Stuff.co.nz - Ripples from this DRIP will be far reaching

Jim thought you might like to read the following story on Stuff.co.nz.
Ripples from this DRIP will be far reaching
IT IS entirely appropriate that the government acronym to describe the advance of Maori sovereignty through the United Nations, is known as DRIP. ... Read More
Jim's message: This article says it all for us. We had innocently believed that this National-led administration would turn the emphasis away from separatist (Apartheid) policies which slowly but surely are destroying our country. But no, they are actually accelerating the trend. We are quite glad to be sailing!
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The emails to and from Partridge Yachts, Kerikeri posted recently on this site relate to the period when Jim had his yacht at Partridge's yard where she was supposed to be brought up to Cat 1 standard to enable Jim's long-held dream of offshore cruising. This work was carried out over 2006-2007.  It became apparent after the boat was brought to the Norsand Yard at Whangarei in mid 2008 that much of the work done at Kerikeri was below standard and in fact the boat was dangerous with the rig likely to fail either after or during her 1st offshore voyage. Unfortunately much of the work carried out at Norsand has since shown that most of the refit work carried out at Kerikeri was sub standard and the episode with the freezer has been just one of many issues. This is the reason why the refit has taken so long and has cost us so much time (and money) at a time of our lives when time is the least affordable commodity. 

Still, we are almost finished now (if one is ever finished with a boat!) and ready to sail off into the deep blue yonder. We'll keep you posted!

Cheers (anf love) J & J(G)

 

Fw: Tiare Taporo III

Copy of 2nd. email -

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Jim Donald <tiare_taporo@yahoo.co.nz>
To: Craig Partridge Yachts <info@partridgeyachts.com>
Cc: info@norsand.co.nz; editor@boatingnz.co.nz
Sent: Wed, 21 April, 2010 10:27:13 PM
Subject: Re: Tiare Taporo III

One other thing I should have added to my earlier email. Your own refrigeration guy (when he visited the boat at Doves Bay, Kerikeri) said that the gas was no problem. The only advice that he could proffer was to waste the space in the bottom of the freezer by providing racks to lift the contents well off the bottom so that there was air circulation. But what about chest freezers where this is never a problem?

It looks as though we will have to put up with a 2nd rate installation by continuing to adopt makeshift measures to raise the freezer contents high enough to ensure they remain frozen.

This, along with the many other defficiencies experienced as a result of being in your yard, can only add to my extreme sense of disappointment and not a little anger at the treatment I have received as a result of your attitude. We have many acquaintances now in the international cruising fraternity and you cannot be surprised if we do not pass these feelings on.

Jim Donald 

---

From: Craig Partridge Yachts <info@partridgeyachts.com>
To: Jim Donald <tiare_taporo@yahoo.co.nz>
Sent: Wed, 21 April, 2010 2:50:16 PM
Subject: Re: Tiare Taporo III

Hi Jim

 

I am not sure why I am replying to you, as I understand you have bagged me round town, on your blog site and have all your letters to me on the wall at Norsand. I have advise my lawyer of this.

But I will reply as I am not vindictive, firstly the freezer system is water cooled so it will not efficient out of the water and secondly you may need to top up your gas in the system

 

Craig

----- Original Message -----

From: Jim Donald

To: info@partridgeyachts.com

Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 1:09 PM

Subject: Tiare Taporo III

Hi Craig,

We are out of the water at the moment and re-launching on May 7th. We have been experimenting with various racks and heights in the freezer but so far the best we've acheived is minus 5 degrees - still not enough to freeze or keep frozen. Your advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Jim Donald 

 

 

 

Fw: Tiare Taporo III

This is the first of two emails which we have unfortunately been the recipients of. I would urge anyone who might contemplate having work done to their boat in NZ to avoid this yard (Partridge Yachts) and the Bay of Islands in general.

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Jim Donald <tiare_taporo@yahoo.co.nz>
To: Craig Partridge Yachts <info@partridgeyachts.com>
Cc: norsand@xtra.co.nz; editor@boatingnz.co.nz
Sent: Wed, 21 April, 2010 10:05:45 PM
Subject: Re: Tiare Taporo III

Craig,

Nothing that I have said is not truthful - even if this is a double negative!! I don't know why you are wasting money on lawyers - in my experience they are invariably an expensive waste of space - especially when you are dealing with the truth. I have only ever commented on my experience in your boatyard to anyone who has asked. I have never "bagged you around town" as you vulgarly put it - maybe I should. Emails displayed on notice boards are not my decision but those of the recipients at the time.

As regards your advice re my refrigeration system, you only display your ignorance yet again. If you had any knowledge of Isotherm systems you would know that they function equally well out of the water as in. Our problems as you well know were quite obvious long before we hauled out this time.

