Sail-World.com's New Zealand newsletter for 18 February 2011

Sail-World New Zealand: 18 February 2011
Welcome to Sail-World.com's New Zealand newsletter for 18 February 2011

More on the America's Cup scene in this edition, with the announcement of an eighth entry - the seventh challenger, and the arrival of Team Australia to have their test sail period on the AC45.

In line with the curious practice that seems to have evolved with this America's Cup, we see for the second time, teams who have not announced key crew - or even admited to making an entry - out sailing on the Waitemata in the AC45.

Such test sails are stated to be only for entered teams in the 34th America's Cup.

For die-hard Cup fans, there will be another round of peering at photos, trying to identify some of the faces, ahead of the team announcements.

We've published plenty of images of the Australians in this edition, who made an uncharacteristically subdued entry into the country, and enjoyed some glorious sailing on the Waitemata harbour mid-week, as they once again tried to find out what makes New Zealand yachting so great :-)

From our Wellington correspondent, Genevieve Howard, we have a story on Wellington's 'Get out on the Harbour' day which is on this Saturday. It's a great initiative to get people into sailing, and is an option that many clubs could emulate - at the peak of the sailing season when the weather is more inviting, rather than stage these at the start of the season on Opening Days, when the weather is often inclement.

In this edition we feature a couple of stories regarding developments in the marine industry, with the move of iconic Southern Spars to new premises. In second story we report on the use of lightweight plywood from Goldcore Light in superyacht construction. No, they are not building superyachts in plywood (despite the urgings of King of Plywood, John Spencer, from beyond the grave!), but rather it is back to the Kiwi sailing maxim of saving weight, while still maintaining high quality.

In this edition we have a story on the use of Goldcore Light, and some rare shots of a superyacht under construction at Fitzroy Yachts. Plywood has been used in yacht interiors for years, and in racing yachts reduction in weight has always been a factor - but superyachts are another step again. And remember when you see all of those magnificent shots of superyacht interiors - it is usually extremely well finished joinery and plywood.

The round the world races continue, in this edition we have the latest updates from the Velux 5 Oceans and the Barcelona Two-handed Races, including the unscheduled stop in Wellington from the Barcelona Two-handed Race leader.

We have what will hopefully be a new feature in Sail-World - a blog from Team New Zealand skipper, taken from the Nexus Marine site. Dean is one of the Directors of Kiwi Yachting Consultants who in turn own Swedish based Nexus Marine. Check out the Nexus range, and yes we did spot a few items of Nexus gear going aboard the AC45 in Team New Zealand's speed kit, when they sailed the AC45 on Monday.

Thanks to our contributors for their help and input, we're here to help sailing, and help those who wish to help themselves. A special thanks to those who have contributed to this edition.

Good sailing!

Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor

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