Hi everybody. We have moved our office from Auckland, New Zealand to Panama City, Republic of Panama. This gives us a greater access to product and service and to clientelle, a happy synergy for all of us. My number in Panama is (+507) 67276722.  My Skype user name is still tiopirata. Do check out the "What's Mike Up To Now?" section lower on the page, it really is very exciting.

Lets keep in touch. - Mike

I've been accused of nautical heresy many times over the last three decades, and am quite proud to be so recognised. The dictionary defines heresy as: "An opinion or belief contrary to conventional wisdom or thought", and my observations that multihulls are inherently superior to monohulls (often loudly voiced) have not always been popular.

Today however, far from being seen as the lunatic fringe of seagoing, multihulls - particularly cats - is the fastest growing subset of pleasure craft. Imagine that only multihulls existed to this point, and one day some heretic turned up at your yacht club and proposed that we should: reduce the number of hulls to one; hang a bloody great lump of lead beneath it; and be prepared to endure our sailing in an unaccustomed angle of heel - unable to access some of our favourite bays and anchorages. Conventional wisdom doesn't always stack up, and while it's true there are some really awful multihulls out there (the results of poor design or shoddy execution - or both), there can be little doubt that multihulls will be the vessel of choice for an ever growing number of sailors; both racers and cruisers. So we encourage you to examine your choice of vessel thoroughly - and with an open mind - and to always challenge that conventional wisdom, knowing that the creation of a fine multihull will result in a vessel that not only gives great pleasure and service, but will also produce an excellent resale price. 

And on the subject of heretics who more guilty of heresy then Rob Denney of Harryproa fame. I strongly recommend thorough examination of his website www.harryproa.com. Look too, at the conventional wisdom surrounding rigs, and compare this with the evidence suggesting that free standing rigs have the best reliability record. Check out the Schionnings delightful little "Radical Bay" on their site www.schionningdesigns.com.au or the rig on Don and Marilyn Logan's Kelsall 54 "Cool Change" (See our charter section). Also recommended is www.freewingmasts.co.uk.  I predict that we will soon be seeing multihulls with easily handled, safe and powerful, free standing rigs in great numbers all over the World's oceans.

Heresy? I hope so.                                   

GDay All

As many of you have seen we have moved our operation to the Republic of Panama on the other side of the Pacific. Why? It still amazes me that while Panama is the centre of the sailing world it has almost zero facility for yachtsmen. No proper marinas, little boatbuilding, no sailmaker, no riggers, no.... I could go on but you get the picture I am sure. It is true that Panama has the World's largest merchant vessel fleet and accordingly has excellent big ship facilities and metal trades, bunkering and supply companies etc which can adapt or be adapted for the yachting and cruising fraternities. This still leaves huge gaps to fill and I am endeavouring to do so by creating a very large marina (990 berths, 35 superyacht berths, 4500 vessel hardstand, 300 boat drystack, all the ancillary services this location demands) and encouraging local and foreign businesses to weigh in with their expertise. We ourselves are already providing rigging services, marine electrical and mechanical services and agency for a variety of product including Rocna Anchor, www.rocna.com, Harken chandlery, www.harken.com Windrider, www.windrider.com Kiss polymers, SideShift, Wallacraft, and a number of others too.

In addition the wildlife and cruising here is unequalled by anything I have seen anywhere in half a century of sailing. More birds then anywhere else on Earth, extraordinary climate, beautiful scenery, whales, dolphin and marlin in huge numbers, stable politics, a US dollar economy and almost no visitors. An opportunity to develop a tourism industry with environmental sensitivity. The opportunities here are extraordinary and we now have the ear of the new administration here so full steam ahead for us.

The downside is that I have neglected the core business of Marine Scene, multihull brokerage etc in New Zealand, and will continue to have my attention elsewhere for some time to come. The spin off for my NZ clients will be greter access to international stock and clientelle in the future so that outcome appears quite positive, though quite distant. Another spinoff is that NZ suppliers of nautical product or service will have an advantage here in Panama and I do look forward to some of you taking advantage of my efforts.

Fair winds

Mike