Two More To Go

Emirates Team New Zealand only needs to win two more races to take the America's Cup. It has been a real nail biter the past couple of days with a near capsize yesterday by the Kiwis and with Oracle Team USA taking the first race today. 

I understand that, outside of San Francisco, there hasn't been much news coverage in the States. Which is odd as it is called the America's Cup, it is being raced in America and the defender is an American team. The Super Bowl is quite big here in New Zealand and they don't even play in it, so I'm not quite sure why the premier sailing event in the world wouldn't get more news coverage in the States. But hey, until a year ago when we bought a sailboat, I really wouldn't have paid attention either.

Fingers crossed for Race 11 and Race 12. If you're in the States, tune in on Tuesday to watch. For those of us in New Zealand, through the magic of time travel and the international dateline, we'll actually watch it the next day on Wednesday.

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Why I Don't Want A Catamaran

Did you watch Race 8 of the America's Cup? One more degree over and Emirates Team New Zealand would have capsized. And when catamarans capsize, unlike monohulls, they don't roll over. If they had capsized, it would have likely been game over for them as they don't have another boat ready to go. Fingers crossed for Race 9.

Hauraki Gulf Cruising Notes: Rakino Island

Rakino Island - Former home of the "Great Ricardo" and his utopian dream
36°43’S 174°57’E

Rakino Island is located 20 kms northeast of Auckland and 2 kms from Motutapu Island. A relatively small island (approx. 1.5 sq kms), Rakino only has 16 permanent residents, 76 homes and numerous other tracts of land. With limited ferry service, it is fairly isolated and private which is probably a big part of the attraction for the permanent residents and holiday home owners. The island is mostly pasture land with some pockets of pohutukawa trees (the Kiwi "Christmas" tree).

 

The first owner of Rakino Island was Governor Sir George Grey who bought it in 1863 and planned to build his home there. He abandoned Rakino Island when Kawau Island came up for sale where he built the iconic Mansion House. Rakino Island was then leased in 1874 and later bought by Alfred Sanford (founder of the Sanford fishing company), whose family farmed and lived there for the next 80 years. In 1963 the "Great Ricardo" (otherwise known as Dr. Maxwell Rickard) bought the island. The "Great Ricardo" was a psychologist, touring hypnotist and nightclub owner who had some "great" plans for the island. Some might call them "kooky" plans, but calling yourself the "Kooky Ricardo" doesn't have nearly the same ring as the "Great Ricardo". As president of the United People's Organisation (Worldwide) Inc., Ricardo wanted to set up a clinic for "disturbed and nervous patients", an international orphanage, a refuge for unmarried mothers and homes for the elderly. While that doesn't sound necessarily too kooky, his approach was interesting to say the least. He advertised in the newspaper for 100 men and women to donate all of their worldly goods for the "benefit of all" and come live on the island. No takers. He looked into getting the United Nations to recognize Rakino Island as an independent country. No go. By 1965, he gave up on his utopian vision and he subdivided the land and sold it off. Success at last.

 

In this post-Ricardo era, the Rakino landowners have their own association and blog with information about ferry schedules, garbage collection and community events such as jazz festivals, dragon boat races, art and craft fairs. They seem like a fun bunch and if you are keen to join the homeowner's association, you're in luck as there seem to be a quite a few houses and sections (undeveloped land) on Rakino Island currently up for sale. If you're a fan of "America's Next Top Model", you can even buy the Hurakia Lodge for NZ$10 million which was featured on the show. Models not included.

 

If you're not in the market for a new home, you can still enjoy the island anchoring up in Woody Bay or West Bay on the western side, in the lagoon-like Sandy Bay on the southeastern side (where there is a sandy beach and great swimming) or at Maori Garden Bay on the eastern side which backs on to steep cliffs. The public wharf, community hall and public toilet are found on the south end of Sandy Bay and if you have a barge, you can get access in Home Bay. Once you make your way onto the island, go hunt down the world's first solar powered telephone box. Solar powered telephone boxes are a great idea - too bad Ricardo didn't come up with it first.

If you're interested in other posts in the "Hauraki Gulf Cruising Notes" series, check out this page.

Note: If you want to find out more about Rakino Island, check out the interesting article in the 27 Jan 2011 edition of the "Waiheke Weekender".

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I Made NZ$125.48 This Week!

It's true - I made NZ$125.48 this week and you can too! If you want to make some easy money, just click on this link. Make sure you have your bank account details handy. You won't believe how simple it is to make tons of money all from the comfort of your living room or sailboat. Go on, click on the link...you know you want to. You can trust me, really!

