Bus: For those catching the bus to the start. It will be leaving at 0830 sharp from 172 Quay Street outside the foreign exchange office, opposite the ferry building downtown Auckland.

If you are making your own way we will be starting off from the end of Martin Road (off Green road) Matakana. The bus should arrive there about 0945.

If you are staying at the Sandspit camp ground or wish to leave a car at Sandspit you can be collected from there as its only 500m by water - just let Steve/Tanya know you need to be picked up.

A torch or headlamp is a good idea. Power for charging phones etc will be available on all the first stages however after the regatta we will have to rely on a generator or charging on the big boats.

Footwear - most of the bays we are going to are pretty sandy but it would be a good idea to have something to wear on your feet that can get wet i.e. thongs, jandals, tevas or similar. There are a number of beautiful walks on all the islands so a pair of walking shoes could be a good idea if you like to stretch your legs. 

Sunburn and heat - if we have clear hot days their sun is very strong and will burn, please bring good 30 or 50+ sunscreen and a floppy hat. Also make sure you bring a decent sized water bottle. They will endeavour to row in the morning and find a shady tree to hide under for the middle of the day if required. 

Things that bite and sting - they claim to be blessed in kiwi land with none of the real nasties that Australia has, however they do have sandflies and mosquitos so bring some repellent. Also a number of the bays will have shallow stretches below the beach and depending on tide we could have to wade in a little. They have stingrays in NZ which often sunbath in the shallows and normally are not a problem as they zoom away when disturbed. If you are first to arrive make some splashing around and they will go. Standing on one can lead to a nasty sting.

The organisers have invited a whole bunch of people to the regatta part so who knows who will turn up. Only 4 skiffs will be used for the racing so they can be supplied with even sets of oars. 

Steve reports they have been through 3 more steps of development since the oars seen in Tassie and he is certain that you will find rowing with the new sets fantastic. Their chief oar maker Don Currie is coming along so you will get a chance to chat to him. They also have a new ‘top secret weapon’ that you will see in action. and if you give john enough beers he might even show you how it works!

It was always intended to be a mixed fleet of small sailing boats and skiffs but the way the entries have ended up we have mostly skiffs. However we will be using the sailing rig in Wee Tawera that went on the TN15 and are bringing along an Etchell, this is a speed machine and will provide some fantastic sailing opportunities.

We have decided to leave the M class at home as it can be a bit of a handful. 

35 people are coming so it’s a nice number and should make for great fun. The intention is to give everyone a taste of some different boats and to make swapping around all part of it. There are also very nice support vessels so a day cruising on a nice launch might be a good break from rowing. 

John Welford, the famous Kiwi small boat designer, is joining us for a few days at the start and bringing his 40’ bridge deck launch along. Tanya (our fearless organiser) is bringing her husband and a very nice John Welford dinghy for the second half of the Raid. 

If anyone finds a suitable local boat to charter that’s fine with the organisers and would add to the fun.

If you need to contact someone from the NZ Raid when you arrive – if you have installed a local/NZ SIM card:

Steve Cranch - 0211 357 171

Tanya Ankersmit - 0275 453 355 

If you use global roaming with your Australian SIM card you will need to add the International Access Code (generally either 0011 or 0018 but other carriers may use different codes – designated below as +), plus the code for New Zealand (64) and remove the leading 0 – so Steve becomes +64 211 357 171.

Advice from the Kiwis at http://nzcoastalrowing.org/2016/01/13/what-to-pack-for-the-raid/

VHF radios will be the main way of communicating while on the water during the Kiwi Raid. Steve Cranch has asked me to remind you that if you have a handheld marine VHF please bring it along. I am sure we will also be taking some of the LBT's VHF radios with us. Don't forget to bring the charging unit. 

I thought it might be useful to share our experience of travelling with mobile phones. The options are:

·         Leave your phone behind, forget the rest of the world and remind yourself how frustrating life could be when you tried to meet up with someone in a strange place before the days of mobile phones

·         Get a local SIM card from a NZ telco

·         Enable global roaming on your phone using your Australian telco

 

Advantages of getting a local NZ SIM card:

·         Much cheaper than using global roaming supplied by your Australian telco

·         Some Australian telco’s don’t offer global roaming (e.g. Aldimobile)

·         If you have a smart phones that can be used as a mobile hotspot the one pre-paid plan can be used to provide phone/sms and internet access

 

Disadvantages of local NZ SIM card:

·         When your Australian SIM card is not in your phone you will not receive calls/sms made to your Australian number

·         Requires a bit of messing around to initially set up

 

Advantages of global roaming:

·         Simple to use – just enable global roaming in the phone set-up

·         You will still have your Australian mobile number

·         You will still receive calls/sms sent to your Australian number (but will pay extra to get them)

·         Some Australian telcos offer ‘International travel packs’ for both phone and data – simple but more expensive than getting a local SIM

 

Disadvantages of global roaming:

·         Can get expensive – especially if you access the internet a lot and so use a lot of mobile data

·         You will be charged for calls you receive from Australia

 

If you are going to put a NZ Sim in your phone the phone must be ‘unlocked’ – i.e. able to use a SIM card from any company and not locked to a particular telco. If you bought your phone under a plan from a telco such as Telstra it will probably be locked. If so, your options are either to try to get it unlocked – good luck – or settle for global roaming.

 

When travelling we normally get a local sim card for our smart phones and use the phone as a ‘mobile hotspot’ to provide wifi for any other devices we might bring (lap-top/ipad etc). To keep control of mobile data use we would normally have ‘mobile data’ turned off in ‘Settings’ and use free wifi where possible. We only turn on ‘mobile data’ when we need to access the internet and are not within range of free wifi – this stops the pre-paid mobile data being used in the background for up-dating Apps or synchronising the phone etc.

 

You will be limited to using ‘pre-paid’ SIM cards rather than the cheaper ‘Plans’ unless you have a bank account/credit card registered to an address in the country you are visiting. Although more expensive than a local ‘Plan’ the pre-paid SIM will still be much cheaper than global roaming charges.

 

New Zealand mobile phone networks:

 

·         Vodaphone

·         Spark (formerly Telecom NZ)

·         2Degrees

 

There are also other mobile phone providers that use these networks such as Skinny

 

Some web sites offer ‘NZ tourist’ SIM cards typically for $45 or more - a local NZ SIM card should cost less than NZ$10 – probably $2-$5. For NZ$20 you should get a SIM card plus some calls and some data. Some web sites talk about free tourist SIM cards available at tourist centres – I can’t confirm this but it is likely as the cost of making SIM cards is very small – the telcos make their money from selling their network services not the SIM cards.

 

Examples of pre-paid plans that last for 30 days can be found at:

 

https://www.whistleout.co.nz/MobilePhones/Prepaid-Mobile-Phone-Plans-Long-Expiry

 

Based on a quick search of their on-line coverage maps all appear to have fairly similar 3G coverage in the Hauraki Gulf – I will check with the Kiwi Raid organisers whether they have any local knowledge that we should know

We like a celebration at the LBT, and the imminent departure of many teams for the Kiwi Raid and Regatta is a very good excuse.  Come along on Monday 18th of January to help us send them off in style. 

One usually relies on the airlines to provide life jackets when one is flying, but those traveling to regattas (in New Zealand for instance) might need to take their own. In this case if your jacket is the inflatable type you need to declare its compressed air cylinder to the airline ahead of time, at least if you are flying Jetstar or Qantas.  Karen Corbin has provided the following example of such a declaration (made to Qantas).

She received the following reply.

 Image from Amazon