________________________ SPACESHIP EARTH ________________________

Whenever I see photographs from space that show the curvature of the earth I am reminded again of two things. First that we live on a giant spaceship that is thundering around the sun at 30 kilometers per second, or 67,000 miles per hour and second; how fragile it all looks. We really do need to look after our only home - spaceship earth.

_______________________ RUMOURS OF SPRING _______________________

Despite the current stormy blustery weather a few of our Iris bulbs have sprung up out of their winter seclusion deep within the soil and begun to spread rumours of spring.

______________________ BACK ON THE MOORING ______________________

'Mariner' had been out of the water for about three months, so it was with a great feeling of relief that I motor back to the piles earlier this week. I had the help of my good mate David whose help was indispensable. We towed Riverside Drive Marinas very fat flat bottomed work with us and had to row back to our cars at the Marina against the wind and tide. It was Fathers Day and what better way to for the old bugger to celebrate by putting his little ship safely back on her mooring.

Today after having spent a couple of days completing some fiber glassing repairs on my own little dinghy I lifted it onto my roof rack (bloody near killed me), transported it down to the pontoon and rowed out to 'Mariner'. I ran the engine for an hour to fully charge the battery and stowed the rest of the boat gear.

One of the little jobs I completed was the installation of a 12volt car charging socket directly to the boat battery so that I could plug in my new small battery maintenance solar cell. This should ensure no more flat batteries after longish periods of inactivity.

When I had completed the work I turned the motor off and sat in the small cabin, glad that the big back breaking work and all the worry and expensive was over. I have a longish list of small jobs to complete but this is manageable and will be easy and pleasant work to complete over time.

So I sat in my little cabin and listened to the sound of the water chuckling against the hull, the thrum of the wind in the rigging and felt the gentle rocking of the boat as she pulled on her mooring ropes.

There are some favourite lines from W. B. Yeats:

"And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, 

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings

    There midnight's all a-glimmer, and noon a purple glow, 

And evening full of the linnet's wings"
                                   

It wasn't morning; I couldn't hear any crickets or see any linnets; but I think you might get my drift.

AMERICAS CUP CEO GRANT DALTON SUPPORTS MY OLD YACHT CLUB

My old yacht club - Pleasant Point Yacht Club - sited on the Christchurch estuary in the South Island of New Zealand found a high profile supporter this year in Grant Dalton who is the CEO of Emirates Team New Zealand who recently won the Americas Cup and bought it back home to New Zealand.

I really hope things go well for the PPYC and a new club is built on their new site. One of my goals for the future is to take my Zephyr class yacht 'Slipstream' back to the sailing ground of my youth and race again on those unique tidal waters.