Okay, all of the gullible people have gone so I'll tell you how I really made NZ$125.48. As we'll be moving onto our sailboat permanently soon, I'm in the process of trying to downsize my worldly goods. I started with my DVD collection and, while I didn't get rid of any (much to Scott's dismay), I did make them more compact by putting them in DVD wallets. The next big project I have been tackling is my clothes. Since leaving the land of corporate madness, I haven't needed all of my work clothes and I'm pretty sure I won't be wearing any of my cocktail dresses while sailing. As we'll be living off of our savings, every penny counts so I've decided to try to sell what I can to add to our cruising kitty.

There are two consignment shops that I found in Auckland - Recycle Boutique and Tatty's. Recycle is the larger of the two and seems to cater to the younger crowd and is staffed by hip-looking kids. They are very particular about what clothes they accept for resell as their young, hip customers don't want to buy anything that their nana might think is fashionable. Whenever I walk in there with a bag of clothes I can see them roll their eyes and hear them start to whisper to each other, "Look at the middle aged, frumpy lady walking in here. She can't be serious! Does she really think that we would take any of her clothes to sell? Does she think nanas shop here?" They think that because I am middle aged my hearing must have gone already and I can't hear them. But I'm not that far gone and they come through loud and clear. Fortunately, their nanas and mothers raised them right, so when I get up to the counter they go through my clothes very politely and call me ma'am which is code for frumpy middle aged lady.

One of the great things about Recycle is that anything that they reject they put into a big bin which they take up to the Auckland City Mission for you. So even if they reject your clothes, you know they are still going to a good cause. While most of my clothes go in their Auckland City Mission reject bin, from time  to time I surprise them with something trendy and fashionable which they accept into stock. Of course the only reason I have any trendy and fashionable items is when I've made the mistake of thinking I am young, trendy and fashionable while out shopping and bought them by mistake. Once I'm home and try them on in the cold light of day, I realize the error of my ways and tuck them into the back of the closet in hopes that one day I'll be young, trendy, fashionable and a few pounds lighter. Many, many stores in New Zealand do not take returns unless the merchandise is faulty so you're generally stuck with what you buy. That includes any inappropriately young and trendy fashion mistakes. There isn't any room on our boat for these kinds of "mistakes" so the girls at Recycle have kindly taken them from me.

The other place I take my clothes is Tatty's. Tatty's is a bit more "upscale" in terms of consignment shops and is even pickier then Recycle. I tend to take more of my "brand name" clothes to them for sale as I can get better prices. Anything that doesn't sell at Tatty's then gets taken to Recycle to see what the girls there think of them. The staff at Tatty's are also hip, young and trendy, but they hide their disdain for nanas and middle aged ladies a bit better. By the way, if you're in Tatty's anytime soon, there is a lovely little red Keith Matheson number for sale. Go on, try it on. See, it looks great on you! You just have to get it!

I'm slowly working my way through my clothes and taking things into Recycle and Tatty's but in the meantime, I actually made some money this week selling my old stuff! The cruising kitty is very happy. And so is Scott as that means less stuff to cram on the boat.

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Boat Buying Tips Without Too Much Salt (Pt 5) - Tillers vs. Wheels

Be warned - I am an unseasoned and not very salty sailor. Any tips I share about boat buying are of the low sodium variety.

Scott and I are looking to buy a new sailboat next year so I'm trying to learn more about what you should look for when buying a boat. The extent of my involvement in buying our current boat was to check out the boat cushions (not the prettiest) and the seahorse painted on the stern (cuter than the cushions). This time around we'll be spending a heck of a lot more money so I've set out to learn more about boats. I started with hulls, keels, more about keels and then rudders. Now it is time to look at how you turn the rudder to make the boat go where you want it to go. Unlike many other aspects of boat buying there are only two choices - a tiller or a steering wheel.

A tiller is the simplest option. It is basically a long handle that attaches to the rudder post. You push the tiller from side to side to turn the boat. No fancy pulleys, gears, wires, hydraulics etc. to worry about. Just a simple connection between the tiller and the rudder post. You push the rudder, the boat turns.

Seems pretty straightforward except that it works like something out of "Alice in Wonderland" where nothing is at it seems. When you're driving a car and you want to go right, you turn the steering wheel right. When you want to go left, you turn the steering wheel left. But when you are using a tiller, you do everything backwards. To turn right, you push the tiller left. To turn left, you push the tiller right. I struggle to tell my left from my right on a good day and when you add in the pressure of having to remember left from right and then  try to figure out which way to push the tiller it can all be a bit too much. Especially when you are about to crash into a very expensive launch and you start to worry that the launch costs more then your insurance will cover. You should see the look on Scott's face when that sort of thing happens with me at the helm. Priceless. (Tip: if you can't tell your left from you right, hold both hands out in front of you. The thumb and index finger on your left hand makes an "L" - "L" for left. Now try to do this while steering the boat with a tiller. Not so easy now!)

