OT: Welfare Check New Zealand
 

Hopefully, all our forum members in New Zealand are ok after the earthquake. Please give this forum a "shout out" if you are in need. I know there are people here who will help take care of "our own."


Swag.

My girlfriend is in Auckland (700+ km away) and said it felt like the entire complex would collapse, but she and the building are ok.

Odd circumstance though, she needed framing lumber for an unrelated project and it appears that it is unavailable at the moment.

Many of my relatives are in Wellington (where I was born) and the quakes were felt pretty strongly there. I had uncles and aunts and cousins posting during the night about how they'd left their houses and were sheltering in streets or civil defence locations.

It hasn't been great in Wellington - more and more buildings found to be structurally un-sound after quake.

I've been off work all week due to building being out of commission.:)

I have some lumber she could have but, unfortunately, I'm not man enough to brave The Southern Ocean in a 30-year old 26' Trailerable Sailboat with a load of lumber strapped to her deck. :/

If you grow a beard and wear a reflective belt anything is possible.

Respect The Southern Ocean or end up a "Statistic!"
 

I don't care how "bushy" your beard is. Every sailor KNOWS that One should NOT mess around in the "Roarin' Forties" without the appropriate equipment and crew. We won't even discuss the Fierce Fifties or Screamin' Sixties here (although New Zealand does seem to border the edge of the 50's influence).

:( Oh god time for them to whip it out and bring on the measuring tape.

LOL.... that was a very U.S. Army Iraqi Freedom joke.... I think I confused you with someone else. Beards refers to SF getting to run around with the locals. Regular rules don't apply is you have a beard. The PT belt refers to any amount of idiocy revolving around the reflective belts... up to and including commanders ordering troops to wear same while on patrols.

I was joking too. The term "Beard" is used in my world to represent someone who thinks they know EVERYTHING about a given subject but often doesn't. I figured you meant it like that because of the PT belt comment.

I was saying no matter how "bushy" your beard is (translation: how much you think you know), You cannot play with the Southern Ocean. In all reality, any latitude higher than 40 degrees in the Southern hemisphere is VERY DANGEROUS to sail. I was waiting for our Aussies to chime in about that one. The Southern Ocean has taken so many sailors that a hallmark of "veteran" sailors is to transit around the tip of South America. This requires you to sail the Screamin' Sixties... The MOST DANGEROUS WATERS ON THE PLANET FOR SAILORS.
I'm certainly NOT ready for the higher Latitudes yet. :0

We here in Australia, like those in New Zealand, may be surrounded by ocean but it doesn't mean we like it enough to want to sail it :p
Who the hell wants to sail through all that when we can travel in air-conditioned comfort, watch inflight movies and be at our destination in under a day - and you aren't left stinking like fish! :D



On a more serious note, we have the annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race to remind us that the sea is a cruel mistress. The 1998 race had 115 starters and only 44 who finished, it also cost six crew (from three separate yachts) their lives and the race is "only" 630 nautical miles (approx 1170km / 727miles depending on what source you access).

This is why Canada will never rule the world. It's not about the length of your D**k... It's about the size of your B**ls! While I'm willing to bet my "family jewels" compare favorably to 9 out of 10 people in the world, I'm still smart enough to KNOW they don't provide enough "buoyancy" for me to sail the Southern Ocean in a 26' trailerable. :)