Masters Games – Whanganui 2011

Take up the challenge of paddling on the Whanganui River as Waka Ama makes its debut at the New Zealand Masters Games for the second time in over 10 years.

VENUE: Whanganui River, Union Boat Club, Taupo Quay
DATE: Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th February 2011
EVENTS: Men, Women and Mixed events
DISTANCE: 500m, 1000m, 2000m, 5000m distances
CATEGORIES: W1 and W6
AGE: 35+ and 45+ age divisions (as at 13th February 2011)
COST: $55.00 Masters Games registration plus $20.00 race fee
Email your interest and assistance with registration by 7th Feb to mgwaka@gmail.com

Notice to Wellington Harbour users: North Island Water Ski Championships, Petone, 26/27February

From: Wellington Water Ski Club wellingtonwaterskiclub@gmail.com

Advance notice of the North Island Water Ski Racing Championships being held February 26 and 27 at Petone. We have applied for a harbor closure to set the course in the usual position, a triangle of water with the back straight between the Petone wharf and the motorway BP. Should a southerly shift us to Evans bay we will set out an alternate course, with it’s base at the airport and the apex off shelly bay. It is described graphically in the application,  a document we are happy to share should you request a copy.

It is a showcase for ski racing in Wellington, so I encourage you to come down to the club and get a view one of our endurance activities on the water.

Lockie Stewart
President
Wellington Water Ski Club
http://www.huttcity.com/waterski-club

Nationals 2011- Go hard!

Tena Koutou Katoa,

Good luck to all of you dedicated and enthusiastic paddlers who have been training hard over Christmas and New Year. I wish you well and look forward to seeing our regional results. Have a safe journey and enjoy the fantastic atmosphere and competition this event offers to all paddlers in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

noho ora mai, Chris Fox

new race calendar functionality on this website

check out the following:

1.  on the left you can see the regional calendar showing all races happening in the region only. Click on a race to see some basic info (where, who organises it). To add your race, send an email with details to hoetonga@gmail.com.

2. on the right hand side of the bar at the top  you can access a “race calendar” page. This calendar shows all regional races AND races happening elsewhere. This “google” calendar is linked to the calendar on http://www.wakaama.co.nz, so when a race is added by NKOA ii automatically shows up here.

Hoe Tonga

Welly Paddlers Series Race 5, 19 Dec, at Petone

It’s been 4 weeks too long since our last race, this has been due to us working around many events, in a number of the paddling Sports.

December 19 sees us head out to the Esplanade, Petone (opposite Cuba Street) for the race around Matiu (Somes) Island and back it’s distance of 8.2 km and the start time is 10 am……………registration will be from 9.15 am.

Race briefing 9.50 am

The Wind forecast is for 19 kph to 30 kph Northerly winds which looks promising.

If the weather kicks up too much we will have an alternate course likely to be from the Wellington Waterski club along the foreshore up the Hutt River to the Seaview bridge and back again…………….or any other configuration that matches the water conditions on the day.

Entry fee:
$ 5 singles
$8 doubles
$12 sixes

It is an open water course and it is recommended that you either wear or carry a buoyancy vest.

Other safety equipment like spray skirts, leg leashes, paddle floats, pumps, bailers, flares, cellphones UHF radios are all equipment that you can also carry and may save your bacon one day.
We expect that you carry the appropriate equipment for your craft and that you are able to roll if you capcise your kayak or have the ability to self rescue (using a paddle float) first and foremost.
There won’t be any motorised race safety boats on the course.

We will be setting an “easy to manage” course on the day, paddlers are free to choose whether they are able to race the course that we set.

www.wellypaddlers.blogspot.com for an update on the Race Calendar, also photos and results from the Greta Point Twilight Kayak Series.

For all our events we post the wind forecast 4 days out from each race on our website.

The schedule for the second half of the Welly Paddlers Series was also posted on our Events calendar early last week.
Chester

Race results for W6 Sprints, 12 Dec (includes survey)

Sunny conditions and relatively calm conditions made for some good race conditions. Times were relatively slow but this was again likely due to the relatively low tidal conditions and some head wind.

24 junior teams and 12 senior teams battled it out on Sunday.  This was fewer than expected, but this is likely due to the postponement caused by poor weather conditions on Saturday.

A big thank you to all volunteers and officials that made the race a success.

Due to double back up timing, a rechecking of the race course in the morning, and tight handling of the aligning at the start, the results as recorded are reliable and accurate.

Please click here to download the race results. (Note that where races were cancelled due to withdrawals of teams, the respective races appear empty in the results.)

The organising committee would also like to get your feedback on this event (and the W1 Sprints last week). You can follow the link below to a short survey (takes 5 min), your feedback will contribute to improving future events.

Click here to take the survey

W6 Sprints postponed, now on Sunday 12 December, due to adverse weather forecast

Apologies but the weather forecast is poor for Saturday, particularly for the morning when all juniors are scheduled to race. The committee has therefore decided to postpone the event until Sunday 12 December.

For your information, the forecast as per metservice at 11.30am today is as follows:

  • Saturday: Northwest 35 knots gusting 45 knots, easing to 25 knots in the afternoon and to 15 knots at night. Very rough sea becoming rough in the afternoon and slight at night. Poor visibility in morning drizzle, clearing in the afternoon.
  • Sunday: Northerly rising to 20 knots in the afternoon. Fine spells, then late drizzle.

Note that all other plans remain in place, see information package as per previous post.

If you have to withdraw your team due to unavailability, please inform Joern on joern.scherzer@gmail.com asap so that the lane draw can be amended before Sunday morning. However, we hope that all teams and volunteers can still make it to create a successful event – despite Wellington’s regular weather hoo haas.