By the time this edition goes on sale, most of us will be settling into a well earned summer break. For those with bigger vessels, that might mean heading away on the boat for a few days, or even weeks, or perhaps preparing for a cruise in the New Year. For those of us without liveaboard vessels, most will take time out to enjoy boating with family and friends during the break.
By some measures boating is the most popular recreational activity in New Zealand, which is unsurprising considering the breadth of boating opportunities available to us in this country, whether around our beautiful and diverse coastline or enjoying our magnificent lakes and rivers. As always, we try and reflect this diversity in Boating NZ magazine, and even more so on the Boating NZ website.
The website is a treasure trove of content that doesn’t make the magazine for a variety of reasons, including limited space and timing issues, a monthly magazine is not the best vehicle for breaking news or time sensitive material. Fortunately, our website does a great job of reporting the latest boating news and events from here and around the world, along with web exclusive feature stories and personality and business profiles. That’s in addition to all the material that appears in the monthly magazine.
If, for whatever reason, you haven’t visited the website yet, perhaps take the opportunity to do so over the break this year: www.boatingnz.co.nz or scan the QR code. I guarantee you will spend more than a few minutes exploring what’s there.
In this edition of Boating NZ magazine, the first for the New Year, we feature a rather special Riviera 58 SMY, Flagship, R Marine Flagship’s demo vessel, which has been comprehensively equipped for optimal long range and extended liveaboard cruising, and seems fitting with the summer cruising season upon us.
New boats reviewed this month comprise the interesting Offshore 1100 HTC Outahere, a Dan Leech foil assisted power cat with range and performance, the stylish and radical Saxdor 400 GTO adventure boat, and the Shaw 1050 Sport Yacht, a performance racer that’s fun to sail for the whole family.
Feature stories this month include a 40hp outboard shootout conducted by the team at Fin Chaser Boats, the results might surprise you, the remarkable story of Sue Currie, who was shipwrecked aboard the Wahine on her way to the 1968 Zephyr Nationals but still managed to compete the following day, and we feature Jan Saull at Brin Wilson Boatbuilders. Also in this issue, Tom Fraser examines how flexibility underpins Huntsman Boats’ success, and John Macfarlane explores the history of the OK dinghy. All this and much more inside.
On behalf of the whole crew here at Boating New Zealand, please enjoy the January issue, along with our best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year.
