.Upfront – pg 2

.Updates – pg 5 – Fiji Clearances – Vanuatu Fees on the rise

.2012 Seminar series, dates and syllabus – pg 6

.Outboard Care – pg 6

.What Works – pg 7/8

.Micronesia Rally – pg 9

.What’s New? – pg 10/11

.Rally Update – pg 12/13

.A harrowing Journey pt 3 – 14/15

Introducing Mike Caldwell’s new Cruising Boat Brokerage- pg 16 – 19

Boats for Sale, recipes and classifieds.

Where:- Ko & Frank Schuurman’s place – 38b Waimare Rd Whenuapai Auckland
When:- 5:30pm onwards (1730) Friday 13th April
What:- Bring along something to drink, either a main or a desert to share. Also please bring your own plates and cutlery and a glass. This will be a classic cruisers Pot Luck dinner.
Who:- Everyone is welcome. If you have a friend that would like to see how cruisers have fun, bring them along too.
Simply follow the Blue line from the Upper Harbour Motorway.

Upper Harbour Motorway> Brigham Creek Rd.> Right into Kauri Rd.> Left into Puriri Rd.> Right into Waimarie Rd. and look for the blue ICA wagon on the right hand side at the entrance to no 38b.
Any problems finding the place give us a call on 027 or 021 242 1088
DON’T FORGET TO BOOK
SEE YOU THERE

Upfront – pg 2

April Club Night – Cruisers Pot Luck pg 3

Up Next – Rallies, seminars and club nights Pg 3

Updates – Samoa, Port Vila and Tonga – pg 4

Windflower Wrap – pg 5

What Works – pg 6

Micronesia Rally – pg 7

iPad, wonder or toy – pg 8/9

Shamal Pt 13 Turkey / Greece – pg 10/14/15/16

2012 Seminar series, dates and syllabus – pg 11

A harrowing Journey pt 2 – 12/13/21

Introducing Mike Caldwell’s new Cruising Boat Brokerage- pg 20

Boats for Sale, recipes and classifieds.

Cruising Preparation Seminar -  Dates
Mackay:            Club Night – Fri 19th Oct
Seminar – Sat 20th/Sun 21st Oct
Auckland:       Club night- Welcome Back and
Christmas party Sat 17th November
Seminar – Sat 17th/Sun 18th Nov
Brisbane         Club Night – Fri 30th Nov
Seminar – Sat 1st/Sun 2nd Dec
Newcastle:      Club Night – 14th Dec
Seminar – Sat 15th/ Sun 16th Nov
Sydney             Club Night Fri 4th Jan 2013
Seminar – Sat 5th/ Sun 6th Jan
Hobart             Club Night – 8th Feb 2013
Seminar – Sat 9th/Sun 10th Feb
Nelson NZ       Club Night 23rd Feb 2013
Seminar 23rd/24th Feb

Cruising  Prep. Seminar – Syllabus
Times: Sat. 0800 Sun. 0900 (Each day finishes 1700)
•    The Ideal Cruising Yacht? – Hull design – Material – Tender – Ventilation – Sanitation and         accommodation layout
•    Rigging – for extended cruising  & safety inc. deck layout, preventors, etc
•    Sails – selection, balance, tuning, fault finding, maintenance
•    Furling – headsail, mainsail, car handling, storm safety
•    Anchors & Anchoring –– techniques,  types, warps, laying, windlass
•    Provisions – food stores, what is available and where
•    Water – treatment, filtration, purification, disinfectant, watermakers
•    Vessel Systems – water, plumbing, gas, fuel, etc.
•    Power generation – looking at all the options
•    Electronics – radios, charting, GPS, Radar, autopilot, AIS, etc.
•    Money – management of, establishing credit lines
•    Mail – forwarding, ICA mail & fax drops in the South Pacific, NZ and Australian East Coast.
•    Email – ways to receive this, advantages
•    Search and Rescue – authority & scope of SAR
•    Cat 1 – What it means to you.
•    Safety Gear- plus watch systems and safety protocols
•    Ship Registration – guide to ships registry
•    Navigation – basic equipment requirements
•    Charts – tables, filing, requirements
•    Log Keeping – plus basic record keeping
•    Books – recommendations, pilots, reference manuals, cruising guides
•    Computers – what they can do aboard to assist you
•    Interfacing – all electronics, the advantages, the pitfalls
•    Radios, VHF, SSB, HAM – skeds, basic operation, installation
•    Steering – Tiller, wheel, vanes, emergency
•    Diesel Engines – how they work, trouble shooting, spares
•    Fuel – Filters, injectors, filtering before it enters the tank
•    Passage preparation – Coastal and Offshore
•    Passage Planning  – Coastal and Offshore.
•    Weather  – Coastal and Offshore
•    Emergencies at Sea – fire, grounding, heavy weather, hull damage, leaks, MOB practice
•    Repairs at Sea – rigging loss, steering loss, towing, being towed and abandoning ship
•    Legalities – of  items that concern cruisers
•    Heavy Weather – storm rigs, storm sails, heaving to, laying ahull, sea anchors, drogues
•    Living while extended cruising – with other cruisers plus the locals.

