Richard Whitney CS#70

Nice to get some bits of news live from those of you there. Hope your weather clears. Here in New Zealand it is a three day weekend. We have a yearly Coastal Classic yacht race - about 120 nautical miles from Auckland to Russell. The wind has been about 40 knot on the nose - over half the boats pulled out (especially some of the multihulls which always win if the wind in from behind - in fact a trimaran won this time). Continue to have a great time - I can smell the Italian food

Hi Tom A question. I notice you don't have a bow roller for the anchor. How do you plan to drop and retrieve the anchor. I see how you have it stowed in the front just inside the hatch cover. Will you just let it out over the side and retrieve it in the same way (cleating it off on the post up forward)

Tom She's a beauty! I have still been unable to sell my CS17 so I will have to wait to start building a Lapwing. Now that our sailing season is starting hopefully someone buys my boat. A couple of people have come close to doing so - so just have to wait for the right person. In the meanwhile I am honing up my woodworking skills building a steel string guitar - helping my attention to detail. Hope to see more photos from the messabout and hear some descriptions of how she handles in the water. Inspirational build.

I would love to be there - if I won Lotto I would get a plane ticket. Trust that those of you who are there will take and post lots of photos. I especially would love to get a preview of how Tom's Lapwing looks/sails if it is finished on time. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Wes Great to see you on the water. Great job on the boat - hope you both really enjoy it.

Jan I am interested to know how you constructed the 'teak decks' on you side seats, hatches etc in the interior. I am building another boat and really like that look.

Wes Here is another post from Joe Nelson from awhile ago explaining the same thing. Try using shock cord under tension hooked to the underside of the hatch. If you install an eye strap to the underside of the hatch and a hook on the shock cord...attach the other end anywere you can get downward tnesion...you can lift the hatch and unhook the cord to fully open the hatch. Then no exterior latching hardware is necessary.

Wes To hold my hatches shut I attach a plastic hook or ring to the inside of the top of the hatch. Inside I had a plastic hook attach to the inside of the compartment with a length of shock cord. To close you just pull this tight - hook it into the hook/ring on the inside top of the hatch cover and let go - the tension hold it shut with no fittings visible from the inside. To open you pull the hatch open abit - put your hand inside and unhook the shock cord. Works well.

Hi Wes The varnish work is looking great. I am interested in what you built you coaming of - they look very tidy and nice curves in the corners and the forward end of the cockpit. Did you use ply, solid wood or laminated wood - and what type? You have some great sailing coming up!!!

Thanks for the update Graham and Tom. I have had a few nibble for my CS17 and some people who want to take her out for a test sail this weekend - so I still have to sell her before I have funds for another build. It may mean I end up without a sail boat for the summer. Our main summer holiday this year is going to be on Great Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf - it is four hours by car ferry through open water from Auckland. We are taking the car and a kayak on the roof - so that will keep in on the water in some form.

Hi Tom and Graham I was interested to hear whether either of the Lapwings have hit the water yet and what the initial impressions are. It may be with everything else you have on your plates the projects may be on hold.

Thanks Rob This is enough to get me moving with spring coming on. Time to dust the boat out an get out on the water. Noticed you used some kiwi music as the sound track.

Hi Tom I read earlier in the thread that you were planning to use a tabernacle set up for the fore mast. I was interested to get an idea of how you will set that up (or some pictures when you get to that bit). Hope all is going well.

Greeting to all of you in the Northern Hemisphere. It is Queens Birthday weekend here in New Zealand - (I think you guys had a disagreement with one of her relatives a while back - so she is off your birthday list) - it is often seen as marking the end of the golden weather and the start of winter. That will mean the opposite for you. On behalf of the B and B sailors from the southern end of the planet - have a great sailing season.

Hi Graham I currently have my CS 17 on the market. I want to do another project, try a slightly different building method, harness my learning from the first and fine tune the next boat based on my experience to date. At the moment having reviewed the reality of my usage, building/boat parking space, steepness of our driveway etc. I am looking at the Lapwing. My question is would I be able to build the way you are without a jig if I just order the plans (getting a CNC kit shipped down here to NZ is probably impractical.) Thanks Richard

Wes Had a look at the pictures of your boat - it is coming along nicely. You won't regret getting and outboard bigger than 2hp - I had a 2hp four stroke Honda on my CS17. It went OK when it was calm - but I had a few experiences of going into a strong head wind with a steep chop where it was not up to the task. I have changed up to a 4hp 4 stroke Yamaha and am much more comfortable. I have been out paddling my Redfish King this afternoon. We are still getting nice warm days even though autumn is coming on. Hope you enjoy the process of building.

Hi Graham I hate to admit this - but having spent the weekend out on the Hauraki Gulf with my wife on a friends 35ft powerboat ( this link show the actual boat he ended up with http://www.windhawk35.com/Default.asp?page=23 ) - and seeing how much more my wife enjoyed herself (and the 'comfort') - I have found myself looking at powerboat plans. Do you have any plans for anything similar to Tom Lathrop's Bluejacket that would be suitable for the more open waters of the Hauraki Gulf (or any suggestions of anything to look at.) Thanks Richard P.S. Still having a great time with my CS17 (when I can find the time)

Hi Rob Go for it mate I love being able to reef since I shifted to a track on my masts. My CS 17 has been gathering dust (I am not allowed to build any more boats at present - so have been building a ukulele) - but we are getting the first taste of spring today - so nearly time to dust things off. Hope you have a good sailing season over the ditch.

Well done Guys From those of us truely south of you. Not only do you need a great boat - this is a race that needs great crew who know what they are doing but also prepare to stretch themselves

Johnny You have a great project ahead of you. While I was building I found everyone very generous with there advice. It it a great way to check things out 'before you cut'. And at the end you have a great vessel to get out on the water with.

Tom I had sleeve luffs and change when I found I could not reef as effectively - especially when sailing on my own - if the wind comes up quickly. The sleeves were very easy, neat to roll up around the mast to stow them etc. but given where I sail I do not regret changing over to the track system. I don't think I am an efficient enough sailor to notice any real difference in performance. If I was building again (I see a Princess 22 in the longer term future) I would go with track sails.

When you get to the site you can click on the photos to get a larger view

Below is a link to my blog site which has some pictures and text of an overnight solo cruise to Kawau Island. I drove about 45 mins. north of Auckland to launch the boat and then sailed about 4 hour to Bon Accord Harbour on Kawau Island (if you have Google Earth you can type in Auckland, zoom out a bit and you will see Kawau Island labelled to the north - if you zoom in the biggest harbour is Kawau. I anchored right at the head of the harbour over night). http://irwinwhitney.blogspot.com/

Have had a couple of good days sailing on Ohiwa harbour in the Bay of Plenty. These pictures show Kokako with a single reef in the main. The wind was getting up an gusting a bit so it made it more comfortable sailing single handed (we were planeing nicely with two up earlier in the afternoon - but I dropped my wife Rob off to take some pictures.) The other boat with the blue and white sail is a Firebug (John Spencer - the designer - he designed the Cherub and Javlin classes) with my 15y.o. daughter Lucie sailing (also with one reef) It was her first time out for awhile so she was doing well in a stiff breeze. Hope these images bring some pleasure to the Northern Hemisphere over your winter. I will post some more when we head north in a week to a really nice saiing area north of Auckland where we live.

Garry - thankyou for you thoughts. Best wishes of the season to all the B&B crew from those of us in the southern hemisphere.