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For an explanation of photos, position cursor over photo. December 2006 Lest you get the impression that the cruising life is all about fun, relaxing, endless happy hours, and beautiful sunsets, this update is about the more mundane aspects of what goes into making the boat ready for all that fun! Since April, Shear Madness has been in New Zealand undergoing a refit - maintenance and service of her major components. She is now eight years old and constant exposure to sun and salt water take their toll on even the best built and maintained equipment. Bradley has been quite busy these past few months managing and overseeing the refit and we have done as much of this work ourselves as possible. Here are just of few of the things that have been done: 1. Hauled out of the water for a complete cleaning and waxing and inspection of all through-hull fittings, keel, rudder, and propeller. 2. Engine overhauled and components rebuilt 3. New mainsail and headsail designed, made, installed and tested 4. All hydraulics fully serviced and rebuilt (roller furling system, vang) 5. Anchor re-galvanized 6. Interior wood varnished 7. Exterior cap rail sanded and oil-varnished
8. New navigation lights on bow and stern 9. New anchor light installed on top of mast 10. Curtains cleaned with special mold removal 11. Dive compressor completely serviced 12. New docking lines and staysail halyard 13. New fender covers and lines
14. Mast and boom waxed 15. All stainless steel polished 16. All fiberglass cleaned and waxed 17. New stove installed 18. Barbecue serviced 19. Remodeling of anchor locker 20. New stereo installed (step 1 of new entertainment system)
21. Refrigeration motor replaced 22. Microwave oven repaired 23. Added jammers and blocks for runners 24. Software upgrades for electronic charting system (plus Windows updates) 25. End caps for steering system made and replaced 26. Washing machine repaired
27. Water pump problems diagnosed and fixed 28. Gas alarm replaced 29. Dinghy bottom painted and tubes repaired 30. Leak at rudder fixed After seemingly endless hours and quite a few unexpected "surprises", Shear Madness is ready for another season of summer cruising on the north island of New Zealand. Stay tuned for our next adventures! For Golfers Only!!
During this time, Shear Madness was at Gulf Harbour Marina, adjacent to the Gulf
Harbour Golf Club, which was home to the New Zealand Open from Nov 30-Dec 3.
Unfortunately the weather was not terribly cooperative, with
strong winds and intermittent heavy showers.
Strange birded that hole and as
we walked to the next tee, it became apparent that we were not at the US Open!
The players and caddies all walked with us four fans. Turns out Strange’s caddie, a Kiwi
(New Zealander)
named Mick, is quite a character. He’s been caddying for 34 years and is now
mostly on the European tour. He’s back in NZ for a brief holiday and to caddy at
this event. He was very friendly and it seems like I was the only one he had to
talk to. So for 17 holes we chatted, joined occasionally by Scott Strange and
the other two players, also Aussies – Luke Hickmott and Steven Jones. What a fun
day! Strange is a very solid golfer – currently ranked 212 in the world and 14
on the Asian tour. He recently won the Philippine Open. He finished one under
for the day in 4th place, paired in the next round with
national hero Michael Campbell (who won the 2005 US Open).
It was a bigger crowd for the weekend and everyone was following Michael, who is like the Tiger Woods of NZ. It was fun because I still got to hang out with the players between holes and even got to chat a little with Michael. I only got to walk the back nine as we had errands to do in the morning. At the start of the day Scott was -5 and Michael was -6. When I joined them, Scott was -3 and Michael was -6. Then Scott birdied 3 in a row and Michael made one bogey. So when we got to 14 there was a leaderboard and Scott was tied for the lead! But from there it went downhill. He finished with bogey, bogey, double, and a scrambling par to finish at -2, 4 shots back. On Sunday he was paired with Peter Lawrie from Ireland, both at -2. Lawrie had a good start with 3 birdies in the first 4 holes. Scott just kept grinding out pars. The wind continued to blow 20-30 knots all weekend, so it was a huge factor! Scott ended up even par for the day, which was a good score. After 15 holes, Nathan Green from Australia was in the clubhouse at -5 and Michael Campbell and the other leaders were still playing and at -6. But Green eneded up winning by 1 and Scott ended up tied for 8th at 2 back. So it was a lot of fun to be part of the action. Go to Kathy's latest book reviews
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