The seminar is aimed at Skippers, Partners and Crew.
Seminar reading – A Guide to Cruising & Safety and Emergencies at Sea by Brian and Joan Hepburn,
Seminar Cost $295.00 per couple $200 Single. plus ICA membership $45 (if you are not already a member) plus books, e-copy at seminar prices, $19.95ea.
To register click HERE

By Jimmy and Ivan Cornell

Publisher: Cornell Sailing Ltd.

ICA price: US$ 89.95 with free postage, anywhere. (usually $99.95 plus P & P)

(special offer for ICA members)

ISBN: 978-0-9556396-5-4

Spiral-bound: 120 pages, color

Dimensions: 420 x 297 mm

Available at http://cornellsailing.com/ica/

“Cornell’s Ocean Atlas, the latest in a long line of cruising resources from this world renown author is the most up to date information available for passage planning. Cornell’s Ocean Atlas, along with a paper copy passage chart is all you need for planning a passage anywhere in the world. I know, I’m using it to plan our 2014 Micronesia Rally” John Martin, Director Island Cruising Assoc.

Sixty monthly pilot charts of all oceans for the world show wind speed and direction, current speed and direction, approximate extent of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, the most common tracks of tropical storms, and the mean location of high pressure cells for each hemisphere.

Sixty-nine detailed charts of the most commonly sailed transoceanic routes make it easier for cruising sailors to plan a route that takes best advantage of the prevailing weather conditions at that time of year.  Sidebars with tactical suggestions have been added to the months when most passages are undertaken. The comments and tips on tactics, as well as weather overviews for each ocean, were contributed by meteorologists and routers specializing in those oceanic areas.

… read more about the atlas and its authors

Pilot charts, also referred to as routing charts, have been the most important passage planning tool since the middle of the nineteenth century. The first systematic study of ships’ sailing routes, and the weather conditions that affect them, was undertaken in the 19th century by Lieutenant Maury of the US Navy with the aid of shipmasters’ logbooks. Much of the information contained in the pilot charts that are in use today is still based on those observations and, although they have been updated at regular intervals, the scarcity of reliable sources, inaccuracy of the observations, or the climate changes that have occurred over the years, have rendered some of the information shown on those charts to be now inaccurate.

To present as true a picture as possible of the actual conditions which prevail in today’s oceans, the charts in Cornell’s Ocean Atlas are based on extensive data collected by meteorological satellites from 1987 to the present. This data was processed by Ivan Cornell, whose programming experience has made both noonsite.com and this atlas possible.

Sailors who have consulted advance copies of the atlas are describing it as ground-breaking for its content, but also for its organization and layout, which reflect Jimmy Cornell’s unmatched world voyaging experience. The scale and range of charts are carefully chosen so that sailors can see all the relevant information and plan their passages on a single chart. As one world cruiser stated, on seeing the format and detail of the atlas “This is a game-changer. It should be hidden away and kept a secret so that it is as hard for future cruisers as it was for us.”

As Jimmy Cornell says “Our main objective has been to create the kind of publication we would have greatly appreciated if it had been available when we sailed on any of the five circumnavigations of the globe which we share between us.”

The authors

Jimmy Cornell has sailed 200,000 miles in all oceans of the world including three circumnavigations as well as voyages to Antarctica and Alaska. As the founder of the successful ARC transatlantic rally, Jimmy Cornell is credited with having devised the offshore cruising rally concept. Thousands of sailors have fulfilled their dream of blue water sailing with the help of his books, among them the bestseller World Cruising Routes. While working on his next book World Voyage Planner, to be published in 2012, he asked Ivan’s help in producing up-to-date pilot charts to illustrate the voyages described in the book. This atlas is the result of their cooperation.

