DandV

Wonderfully expressive photo! Thanks

Yesterday in the Antipodes. All "sticks and string", winter racing on classic yachts Auckland. It was winter, 12deg day, colder on the water, and it rained. flukey winds and strong outgoing tide in the race start direction caused considerable grief for some at the start, including one boat that had a physical tussle with the start bouy, (in the background in the photo with the harbour bridge) 12 nautical mile course. Followed by an outdoor bbq here with the crew tanks to the gas heater .

After all this time it must be great for you to have the boat out, and actually boating. Enjoy it. I am all kitted out and leaving in ten minutes for the yacht race this afternoon, then home here for a lockdown release, and out yachting again barbeque with the crew this evening.

It was pretty cheerless when we visited in 2013 but nothing like this, obviously a lot further back in the recovery from WW2 bombings. Love the cars though.

There is a hell of a lot to decide before you decide from where you buy your boat. Such a decision is always a comprimise, in fact lots and lots of comprimises. At it's most basic do you want a boat or a wife? Once it is firmly established you both want a boat you can proceed further. So your partner needs to be fully involved in the decision making otherwise you may only end up with one of the options in the previous question. With your wife you need to proceed along the following lines or variations thereon. Is the boat to be additional to your residence?, or to be your residence? A good four season boat is different to a three season boat, better heating, and perhaps less outside on deck space in favour of more interior space. For how many years do you intend to cruise? and then what? How much have you got to spend?, and how much do you want to spend? How do you intend to wash and dry laundry? Do you intend to largely self cater? or rely on pub feed? This determines the size and facilities of the galley. Where do you intend to cruise? The full network? This determines maximum boat size. So presumably your wife is onboard so far? Then go canal boating, make a few hires, at different times of the year, Both still on board? See as many as you can together, a few weekends around the brokers in the Midlands, and others around Cheshire. If your wife is still onboard? Then the questions you both need to ask will be pretty self evident. In my case my wife led the charge through most of the above process. The result was an absolutely fabulous few years of canal boating.

Located in an earthquake zone, inside the tsunami hazard zone, and in a recognised land instability area. Wellington NZ coastal property?

Apparatus and machinery guarding in full compliance with all prevailing HS&E standards?