I don't know why I bothered to contact you now; I should have known that all I would get is abuse for daring to criticise you and no practical help whatsoever. If you had any hope for resurrection of my opinion of you, I would have thought that you would be actively trying to solve my problem before we embark on what is going to be the adventure of a lifetime - but no. Instead you protest your reputation with veiled threats of legal action which of course only reinforce the old dictum "methinks thou protestith too much".

Jim Donald

---

From: Craig Partridge Yachts <info@partridgeyachts.com>
To: Jim Donald <tiare_taporo@yahoo.co.nz>
Sent: Wed, 21 April, 2010 2:50:16 PM
Subject: Re: Tiare Taporo III

Hi Jim

 

I am not sure why I am replying to you, as I understand you have bagged me round town, on your blog site and have all your letters to me on the wall at Norsand. I have advise my lawyer of this.

But I will reply as I am not vindictive, firstly the freezer system is water cooled so it will not efficient out of the water and secondly you may need to top up your gas in the system

 

Craig

----- Original Message -----

From: Jim Donald

To: info@partridgeyachts.com

Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 1:09 PM

Subject: Tiare Taporo III

Hi Craig,

We are out of the water at the moment and re-launching on May 7th. We have been experimenting with various racks and heights in the freezer but so far the best we've acheived is minus 5 degrees - still not enough to freeze or keep frozen. Your advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Jim Donald 

 

 

 

Life on the hard on board Tiare Taporo III

We hope this finds everyone well. We are slowly but surely getting through all the jobs before we depart for points north. Things we are doing:

We have moved the pipe that the anchor chain travels through in and out of the chain locker forward so that it will fall into the locker without jamming, as it was inclined to do before. This is just about finished.

We are converting a hanging locker into a conventional storage locker which will use the space more efficiently.

We have had the watermaker overhauled. Hopefully it will work without further problems but we can't test it until we are back in the water.

We have moved the position of a couple of pad eyes on deck to give a more user friendly staysail sheet angle.

We have put a rack in the freezer to try and overcome the issues with food thawing in the bottom as a result of the original  incompetent installation at Partridge Yachts, Kerikeri. So far with mixed success.

We have changed the engine oil and tightened the engine mounts - also replaced another Kerikeri stuff up with a proper marine non return valve to ensure that water doesn't flood into the boat in future when the bilge pump skin fitting is under water when we are heeled.

Cleaned the bilge - what fun - oh, the joys of boating!!

We are installing two 60 watt solar panels to further augment our power generation capacity.

We are slowly getting the hull painted but having some frustration due to showers coming over in fits and starts.

We have raised the waterline by means of creating a boot top above the old waterline. It is looking very smart with its pale lemon colour against the white of the topsides and blue antifouling. We'll have to stop sinking the boat any more by loading cruising supplies!!

We have modified the bow anchor rollers to accommodate our new Rocna anchor with which we have replaced the Delta which dragged a couple of times on our recent cruise.

We now have an awning which fits over the boom to keep the boat cooler in the tropics. It also has a facility for collecting rainwater which will be a boon and save us running the watermaker when we are at anchor. As long as it rains!!

Gina has been sewing mosquito screens to fit over our opening ports. Apart from the discomfort, mosquito bites have the potential for some very nasty diseases.

We have hessian screens rigged around the boat so as to create a humid atmosphere under the boat when we water the ground. This is to prevent the wooden hull from drying out too much until we go back in the water. When people ask about the screens we tell them it is to prevent prying eyes from seeing our revolutionary keel  - albeit that it was designed 80 years ago!!

Noel Barrott who has been doing all the boatbuilding work to the boat, has been the driving force behind the screens as his long experience with boats such as ours recommends such a course as being not only desirable but necessary.

10 days ago Jim went to Christchurch for the weekend to see his daughter Charlotte (and Jon) and their 2 yr old daughter, Lucia. Lucia is delightful although somewhat living up to the "terrible twos" reputation with "no" and "won't" coming to the fore with some regularity! But it was great to see Jon's father Max (and Phillipa) and to just have some extended time with them all. The next time will be after we return from our big nautical adventure.

Jean (Gina) spent time with her family at their new property at Tuakau/Port Waikato and caught up with extended family there as well. Perry, her son, and Tracie came to lunch one day as well. There won't be much chance to see family for the next 4-5 months so these times are precious.

