UNITED KINGDOM Association

NEWSLETTER


No 160 November 1999

From the editor

Apologises to members and newsletter recipients. Your secretary and temporary newsletter editor has been in the homeland (or should that be the mainland of the homeland) for the last ... month. - Help, time has flown. It was only brought home to me when I got off the plane yesterday and was greeted with statements of 59 days to 2000 and christmas decorations in the main street!

There are three key events noted below. For these events to be a success and to demonstrate that the IPENZ UK Association is in good standing, your participation is needed. I apologise for the short notice for one of the dates however the timing and location have only just been confirmed.

The 1999 Soirée

As intimated in the previous Newsletter, the pre-Christmas soiree is to be on Friday 3rd December in the Penthouse in New Zealand House. We are taking our customary turn as hosts to our Australian colleagues for this popular and now long established event.

Your attendance on this date has added value therefore and with your active participation, the evening has every prospect of convivial success. Bring your friends to meet your and other friends who will be there, drink well from the stock of fine beverages, eat fulsomely from the tasty buffet, spin your best yarns, and let the agreeable ambience of an accustomed gathering in prestigious surroundings take you forward through an enjoyable evening and on happily towards the Christmas season.

Note the Soirée details:
Location: The Penthouse, New Zealand House, Haymarket, London
Date: Friday, 3rd December 1999
Time: from 7.00pm for 7.30pm and going on for 9.00 or 9.30
Price: £12.50 per head to cover food and drinks.
Please arrange your party and
reply as promptly as you can to help ensure that the Committee can make all proper provisions to welcome you to a successful evening.

Sir Ron Carter's Visit

Sir Ron Carter, our President, and John Gardiner are going to be in London in November. They are trying to advance our relationships with the UK and US Institutions before going to Madrid for the World Federation of Engineering Organisations Congress 15-19 November.

Currently, IPENZ has reciprocal agreements in place with most of these Institutions but some offer more benefits to our members than others. IStructE in particular are setting the pace. They have just signed up for a 25% discount for joint members of IPENZ/IStructE.

Sir Ron and John have agreed to meet with us on Friday 12th November 1999 for an informal discussion over a few drinks and nibbles.

Note the Presidential visit details:
Location: The Prospect of Whitby pub, Wapping Wall, London E1. It is on the Thames. The closest tube (not far away) is Wapping and we have booked a room from 6.30pm - although it is worth turning up earlier if just to look around.
Date: Friday, 12 November 1999
Time: from 6.00p.m. for 6.30p.m. Could the committee arrive at 6.00 please

Graduates Evening (date and venue to be confirmed)

Following on from the last two years successes, we are intending to repeat this event with particular emphasis on new members or those considering joining at any level. Application forms will be available at the meeting including all those necessary for Professional Review and Continuing Professional Development.

In the past, we have held the graduates evening in November however with the visit of Sir Ron Carter this has been put off until the new year. We will keep you posted.

IPENZ conducts interviews for Professional Reviews in this country and many successful candidates have been able to apply for Chartered Engineer status under reciprocal agreements with UK Institutions (See later reports in this newsletter). Many of our long term members have conducted interviews themselves and know what standards the examiners are seeking. All members are encouraged to attend.

Our Graduate Engineers encompass nearly the full range of the profession and hence we would like as many Corporate members as possible to attend, to either provide the benefit of their experience or to learn how to further the Profession.

If you can assist or are a Graduate seeking further information or advice, please contact the Hon Secretary so that he can match up Graduates and Corporate members for possible informal mentoring. If you live too far away to be able to spend an evening in London please let him know since we may be able to find other engineers in your area that would be willing to have their own local Graduates Evening.

Remember that all time spent participating in these types of activities counts towards Continuing Professional Development

Other UK Association News

Subscriptions

Our financial year ended at the end of March and many of you have renewed your subscriptions. It is understood that there are still a few who have not paid your monies. Please act promtly or this maybe the last newsletter you receive!.

Articles for the Newsletter

If you have any news for us, events etc. that you would like us to tell people about in the newsletter please email or fax them to the Hon. Secretary and he will forward them to the Newsletter Editor. Feel free to write about the projects you are working on, any differences in British practice compared with NZ, or how you resolved any difficulties encountered.

News From New Zealand

Hart-felt swipe

Under-fire All Black coach John Hart has pointed the finger at his team for not having the killer instinct.

Hart said that the All Blacks should have beaten France in Monday's semi-final after leading 24-10, but they paid the ultimate price for relaxing.

"Unfortunately that's where the team is, I think. It doesn't have that killer instinct that it needs when you get opportunities to put teams away. We had the opportunity but sat back and conceded 12 points quickly.

