…due to gale force winds and poor race conditions.

Entries have reopened, teams have until Monday 9 August to make adjustments to their entries and rosters.

TOA is looking forward to seeing all teams next weekend.

Paddlers were greeted by fantastic and sunny paddling conditions on Saturday. After weeks of wind and rain, a light northerly pushed paddlers along.

A total of 16 teams competed for honours and the first points of the Series.

Go to https://hoetonga.co.nz/2022/04/13/hoe-tonga-paddler-series-2022/ to see the full results for Race 1, and the current points ranking for the Series.

See at the next race on 6 August at Ngati Toa Domain, hosted by Toa Waka Ama.

Don’t miss out on a chance to win a brand new Tai paddle, and one of three divisional trophies.

Head over to https://hoetonga.co.nz/2022/04/13/hoe-tonga-paddler-series-2022/ for details.

Whetū Mārama: Bright Star

For Māori, the canoe underpins our culture. We once built waka/canoes from giant trees and sailed the vast Pacific by the stars.  These arts were lost to us for 600 years. Then the stars re-aligned and three men from far flung islands revived our place as the greatest navigators on the planet, a Hawaiian, a Micronesian and Hek Busby, “The Chief” from Aotearoa/New Zealand. 

Whetū Mārama: Bright Star is the story of Sir Hekenukumai Ngaiwi Puhipi, aka Hek Busby, and his significance for Māori in rekindling their wayfinding DNA and for all New Zealanders in reclaiming our place as traditional star voyagers on the world map.  

Showing at these cinemas, from 7 July:

Embassy 3, Whanganui
The Screening Room, Masterton
Light House Cinema Pauatahanui, Wellington
Light House Cinema Petone, Wellington

For the new financial year 2022/23, there will be two vacancies available on the Hoe Tonga Board – in line with our constitutional requirement that two board members shall step down every two years.

The current board members are as follows:

• Jörn Scherzer (Chair)
• Matt Amundson-Fyall
• Patrick Rimene
• Pania Tahau-Hodges
• Tane Cassidy
• Thomas Tawhiri

Tane and Jörn have indicated their intention to step down at the end of the current term.

We encourage anyone who is enthusiastic about meeting our strategic goals of the region to put their name forward. Elections will be held at the AGM on 5 September 2022. The deadline for any applications will be 31 July 2022.

The process is as follows:

• Nominations can be made by Member Clubs. You can nominate any individual. Nominees do not need be a member/paddler of your club or region.
• We are seeking Board members who will take an active involvement in the sport’s governance body and in the best interests of its membership as a whole (rather than that of a particular club). All nominees must be honest, reliable, trustworthy and comfortable to ‘walk and talk’, particularly in relation to the values of our sport (as outlined in our Strategic Plan).
• Clubs and nominees must fill in the nomination form. They must be received, completed with relevant nominee profile and sent to hoetonga@gmail.com. The list of nominees, along with their profiles, will be posted on the Hoe Tonga website.
• Click here to download the nomination form.

Check out the details for the first race of this year’s Series, available at https://hoetonga.co.nz/2022/04/13/hoe-tonga-paddler-series-2022/.

The race is hosted by Tunui / Tai Tonga, and will be held at Evans Bay, Wellington.

Check out the details for this year’s winter series, available at https://hoetonga.co.nz/2022/04/13/hoe-tonga-paddler-series-2022/.

The first race is hosted by Tunui & Tai Tonga and entries are now open.

Congratulations to all the schools and paddlers that competed this year.

It’s been a difficult year, with COVID forcing us to postpone the event until 22 May. While the number of schools and teams competing was down significantly on last year, Henley Lake in Masterton presented fantastic racing conditions.

Race results are available for download at https://hoetonga.co.nz/2022/02/21/hoe-tonga-secondary-school-regional-sprint-championships-2022/. Event photos are available for free at our Flickr site at https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzQYne.

A big thank you to College Sport Wellington and David Fa’atafa for collaborating with us to deliver this event and all the volunteers that helped make this event happen. A special thanks goes to our head officials at the various stations:

• Marinna Millanta-Lowrey and Petra Melville (finish line)
• Chris Fox and Maaika van Alst (start line)
• Matt Ammunson (flags)
• Karmen Wallace and Thomas Tawhiri (loading bay and announcer)
• Trini Ropata-Tawhiri (registration desk)
• Terry Harkin (photography)
• Jörn Scherzer (race director)

Also a big thank you to Paddy Rimene and Wairarapa Waka Ama Canoe Club for helping us host the event and preparing the race course, and Toa Waka Ama and Hawaikinui for providing canoes.

Two school trophies were up for grabs:

Our School Excellence Award recognises the school that accumulates the most points across all races, with 4 points for each first place in Championship Finals, 3 points for a second place, 2 points for a third place, and 1 point for a fourth place. The winner this year was Manukura (from Palmerston North) with a record 40 points, followed by Te Kura Maori o Porirua with 30 points, and in third place was Mana College with 15 points.

Our School Spirit Award is given to the school that contributes the most towards the atmosphere and event delivery, and for going the extra mile. This year’s winner of this award was Te Kura o Kokohuia.

Finally, the steerer of Aotea College’s U16 “Aotea Pink” team was the lucky winner of a brand-new Tai Broadbill paddle.

See you next year!

.

Get ready for this week’s Secondary School Regionals 2022 in Masterton.

Please go to the race notice at https://hoetonga.co.nz/2022/02/21/hoe-tonga-secondary-school-regional-sprint-championships-2022/ to view the finalised schedule and lane draw for this coming Sunday.

Live results will also be available on the day, at https://liveresults.co.nz/competition/435.

We invite all teams to arrive at the venue no later than 8am. A race briefing is scheduled for 8.45am, and racing is scheduled to commence at 9am.

The forecast is for 14 degrees, and becoming fine.

And finally, we will have a brandnew Tai Paddle Broadbill to give away, valued at about $500. This will drawn at the prize giving after racing has finished (all paddlers are eligible, based on the names provided as part of the entry), but the winner must be there in person to receive it, otherwise it will be redrawn.

Get ready for next week’s Secondary School Regionals 2022 in Masterton. After our COVID-inducted postponement, we are looking forward to a good event. We have 14 schools entered this year, competing for placings.

Please go to the race notice at https://hoetonga.co.nz/2022/02/21/hoe-tonga-secondary-school-regional-sprint-championships-2022/ to view the draft schedule and draw for next Sunday.

Note that both documents are in draft, and there may be changes in case of withdrawals, additions or corrections. If a team or school spots any errors, please contact hoetonga@gmail.com or David Fa’atafa at College Sport Wellington.

At the event we will also have a couple of junior teams in attendance that will attend the upcoming World Sprint Champs in London. They will be competing as exhibition teams.

A final schedule and draw will be released on Thursday 19 May.