprobably just brackish and I jumped to the conclusion that tastingsalty meant it was sea water. If I had made the distinction we mayhave been content to keep going and our race would have had amuch different ending.‘The Night Train’ is now resting peacefully for us in Kerikeri Marina.We are looking forward to the next RNI race and some unfinishedbusiness.....Mike McDermott17

Pigeon Postsuch as matai, miro, rewarewa, kowhai, rimu, totara, as well as somelocally and nationally rare plants.It was fantastic to be able to host four classes from PlimmertonSchool over the last month. The children helped us out with beachclean-ups and releasing plantings, as well as being able to have awander around the island and see some of the things that makeMana Island such a special place. The children enjoyed seeingtakahe, shore plover, kakariki, robins, and of course the geckos andskinks that are prolific here in the absence of rodents.That’s it for this edition, from all of us on Mana Island.MANA ISLAND PIGEON POSTWell, winter appears to have arrived right on our doorstep after aprolonged, mild autumn. The weather station on the Island recordeda couple of nights of minimum temperatures of 2 to 3 degrees overthe last few days, signaling the arrival of colder weather. Hopefullythe grass growth will slow down soon too! The native plantings onthe island, though, have flourished in the mild weather, and manytrees have grown a huge amount in the past couple of months. Thenow-resident Bellbird population have been enjoying the Kowhaiwhich is in full bloom, the first flowers appearing early this year, atthe beginning of May.We are readying another two young Takahe for life in the north.The two juvenile (one-year old) birds are in quarantine, awaitingtransfer to Motutapu Island in the Hauraki Gulf. Whilst catchingthese two birds, we also had the opportunity to round up a numberof this seasons chicks, five in all. The birds are all in good health,demonstrated by them giving us the slip on a couple of occasions!We have sent feather samples away from these chicks and juvenilesto have the DNA analysed to determine their sex. All the Takahe onthe island are easy to sight at the moment, being the breeding offseasonthey are out and about most days, but come August they willbegin gearing up for breeding again and become a bit more elusive.VIP Membership & Discount CardUse your Mana Cruising Club Membership Card forPrivileges & Discounts at the following stores:Boat City Main Road, ParaparaumuPhone 04 298 5931Vero InsurancePhone 04 473 7250The Shore Plover have proven to be rather intrepid over the pastmonth or so, with a large flock from Mana Island travelling toPlimmerton Beach. These critically endangered shore birds are veryvulnerable to predation from dogs, cats, and mustelids. To havesuch a large number of these birds appearing on adjacent mainlandbeaches is an amazing sight to behold. However it is of concern tous, and we are making plans to try and get these birds back to theisland.Our planting season has begun on the island, with the focus fromthis year on under-canopy planting, and hand broadcasting seedsuch as Kohekohe under newly established cover. After 24 years ofbulk planting of the ‘basics’ such as kanuka, manuka, taupata andngaio; we are enjoying planting a variety of future canopy species,18

Cape Palliser LIghthouse. Photo by Jane Tucker

YARD TALK