***EDIT Please ignore the newly registered yachts email I accidently sent out, I clicked the wrong button by mistake, my bad ********
GHR/YIT Picnic get together Kawau Island 31 March
TC Winston Fiji Aid
Winlink password requirement
YIT App update.
It hardly seems that summer has been underway long enough but here we are talking about the 2016 cruising season. At least the weather lately has given us some good spells in between the rain and wind. We hope all those that arrived in NZ have enjoyed seeing the country. There have been some interesting boat reports on YIT especially from Ithaca who had a good trip to Chile from Auckland, and also from those boats who travelled north and west.
We have met quite a few cruisers and look forward to meeting many more at the get together at Kawau Island March 31. Chameleon will arrive on Wednesday, with Mike (our YIT manager) on board after cruising in Stewart Island. On Thursday night we will gather late afternoon at the Kawau Island Yacht Club for drinks and dinner. We will need to let them know numbers as otherwise the service will be understandably slow. An email to weather@ghradio.co.nz with boat name and number on board please about a week before. On Friday April 1 we will have a game of cricket on the green by the Schoolhouse Bay dock. The first GHR/YIT International cricket match where boat crews from NZ will challenge all others. Our umpire will be Mark Smith from Schoolhouse Bay Radio. This will be a good opportunity for those that have yet to appreciate the finer points of the game.
Sea Mercy were already planning to be working this year in the northern Lau area of Fiji before TC Winston struck. Now they are in full Disaster Relief and Recovery mode. Full updates are available at: http://seamercyupdates.blogspot.com/. This site includes how to make donations, what is needed by way of household and personal items, building materials, and people skills. Boats willing to assist should contact Sea Mercy on their web site. Savusavu has been particularly badly hit and Curly is coordinating boating related things there. http://curlycarswell.blogspot.com.
We have all enjoyed Savusavu and now it is payback time folks. They need help so anyone going there please load up with those things folk have donated for the people there. As the season gets underway keep in touch with both Gulf Harbour Radio, Sea Mercy and the VHF nets in Opua and Whangarei to see how you can help. Opua and Whangarei Marinas will store aid donations temporarily so before you leave for Fiji check if they have anything that needs to go up there. Please assist when you can.
Those that use winlink need to make sure you have got a password as from mid April you will not otherwise be able to use WL2K. The shorthand is to go to your account page and the Edit tab, fill out or correct the info and check the "Use Secure Login" box then click Save. Next go to the Tools>Options>Settings tab in Airmail and enter the same callsign and password; leave the "ID String" box empty.
I found this difficult until Richard on Red advised that the password cannot contain any lower case letters!
Finally from me, Patricia, there is a new info sheet in YIT, called Marine Radio Installations and Operations. Go to’ Library’ and click on Bits and Bobs. Those that we struggled to hear last year will hopefully read it carefully and check things out on board before you head out! For our part I have built a new inverted V dipole, called a Double Bazooka, and have increased the pole height. All in an attempt to hear you better. Sadly there is nothing I can do about the power lines that run past the door.
A reminder that the email for Gulf Harbour Radio is weather@ghradio.co.nz and we handle all things related to the radio, weather and the position reports I put on the web site. I can handle basic web site questions but anything of consequence needs to be directed to Mike who runs the site, mike@yit.co.nz.
Please register your boat and crew details on the www.yit.co.nz web site before you go. This makes our life a lot easier when thing do not go to plan and also enables me to use boat names instead of impersonal call signs if you call in. You can elect to go blind – which means no one else sees your information. Sometimes cruisers prefer this so that family don’t know when they are passage making! If this is the case let Mike know your wishes and he will make the information only available to Gulf Harbour radio.
The latest version of the App will be available in the Chrome web store later this week. At this stage the app will only function on desktop or laptop devices but I expect to have it ready for use on Android devices (tablets and phones) within the month, hopefully to be followed by release to Apple devices shortly thereafter. So download it and give it a go. Please do speak up if you encounter a problem or have suggestions for improvement as it is still in the testing and development phase. There are a few new items to be included in the final release, but I havn't had a chance to get them in for testing in this release due to the dreaded boat work and cruising in Stewart Island. Visit the homepage of YIT later in the week for the link to the app. Remove your old one (right mouse click on the YIT app in the apps tab and select “remove from chrome”) and install the new one.
Both YIT and GHRadio have appreciated your support last year which has enabled some development with both our operations. Have a safe season. And yes, the radio starts up May 2nd. Patricia, David and Mike