What an interesting year it has been. Even though COVID started back in early 2020, it did not really adversely impact our sport until late 2021. Until that time, our regional membership and participation across the board looked strong, and in fact our regional membership in the financial years 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 was the highest ever, with 828 and 819 members respectively.

Unfortunately, our regional membership has taken a bit of a hit over the last 9 months, with membership down to about 634 members, roughly a 20% reduction. This is likely linked to the challenges associated with COVID19, including the cancellation of the New Zealand Sprint Nationals.

Despite these challenges, Hoe Tonga was still able to run its Regional Sprint Championship in December 2021, with about 60 teams in attendance (while most other regions in New Zealand opted not to run their Regionals). Equally, while our Hoe Tonga Secondary School Sprint Championship had to be postponed until May 2022, Henley Lake presented fantastic racing conditions and reminded everyone that there are rewards for going the extra mile.

With Long Distance Nationals 2022 postponed until October 2022, it created an opportunity on the calendar to re-launch the Mana Super 6 Ocean Challenge earlier this year. Eleven teams made it to the start, with teams from around the country lining up on the start line, including top-teams Pineula and Bhutty Boys. You would think that Wellington would make sure there is some decent wind and waves, unfortunately it was not to be. Instead, teams had to grind it out in reasonably flat conditions over 35km. Statistically speaking, this should mean that next year will be a blast.

Our Hoe Tonga Paddler Series also got underway again in June 2022, now in its seventh year. At the time of writing, teams are looking forward to the last race in Whanganui on 17 September 2022. As with the other events this last season, attendance was down from a high of 37 teams last year, to about 18 teams this year. However, this is perhaps not surprising, given the atrocious paddling conditions experienced over the last three months, with frequent rain and storm events. But with summer in our sights, we hope to see more teams back in action soon.

As in 2020, Hoe Tonga collaborated with Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. Through an agreement, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa provided significant support for the Regional Sprint Champs in December 2021. Te Wānanga o Aotearoa provides the Level 4 Certificate in Waka programme in Masterton. The programme develops students’ confidence and skills in tikanga waka, along with teaching, water safety, waka types, history and traditions, tikanga Māori and whakapapa.

Looking ahead, the Hoe Tonga Board will welcome two new members this year. Both Tane Cassidy and I have decided to retire from the Board. I would like to acknowledge Tane’s contribution since he became a board member in 2016.

This also means that this year’s report is my last one as Chair of Hoe Tonga. I took over the presidency of Hoe Tonga back in November 2009, and was later elected Chair when Hoe Tonga changed from the previous committee structure to a board structure. After more than a decade at the helm, I have decided that it is time for someone new to take over and carry the batton into the future.  

There is no question that there have been many challenges and also frustrations along the way. But equally, I look back with satisfaction on the things that Hoe Tonga has achieved over the last 12 years. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Established Strategic Plans with clear objectives and actions to deliver these. There have been three Strategic Plans so far: 2009-2014, 2014-2018, and 2019-2023.
• Established a dedicated website to provide information on all key regional events and happenings.
• Significantly increased our regional membership, it tripled between 2009 and 2021.
• Established annual Regional Sprint Championships, to replace the previous ‘trials’ focused on W1 only, in order to improve pathways and to create better events. Our Regionals have since grown substantially, and now are run across two weekends due to the number of participants and races. They now also feature W12 races.
• Introduced the chase-format, perhaps a world-first, for W6-turn races at our Regionals, in light of constraints around the number of lanes available at Henley Lake.
• Invested in and set up a dedicated race-course and surveyed lane system at Henley Lake in Masterton, to run our Regional Sprint Championships, to make racing fairer and better, and to reduce weather-related delays.
• Introduced the Race Manager software at all of our sprint events (which is the same system used at Sprint Nationals), to more efficiently run our regatta operations.
• Set up an annual Paddler Series in 2016, to encourage better participation in the winter season, and to encourage novice paddlers into the sport. In addition, the Series also helps build confidence and volunteer experience in clubs for hosting events in the future.
• Established a paid Regional Development Officer role, to help deliver on Hoe Tonga’s Strategic Plans and our Regional Development Plan 2018-2021. This followed several years of work in developing proposals and securing funding. Mataiawhea Te Kere was Hoe Tonga’s first RDO.
• Changed from a committee structure to a board structure in 2016, to make the region’s governance more effective and efficient. The change was in response to a number of concerns, including declining attendance rates of club representatives over a number of years and the resulting difficulty to make timely decisions, and the increased need for more specialist governance and leadership skills at the regional level.
• Changed affiliation fees from a club-based fee to a per-paddler fee, to allow for growth, and to more fairly share costs between small and large clubs

I would like to thank my current and previous fellow Board members for their efforts and support in turning ideas into reality. Chris Fox in particular has helped make a lot of change happen. A lot of the work that leads to the change we have seen over the last decade is down to hard work, often unseen by most. This is akin to a paddler successfully competing at a race. Unseen are the many hours of training that would have gone into making that happen.

I will leave you with these words by Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Jörn Scherzer
4 September 2022