Yes a SUP ERG

Part of my regular routine is to mooch around the place and check out our Water Sports Retailers....and yes at times I can't help myself, and have to buy stuff....it's about keeping the economy rolling along....that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.

Yesterday I slide into Wild Winds, the last time I was there Dave McPhee's wife, Chrissie was assembling the SUP ERG. It's been a few weeks since then and it's well and truly up and running, there's a white board there with distances and times from local SUP'rs on there......all the usual suspects have had a

crack on it.
John Toomath has been on there quite a bit by the looks.... as his name is on the top of the board for leading times.
Dave is my model on this ocassion showing me how it's done. I had a crack myself and thought it was really smooth, like any machine it does take a while to master the technique. The switch over from left to right is really smooth but finding the top of the paddle handle requires some

practice...........get that right and you'll have the times down in no time. This ERG is perfect for the days you are limited in time to get out on the water, or when it's too blustery outdoors.

I had a great session on the ski yesterday doing 8 flat water circuits of the Greta Point course in readiness for the Foxton Loop Race on August 10...........for more info on this event click here http://www.rwwc.org.nz/

If you're keen to see some more images from the Winter Series event on Sunday check out 21 photos from James Sadler on Facebook click the link here https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.614024065284400.1073741825.100000304373814&type=1&l=a3774fcb86


Awesome work James!

Well tomorrow is the first day of August and it's un officially Think Kayaks month ............. over the next month you'll see images and videos of Think surf skis plastered in our articles...........we are counting down to the arrival of Fergs Kayaks container of Think skis that arrive in Auckland............the eta is the middle of August. If you are after a Think ski this season get in quickly the numbers are pretty skinny and many of us have already pre ordered our skis.......... if you'd like to buy one retailwn@fergskayaks.co.nz or you can demo or hire the range at Fergs Kayaks Wellington and Auckland shortly after they arrive.

No yawning..........I will still be posting articles from events and more visits to other retailers!

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Video from Sunday's event

Here's a video from Sunday's event FOUR out at Onepoto again shot by Dave McKnight, he also has video's of event ONE and TWO which you can link onto via this video or U-Tube.

Here's Dave on the left paddling his Think Evo 2 with Sandy Winterton on the right.........you'll also see Dave out and about on a Think Uno Max............which is currently the fastest surf ski on the planet.

Today I headed out for a skid on my Fanatic Falcon SUP for the first time in a month so

I paddled 7 km from Hataitai Beach around to Freyberg Beach and back in a 15 km Northerly.............here's a few images of the view from the paddle today......... Oriental Parade looking towards the CBD............yes paddling with a leg leash and PFD!.............look the view from higher up....... you see much more standing up......
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Winter Series FOUR at Onepoto

Big Thanks to the PCKC team for hosting the event today Pania, Turi and John especially.

Finally after a few false starts over the last month we were welcomed by some glorious fine sunny weather it was both warm at the start and finish in the shelter which I believe is a must for winter paddling.


The 10 km course was a relatively straight forward course for the sit down paddlers and headed under the bridges into the Pauatahanui Inlet to the Browns Bay buoy and back.

The SUP course headed along the relative shelter of the Whitireia Park Hillside before the SUP paddlers were challenged by both wind and tide heading out the channel to the last green marker post where the Men did 6 km with the women turning earlier to complete a distance of 4 km.


Event FIVE is on August 18 and will be hosted by Chris Fox and the Hikoikoi Club at Petone.

We've included a few random snaps that both Sharlene and I took on the water.........tomorrow we'll post an awesome U-tube video that Dave McKnight took of the event today.

W6 Mens 10km

44:30 PCKC Men

Surf ski/kayak 10km

49:07 Mike Tate
49:19 Chester Burt
51:21 Andrew Carey
53:05 Paddy Urlich
53:08 Dave Ryde
56:36 Dave McKnight
56:41 Sandy Winterton
57:10 Iain Gillies
58:43 Pete Notman
60:07 Graham Daniel
DNF Harry Wingar

W1 Men 10km

51:50 Paddy Rimene
55:50 Neil O'Brien
56:20 Piki Emery
57:11 Chris Mike
57:25 Rick Ruparere
58:28 Sefo Misky
58:57 George Fa'alogo
62:11 Terry Gardiner
70:30 Willie Kappely

W1 Women 10km

56:16 Marianna Hodges
63:27 Chris Fox
64:04 Deb Blake
64:37 Raewyn Anderson
65:37 Selena Katene
66:52 Paula Napier
75:48 Alana Joe

W6 Junior Girls 10 km

66:16 PCKC Junior Girls

SUP Men 6 km

48:49 Rob Collins
48:49 Hans Wannemacher
50:15 John Toomath
54:44 Chris Brown
54:55 Brodie McGregor
56:07 Karl LeQuesne
61:12 Joe Konlechner
66:30 Aaron Boslem
78:04 Alex Dean
83:27 Karl Wannemacher


SUP Women 4 km

56:44 Lei Faletolu
56:47 Sharlene Winiata

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Winter Series FOUR this Sunday

Turi and Pania from PCKC (Porirua Canoe Kayak Club) are hosting this Sundays event out at Onepoto starting at 10 am.