Tillers are more commonly found on smaller boats. They have the advantage of being more responsive and you can get a better "feel" for what's going on as your hand on the tiller is closer to where the action is happening down where the water is pushing against the rudder. If you put a tiller extension on your tiller (a thin, long pole which attaches to the tiller), you have more freedom as to where you sit in the cockpit and can rest the tiller extension on your lap or between your knees thus freeing your hands up for snacks. However, one of the downsides of a tiller is that it takes up a lot of room in the cockpit as it swings from side to side. This means people sometimes have to scoot around and readjust their position when you move the tiller over to the other side. However, when you're anchored, you can pull the tiller up and tie it upright leaving the cockpit free. In larger boats, tillers can be more difficult to manage as there is more pressure to contend with. You have to use your own brute strength to push the tiller from side to side. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending upon your perspective), I'm not very brutish.

Wheels are the alternative to tillers and often found on larger boats (as well as on smaller boats whose captains think they look cooler with a wheel). They work just like a steering wheel in your car and can be easier to turn than a tiller in a larger boat as less brute force is required. You also don't have all of that left = right and right = left confusion that you get with a tiller. Wheels are a more complicated set-up than a tiller with more stuff that can potentially get broken. And while you look pretty cool behind the wheel, you are pretty much stuck behind the wheel unlike with a tiller extension.

It is probably a draw for me as to whether I prefer a tiller or a wheel. Having only used a tiller I have kind of gotten used to them and their backwards way of steering and like the idea of less chance of things breaking. But as we'll be getting a bigger boat, the idea of it being easier to steer is appealing. We'll have to wait and see which way this one plays out.

Next up - the great monohull vs. catamaran debate. Would you prefer to buy a "normal" boat with one hull or the "Siamese twins" of boats with two hulls? Stay tuned.

If you're interested in other slightly eccentric posts on how to buy a sailboat when you know nothing about sailing or boats, check out this page.

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Hauraki Gulf Cruising Notes: The Noises

The Noises - look out for the swarming birds
36º 42'S, 174º 58'E

The Noises are a group of rocky islands northeast of Rakino Island. There are four main islands - Otata (21.8 hectares), Motuhoropapa (9.5 hectares), Maria (2.0 hectares) and the David Rocks (2.0 hectares). There are also five islets the largest of which is Scott Island. Sadly, the islands are privately owned and Scott hasn't been able to claim Scott Island as his own. Scott wanted to plant his flag (the one that says "hands off, this is my island") on the island and even got all of his pirate gear on, but as there isn't any place to land on any of The Noises his plan was thwarted.

There are no permanent inhabitants on The Noises, but there are a lot of fish to be found as the waters and reefs around the islands serve as a breeding ground. And where there are fish, there are fisherfolk. The Noises are a very popular place to anchor up and try to catch some snapper. Boaties are often found by Otata Island trying their luck. And where there are fish and boaties with yummy smelling bait, there are birds. Lots and lots of birds. Birds swarming madly around you and being incredibly noisy as they cry out, "Hey you fisherfolk! Hands off of our fish! Drop your bait and head on out of here - NOW!" These are the kinds of birds immortalized in Alfred Hitchcock's movie "The Birds".

If you haven't seen "The Birds" and you want to borrow it, let me know. It is one of the million DVDs I have in my collection that I have to somehow find room for on the boat. If for some reason you're too scared to see "The Birds", here is a brief recap of the plot:

• Cute guy meets pretty lady in a bird store. (Given the name of the movie is "The Birds", the site of the first scene isn't too surprising.) Cute guy tries to buy a pair of lovebirds for his sister but the shop doesn't have any. The bird store, not realizing that people expect it to have birds in stock, goes out of business soon thereafter.
• Pretty lady likes cute guy and buys a pair of lovebirds, puts her stalker like qualities to work and finds out cute guy's address and tries to hide the birds on cute guy's porch. Cute guy spots pretty lady. Pretty lady gets attacked by a seagull! Cue dramatic music. Cute guy asks pretty lady to stay for dinner.
• Dinner must have been tasty as pretty lady starts to fall for cute guy and gets in on his sister's and mother's good side (don't worry, not the same kind of mother as in Psycho).
• Cue more dramatic music - evil seagulls attack defenseless children and a pack of vicious sparrows come down the chimney. The neighbor gets killed by a gang of birds. A virtual army of crows attacks more defenseless kids on the playground.
• In the midst of all of the carnage, pretty lady and cute guy find time to have dinner at a local restaurant. Their fellow diners share their views on why all the birds have gone mad. The town drunkard suspects it is the Apocalypse. By this point, everyone else is starting to think about drinking heavily too.
• Dramatic music again - a guy filling up his car with gas is knocked unconscious, someone stupidly thinks it is a good time to light up a ciggie and you guessed it fire and of course a swarm of vicious birds.
• Cute guy and pretty lady lock themselves up in the house as bird after bird tries to break in and get them. Cute guy's sister gets badly hurt and they all take off to the hospital.
• And then the movie ends. Just like that it is over. But is it really? The birds stop attacking and quietly watch them leave town. Who knows, maybe their next stop was The Noises in the Hauraki Gulf.

