Progress Report

After Rob’s update last week I have had a few emails asking what I have been up to since the race ended.

I started back sailing in mid May, racing in the RAYC Champion of Champion regatta in the Platu 25. The Champion of Champions is an invitation regatta for the top sailors in a variety of keelboat and dinghy classes.  I was invited to sail with previous winner Flying Fifteen sailor Craig Coulam. The Platu 25 is quite the opposite to Coppelia, it is a very light weight inshore day sailer, known for making crews work hard and punishing them if they don’t.

 

The 3 day regatta was sailed in 10 –25knots, after a very consistent series we ended up  finishing 2nd to Cam Horne and his Elliot 5.9 team. As a crew we really enjoyed sailing together and have decided to do a couple more regattas, the next being the Peninsular champs at Gulf Harbour in mid July.

Next I went to Dauphin Island Alabama, where I spent a week in the Gulf of Mexico working on a field campaign with the United States Coast guard. The most interesting feature of the island was the human use, including houses on the beach and oil rigs just offshore.

The focus of the field campaign was to record the range  various search and rescue targets (yachts, liferafts, people in the water) could be seen with the types of sensors the coast guard use, for example radar. These measurements will be compared to modelled estimates of range, which are used for SAR planning.  In recent years there has been massive advances in these models and techniques, and coupled with the improvements in EPIRB locators, has lead to shorter “waiting times” for those in trouble at sea. (read more)

 

Pirates may be a topic of schoolboy adventures but …..

for those of you heading to the Indian Ocean you maybe interested some my research I have been completing on piracy in the Indian Ocean, which has now been reported in popular media. In summary pirates have summer holidays we as well (read more)

Finally, a very inspiring project I have been involved in: Sir Peter Blake Leadership Week – Dare to Dream program. For leadership week I visited  Bayswater Primary School and Kaurilands Primary in Titirangi to talk about turning dreams into reality.

Roll on the SIMRAD !