Life in the boatyard is not without it's excitements, although a recent event was not what anyone would wish to happen. A fishing boat "San Elizabeth" had lost her rudder and requested Norsand to haul her out. It seems that for whatever reason the boat's weight had been very much understated and Norsand proceeded on the assumption that the 60 ton weight which had been advised was correct. However, when the boat had been hauled some way up the slipway the real weight (which is now thought to be closer to 100 tons) was too much for the cradle which was being used and she literally fell over on her starboard side in the slipway. Unfortunately she sustained substantial damage to her hull and because she is of triple skin Kauri construction the cost of repairs will almost certainly exceed her value and the only result of that is that she could be written off. This is a real tragedy as she is one of the last wooden fishing boats of her type to have been built in NZ (1962) and is a superbly built and very pretty hull. She was built by Percy Vos originally for Sanford Ltd. Vos's were arguably the best wooden boat builders in Auckland in their heyday and in fact had also built a number of dinghies for Jim's father including in 1958 an 18' open launch called "Jado" which by a great coincidence has recently been acquired by a relative of Gina's and is being painstakingly restored by him. Vos's also built a 12' clinker sailing dinghy for Jim in 1966 ("Tiare Taporo II"). She is now on permanent loan to the Auckland Traditional Wooden Boat Building School which is located at the former RNZAF Hobsonville Airbase. One of the School's directors is Robert Brooke, a former Vos apprentice. So, there has been a long association with and interest in P. Vos Ltd. This has made the accident with the "San Elizabeth" all the more poignant and it is certainly not the end which a grand old lady like that deserves.

We are hoping to be back in the water in a fortnight or so and will then be busy provisioning and making sure that the myriad of other things necessary are done. It will be a relief to get away and eventually relax, although probably not until we have arrived in Vanuatu!

We'll be giving you a blow by blow account of the passage.

Cheers for now

J & J(G)

  

 

 

Haulout

Hi to everyone,

Well, we made it safely back to Whangarei from the Barrier and hauled out at the Norsand Boatyard on March 10th. All went without a hitch and we were parked in almost the same spot that we had occupied before. We have been sanding the topsides and scribing a new waterline higher than the old one as with all the cruising gear we have accumulated the Tiare was floating somewhat lower!! The new waterline will be by way of a boot top which will look quite smart. Scribing the new line was very involved and actually took one and a half days with shooting levels and use of a string line and wedges to acheive the correct sheer in the line to not only match the old line, but also to blend with the hull shape and sheer lines generally. Then we had to burn off the old paint in the area of the boot top back to bare timber to start a new paint system for the boot top antifouling. Nothing with a boat is simple if you do things properly!

We were going to then start painting a finish coat on the topsides yesterday but we had decided to try a brand of paint called "Hempel" which has international renown; however, we found it was like trying to paint treacle and also the weather started to look threatening. So that was abandoned and we will go back to a brand we have used before and know. Today we have been engaged in the fascinating and exciting job of cleaning the bilge! Add to this the fact that the hose from the bilge pump blocked and then the pump itself blocked and it made for a very fulfilling afternoon! Needless to say after much head scratching and the odd word we won't repeat here the job was at last accomplished.

We've had to remove the water maker pump for servicing and that should be re-installed later this week. We've had an awning made (which will also be able to catch water) and Gina has been consulting widely re mosquito netting and the method of covering openings. She is almost ready to start making them.

On a more personal level last weekend we went to Auckland for the house warming of Gina's sister Heather's new property between Tuakau and Port Waikato. We had a great time with Heather and Magan out there and there were many of their family present. Some of us  had a hilarious time in the spa pool later.

However, just before we were due to leave Whangarei we had a phone call from  Jim's brother to say that their mother (who is 89) hasd been taken seriously ill and had been admitted to hospital the day before. She has been in frail health for some time and this latest episode was seen as life threatening and very serious. However, it turned out that while she had incurred a blood infection probably from a leg injury, she started to perk up and now in fact is scheduled to return home in 2 days time! In the meantime however, Jim was in the hospital at 4 and 5 in the morning for 8 hour stretches over 2 consecutive days (the latter visit after a 1 hour drive back from Tuakau in the early hours!) and so hardly had a restful time. On top of that his welcome was less than cordial as his mother for some reason has adopted a most disapproving attitude to the offshore sailing enterprise and has labelled it as irresponsible!! This is in spite of the fact that there are thousands of yachts worldwide sailing the oceans every day and very few come to grief. In fact driving from here to Auckland is infinitely more hazardous as the Easter road toll is confirming. If the same number of people (8 at last count) had been killed in some yachting disaster it would be front page news for days but the road toll hardly raises an eyebrow. Anyway the anxiety over his mother and his subsequent  reception has made for an extremely unpleasant emotional roller coaster over the past few days so it's great to be back in the boatyard again among the yachting cruising fraternity many of whom have become friends and who we will no doubt see again during our upcoming ocean voyaging adventures.   

Jim as going to Christchurch on the 8th. to see his youngest daughter, Charlotte and her husband Jon and their 2 yr old daughter, Lucia. The 1st grandchild!! It will be great to see them before we take off in a month or so.

More news on boat maintenance (you can't wait we can tell!) and the Christchurch visit will soon be forthcoming. Watch this space.

Cheers,

J & G (J)