Hart felt there was a lack of mental ruthlessness in the side.

"This team was equipped to win, should have won -- could have won the final."

Runnung on empty..

Like two exhausted heavyweight boxers, New Zealand and South Africa have to drag themselves off the canvas to fight one last round tomorrow.

It is a match neither side thought it would play in, New Zealand as the favourite to win the tournament and the Springboks as defending champions.

In the immediate scheme of things this match is of little relevance to either side. After all, each came to Britain to win the World Cup, not play for third.

But as the dust settles from the All Blacks' shock loss to France on Monday, there is a realisation that much more will be at sake at the Millennium Stadium tomorrow.

The winner automatically qualifies for the 2003 World Cup and, should the All Blacks lose, having to play regional qualifying matches for a tournament they will co-host with Australia, would be the ultimate ignominy.

An opinion

Ah, the French. Wouldn't it make you spit? They never could be trusted and now they have blown us up again. It is so typical, lulling the All Blacks and their army of supporters into believing New Zealand was the better team. The French lead-up was typically Rainbow Warrior-ish. It was only four months ago that France let the All Blacks beat them by a record score of 54-7 at Athletic Park. Then they threw the Five Nations championship, coming fifth, and stumbled through their World Cup pool games, playing so poorly that Parisians booed them off their home ground. Meanwhile, they sabotaged the All Blacks by pampering them on the French Riviera, plying them with wonderful cooking, praising their great skills and pouring on sun and sea. They completed their deception with a nuclear attack at Twickenham, breaching a defence as fragile as the Mururoa Atoll and totally outplaying the All Blacks. The French game plan was unexpectedly dastardly - they sought to score tries and did so.

Louis Vuitton Cup

The battered challengers have a week to toughen up before they launch back into the tumultuous seas of the America's Cup. If the skippers agreed on anything at the end of the first round of the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series yesterday, it was that they must be stronger and grittier if any one of them is to threaten Team New Zealand. Prada looked sleek, but they are also tough.

The unbeaten Luna Rossa was one of only two boats that wasn't damaged in this round.

Bridesmaids Young America and AmericaOne have had their share of troubles over the last 10 days - yesterday's closing day being no exception.

In an anti-climactic result to the most hyped race of the series so far, Young America cruised around the gulf course for a walkover win when AmericaOne sustained mast damage before the race. AmericaOne skipper Paul Cayard tried to get a postponement - the dreaded word of the last three days - and was denied. Yet he was still pragmatic.

"It's come time to turn up to the startline and sail. If you break down - you're not ready to race," he said. "We need to make our boat more durable.

"It's going to be rough out there, and you have to be able to sail in these conditions if you really want to win the America's Cup.

"It's part of facing up to reality."

While the builders get to work on the boats - the French began chainsawing Sixieme Sens last night - the brains trusts have less than a day to consider whether they want to change the rules.

After the string of delays - and requests for delays - which turned the last days of the round into a debacle, the challengers are now considering changes to the rules they wrote about postponements during the pre-starts.

Two postponement refusals on Wednesday resulted in the bizarre situation of resails yesterday.

But the results did not change - Prada still beat Abracadabra and Stars & Stripes took one point from Young Australia.

All eyes turned to the patched-up AmericaOne and Young America to brighten up a dreary day, but it was not to be.

AmericaOne had sustained mast damage during its early victory over Young Australia, then a batten pierced the mainsail. Bowman Curtis Blewett spent over an hour clinging to the top of the mast trying to make the repairs as AmericaOne sailed around the course without a mainsail, until Cayard finally decided to call it a day.

Young America skipper Ed Baird was disappointed that the clash of the American giants never came off because of more gear failure.

"It just shows you that all of us aren't ready yet," he said. "But when we go to nine-point races, you won't see the same breakdowns."

Baird's idea of what to expect from the weather was spot on, but he was disappointed he did not get to test his boat in 20-knot winds and rough seas before the round began.

America True, with its outstanding speed downwind, finished the round in fourth spot - ahead of two-boat campaigns Nippon and Abracadabra. One of the big surprises was the off-colour performance of the Japanese boat Asura in the opening round.

Dennis Conner's favourite description of his boat's chances in this America's Cup is "if the dog will hunt." Stars & Stripes is a couple of dog-lengths behind the front hounds, but keeping in touch. Said helmsman Ken Read: "We knew we had a lot of growing to do because this was such a last-minute programme

Dates for Your Diary

Sir Ron Carter Evening Friday, 12 November 1999
Christmas Soirée at New Zealand House Friday, 3 December 1999
Graduates Evening Date now to be confirmed for next year

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