If you're interested in other posts in the "Hauraki Gulf Cruising Notes" series, check out this page.

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Can't Get Enough of Those Cans

It's time for some more cooking with can recipes! As part of my preparation to live on a boat full-time, I've been experimenting with cooking with cans. You never know when you'll next find a supermarket out on the big blue sea so it is important to be able to conjure up meals out of what you have in your food storage. 

My first experiment was Taco Soup and I then went on to make Corn Chowder. My next experiment has been focused on ways to make protein-rich dishes for those days when Scott isn't able to score a fish from the sea for supper. As we don't have refrigeration on our boat, we won't be able to store meat (unless it comes out of cans) so I've been looking at some vegetarian recipes. Vegetarian is also much cheaper and, as we'll be cruising on a budget, cheap is good.

I actually was a vegetarian for a few years. I decided to become one in high school. Not because of any deeply rooted ethical reasons related to animal cruelty, but, because in a moment of teenage rebellion, I thought it might annoy my mother. She tricked me by being really supportive and looking up vegetarian recipes to make for me. Teenage rebellion 0, supportive mom 1.

During my vegetarian phase, I was a really picky eater and didn't actually like vegetables or lentils or tofu or all of that stuff that vegetarians were supposed to eat. So I basically subsisted on cheese and chocolate. I ate shrimp occasionally when I went out to eat and that was about it. (I was a vegetarian back in the dark ages when restaurants didn't exactly cater for them. It's much easier now for vegies.) Not exactly the healthiest diet. I've since expanded the range of foods I'll eat. However, avocados and beetroot are still on the no-eat list which is a problem in New Zealand as the Kiwis love nothing more than sticking them in absolutely everything they eat.

My vegetarian experiment came to an end when I was living in Senegal for a summer during college with a Wolof family. One day the father asked me if I wanted to go sheep shopping with him. I said yes. Who wouldn't? We went out to the local sheep market, looked at a lot of sheep and brought two home with us. My Wolof was non-existent and my French was pretty limited, so I thought we were bringing them home as pets. It is a good thing I didn't get too attached to them because a couple of weeks later some guy with a very big knife came by the house and the sheep were, well, no more.

It turns out the sheep were really intended to celebrate Tabaski which is one of the most important Muslim holidays in Senegal. Tabaski is the Senegalese term for Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, which celebrates Abraham's devotion to God. When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, he said yes. Fortunately, God was so impressed with Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son that he spared his son's life and a ram was sacrificed instead. As a result, on Tabaski, sheep are sacrificed throughout Senegal in remembrance of Abraham's devotion.

As a guest in the house, I got a great view up close and center when the sheep were sacrificed. Wow. That's all I can say - wow. And as a guest, I also got offered one of the first lamb kebabs hot off the grill. Despite being a vegetarian, it was one of those occasions where I really couldn't say no. It would have been terribly impolite. So I ate it. And it was DELICIOUS. My vegetarian days quickly came to an end.

Because we don't have a refrigerator on our boat or a grill, the opportunities for lamb kebabs will be limited so I've tried out the following recipe for red beans and rice. You certainly won't be fooled into thinking it is a lamb kebab, but it didn't taste too bad and the beans will give us much needed protein while out on the sea.

Red Beans & Rice

• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 tablespoon oil (I used canola)
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon red chili flakes
• 1 420 gram can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 400 gram can of Mexican style tomatoes
• 1 cup basmati rice
• 2 cups water
• 1 Continental chicken stock concentrate

Chop up the onion and the garlic and sauté in the oil until soft. Add in the chili powder and red chili flakes and sauté for 30 seconds (to wake everything up as Rachel Ray would say). Chuck in the kidney beans, tomatoes, rice, water and chicken stock concentrate. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes or so until the rice is done. Stir occasionally to keep the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Here is what it looks like when you're finished. Serves four easily. No lamb required.

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