Se7en

Go Whakapapa with that attitude.

I'll take that bet. I'll even go $oz to your NZ peso. One condition, Trump is the one who decides whether what he says is a lie...

The TWE guys quote that it costs $7 each just to put wine in the bottle, and ship it to a retail outlet in AU. Suspect our labour is so expensive that it is cheaper to bottle in South America and ship by the pallet load to Oz. Particualrly if done in volume and just different labels applied for the different price points...

Lets be honest - racing in 5 knots is boring as batshit. Perhaps your crew are just normal people who like a litle excitement in their life, and like going fast rather than monotonous masterbaters who get all excited about having the exactly correct spacing of speed wrinkles in the main. Let's face it - if as crew your biggest contribution to the race is going to be moving at the speed of a terminally stoned octogenarian s as to not rock the boat, it's hard to get too excited. Perhaps for light wind days try leaving half your crew in the bar and make it a challenge to actually sail the boat. Those onboard will have a bit of a challenge and might enjoy it, those in the bar will be saying 'thank fuck I'm not out there cooking my nuts off for no return.' Light wind racing is for those who care about point scores and who is going to win some trophy on countback. That doesn't normally include the crew.

The point of wearing masks is to protect other people. The Vic direction is to wear triple layer masks if making your own. Not so much to stop 2.5 micron inbound, but water droplets outbound. You can't piss on someone else's leg if you are wearing pants.

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Just because America does something, it isn't necessarily wrong. The US desire to oppose an expansionist China predates Trump, and will continue after him. Indeed, the only risk Trump poses is that he will renege on the commitment to oppose Chinas land grab, for some childish reason of his own. I suggest reading some of the thoughts of Lee Kwan Yieu (ex Singapore prime minister if I have the spelling wrong) on China's change of policy from isolationist to expansionist. Their ambition is not concerned with sovereign rights of insignificant little countries like us.

Hold my beer. Try 4pm on a friday afternoon going into a fishing port (Bermagui). In sight of the pub where the fisho's hang out - except of course those who had to pick their way past us as I managed to swing around to 90 degrees to the channel. We put out a securite call to let everyone know. Probably a mistake in hindsight, because EVERYONE knew. Was just before low tide, so we floated off a couple of hours later. Slunk into the dock with tail between our legs.

The long hangs are diving wrecks, or occasionally sand in the vicinity of a wreck, and sometimes even reefs that looked a bit wrecklike on sidescan. I'm jealous of you diving Deal, I've talked about setting a trip up to dive Deal and the Hogan group, but never eventuated. I've also done a bit of pootling around the Prom and up an down Tas, I never really appreciated the giant kelp at the time, it was just there, occasionally you got tangled in it, or got it in a prop. You dunno what you got til it's gone. Oh - I empathise with the get on / in the water by any means approach. I have a kayak in hobart, beach cat and divegear in NE Tas, Tasars, RIB, kayaks, windsurfers, dive gear, SUP here in Melbourne and until recently sold had our yacht in QLD or Sydney. When I had no money, it took everything I had. Now I find folks leave stuff with me and I have more stuff than room.

Very cool - I thought paddling a ski across sounded a bit more masochistic than a kayak, probably explains why you were the first to do it. Friends are currently trying to paddle around Tas in stages - few days paddling, back to work, then pick up at the same point later. I've had a couple of paddles with them, and joined in talking crap about paddling Bass Strait. Suspect they were more interested in my yacht as a support boat rather than my company on the paddle. Serious trip, I've had crossings where you could waterski, and others where I didn't want to be there any more. I've done a fair bit of diving out in Bass Strait, with some deco hangs of over an hour. So I think you're pretty safe with a 30 second crap. I've never seen a Great White, but we did have a mako hang around on one dive. I blew off 10 minutes or so of deco and got back on the boat - I figured it was better to be a bit bent on the boat rather than a bit chewed in the water. I did hate those dives where my imagination got away and I spent deco half convinced I could see shapes in the gloom... and half trying to convince myself that I couldn't.

What was the record? Fenn XT is a ski rather than a kayak isn't it? Sounds a little soggy. Did you strap gear on top? (Furthest I've paddled is about 30kms, so I'm full of admiration any way you did it)

I don't think I can speak for what the aborigional population want, but I suspect you have even less exposure than I do. I don't think they want to put the land to use in the way you intimate, the idea of mining or intensive agriculture is not one they tend to embrace.

The aborigional australians weren't much for raising sheep, nor digging red dirt out of pretty useless scrubby desert. So it wasn't like a bunch of conquistidors loaded up their galleons with plundered bullion. I think our mining magnates have rather exploited the tragedy of the common for their own benefit. Whilst not exactly 'terra nullius', AU hasn't ever been that heavily populated.

I'm assuming that with 10 minutes of Googling you can be a game theory expert. The state of imports / exports between china and any other country is a pretty straightforward example of a zero sum version of prisoners dilemma. What's the outcome in prisoner dilemma when one country co-operates and the other defects? (I'll give you a hint - the theory suggests that if one player always defects, the only rational course to take is to also defect -Tit for tat for the win, or at least to break even )

What's the current value of the future fund? Some massive inflation for a few years will devalue the debt - and the equity the boomers are clinging on to. Win Win for Gen Y. Eventually.

Why? Just to be a cunt?