Ivan Cornell spent most of his childhood at sea and completed his first circumnavigation with his father by the time he was eleven. As an adult he has sailed thousands of miles as crew or skipper on a variety of boats in all oceans including two voyages to Antarctica. He has a degree in computer science from University College London and has worked for the last twenty years in the film industry.  Ivan applied his considerable skills as a programmer in constructing the website noonsite.com, the global source of information for cruising sailors. This atlas is the result of an ambitious program he wrote to process the data obtained by a network of meteorological satellites. Ivan’s passion for the sea has never left him and he is currently sailing a yacht he built himself.

For more information and photos: www.cornellsailing.com or email: info@cornellsailing.com

Apart from the physical value in tee shirts, battle flags, Log book info, Cruising Guides, etc, etc there are a host of other benefits from joining a rally. In the lead up to the rallies from Opua participants receive various resources covering topics for first time cruisers and old salts, right through to info on weather, Local customs, clearance procedures and internal movement procedures, charts and chartlets & info on anchorages, info on the Minerva reefs, info on where to get what in the SW Pacific and who best to see. We also have a network of “Port Captains” throughout the south pacific for specific assistance, parts procurement, mail and parcel drops, plus general help.

Duty Free goods are arranged at special ICA prices including, grog, tobacco, fuel, meat, frozen bread and bread dough and on the eve of departure the organic shop supply fresh fruit and veggies.
Customs clearance from NZ is arranged for the Friday with departure the following day. This allows you time to get the duty free stored and take a breath before starting on the passage, this is only available to ICA rally participants.

In the week before the rally departure there are briefings on NZ custom clearance and MAF requirements, weather, medical, clearance procedures and what to expect in the islands, rally radio skeds and rally clearance procedures plus an early bird BBQ and cocktail evening at the Opua Cruising Club to get to know others in the fleet.

Special morning and evening radio skeds are held during the rally and we are available for radio checks and assistance prior to the start. Our Port Captain in Opua also acts as a message service for emergency traffic. For more benign inquiries, position reports are forwarded to our Opua Port Captains and friends and family are able to call there for info. This year for the second time we have our “Yacht Position” page up and running for rally participants. Friends and family can access the page and see exactly where you are each day.

For those who have email on board we also provide a daily fleet position report including lat, long, weather and sea state for each vessel.

Daily weather updates are given during the rally, specific to your current position plus a general picture.

2012 sees the first Western Pacific rally. The initial destination is Anatom in southern Vanuatu then on through the Solomons, Louisiades and Australia before heading back to NZ from Hobart in February 2013. Special clearances have been arranged into the Solomons and Louisiades for the fleet.

2013 sees the return of the Pacific Circuit Rally which progresses around the Pacific and clears into idyllic spots rather than the main ports and bring the clearance officials to you. Again special clearance provisions apply for ICA boats and the list of benefits rolls on again.

Above all, the rallies are designed not only to be safe but a fun experience for all, there are a variety of fun events and competitions during the rally that are entirely voluntary and there are prizes for all participants.

That is a general overview of a rally, to highlight all the benefits would take all day. There are also the intangibles. There is a sense of community in a rally that you don’t get sailing by yourself, you are introduced early to the other participants and I can tell you from our own experience that some of our best friends have been made during ICA rallies. There is also a wealth of experience when you put a number of cruisers together, not to mention that spare part you need but don’t have, chances are one of the others will.

Hosted by Doyle Sails, this is a chance to come and have a look at the latest technology available for the cruising sailor. Doyle have agreed to allow us through their, normally off limits, Stratis production area. The whole loft is simply huge and the tech side is fascinating. Lyn and I plus the team from Doyles look forward to seeing you there. It doesn’t hurt that there’s a free beer or two and something to eat as well.

Where – Doyle Sails Loft, 320 Rosebank Road, Avondale, Auckland NZ

When – 5:00pm onward, Friday 9th March 2012

What- The event will start for the early birds at around 5:00pm, knock off time at the loft. Drinks are provided, wine, beer and soft drinks. The BBQ will be cranking too with sausages and hamburgers. There’s  a tour of the loft from about 6:15pm and maybe a second one depending on numbers.

How-

Piracy in the Indian Ocean has been a subject much talked about when
cruisers get together but the scale of the problem is only starting to come
to light. This month we have part one of an article by Desiree Trattles on
Skylark II, a first hand account of what is titled, A Harrowing Journey.

Finally theirs a Man Overboard system that lets the people aboard the boat
find their way back to the one in the water. Find out about this new AiS
based system on page 4, believe it or not it’s no more expensive than other
PLB systems.

This months issue is just bursting with other info too, see inside for all
the details.