The forecast looks absolutely fantastic and I'm picking the turnout will be just huge!.......... View the flyer on the right hand side of the page to familiarise yourself with the event details.

We should see a slight to 20 kmh Northerly which is expected to drop off around midday.

There will be a long course of around 8 to 10 km for waka ama, kayaks and surf skis............ and a 4 to 5 km course for SUP's.

A big thanks again to Fergs Kayaks Wellington for again sponsoring this years series with the spot prizes being presented at the last event on September 15............this is where you'll see all the hard work that Dave Annear puts into hunting and gathering a fine array of prizes.

Don't forget to support all events in the series and don't forget to visit Fergs Kayaks when you shop for your next piece of water sports equipment..........they have just recently taken on Starboard SUP's, qb Quick Blades waka ama and SUP paddles and Vaikobi clothing.

We're all busting our chops to get out on the water on Sunday I'll be on the Think Evo II surf ski and Sharlene is "as keen as" to complete the SUP course this time around on her Fanatic Ray "green machine".

Looking forward to seeing all our paddling mates out on the water.

Thanks to the leg leash............

........my ski didn't get blown into wharf piles........which would have lead to a damned good scratching.
Yep had a spill of the Think Evo II yesterday doing the usual thing on the surf ski shimmying around wharves boats and buoys and got a little close to a pile with my paddle blade..........and before you know it I was in the briney............whoops.

No worries the swim was great and the nice warm gear I have kept me nice and toasty, so much so that I

was even enjoying a swim. The interesting thing with the leg leash was that where I fell out it was perilously close to the piles.....and this is where the leg leash came into it's own..........connected to the ski a couple of quick swimming strokes and the leash pulled the ski clear of the knarly shell coated piles.

The main reason we wear leashes is on windy days if you happen to fall off your ski, it can blow away so quickly that not even an Olympic swimmer

like Steven Ferguson, will catch up with it. If you're also unlucky, next time the ski stops it may be against a rocky shoreline, reef, seawall or wharf.............oouch!

The extra buoyancy and warmth that a PFD gives you in the winter is another bonus and you won't see me without one even in the summer. One thing I don't buy into is that PFD's are too hot for racing or too hot to wear in the summer.......hello just roll off your damned ski and cool off and practice your remounts every now again.
Experienced paddlers do drown when they are not properly equipped!

Thank you to Think Kayaks for the branded gear..........surf ski, PFD and leg leash.

Not long now till my Vaikobi gear arrives. I've ordered the V cold pants and the V cold short sleeve top + removable sleeves. View the Vaikobi range here http://www.vaikobi.com/

I buy all my Think Kayaks and Vaikobi gear from Fergs Kayaks.

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Outlook for today

A Northerly of between 22 and 33 kmh, occasional drizzle or rain and maybe 3 or 4 earthquakes.......

Yes Wellington is now Officially taking the heat off Christchurch, but the quakes are still coming from the South Island!..............with many coming from the Seddon area, which is just south of Blenheim.

On the sporting side the Central Pulse Netball Team should now be re branded again....... back to it's old

name of the Capital Shakers. Other than masonry and glass falling from the odd CBD building, I've yet to hear of any surf skis, waka ama or SUP that have been damaged to this point..........so we're all good.

Don't forget this Sunday morning we have event FOUR of the Welly Paddlers Winter Series which is being hosted by Turi and Pania out at Onepoto on the Porirua Harbour.......view the Series flyer on the right hand side of this page.

Red Rocket Talent Agency is seeking a male waka ama paddler aged 30 - 40 years for a 3 minute video to be named "NZ story" for Tourism Trade and Enterprise and Education NZ.

The audition / interview will be on Thursday July 25....... with the filming to take place on August 11.

The theme for the shoot is to have the waka ama paddler, paddling out into the harbour, he stops and takes stock of the view enjoying the moment.............no problems doing that............. it's what we do every time we paddle (-:

Anyhow you will have to provide your own waka and the payment for this gig is $1500 gross.

If you're interested contact jude@launching.co.nz

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Thanks Dave!

One of the local Think surf ski paddlers in Wellington has just hooked me up with a set of Orka Flex blades. I have put them on my other crank shaft so I have a spare paddle again.

Orka Paddles are the brand that Think paddler and ICF World surf ski Champion Sean Rice uses.

The Flex blades are one of the smallest in the Orka range, the shape is very similar to the Jantex Gamma small, Legend Paddles Hydra and Millenium Paddles Pleiades..........the last two paddles are made in New Zealand.

One paddle that I did take a shine to earlier this year was the Flow Kayaks MS1 out of the Andrew Martin, Richard Ussher Stable that's

another great Kiwi option.

If you find all these new paddles a bit daunting to adjust to and you loved the NZ made Descente Paddles from the good old days then go for the Millenium Paddles Centurion it's an evenly balanced paddle that many still swear by.......... and the price point may be the best of all the New Zealand Paddles on the

market.

Here's a few New Zealand sites to compare paddles and prices

http://www.millenniumpaddles.co.nz/
http://www.flowkayaks.com/site/
http://legendpaddles.co.nz/
http://www.ipaddle.co.nz/

A couple of photos before and during a 90 minute session around Wellington Harbour today, Evans Bay to the Kumototo Precinct, Frank Kitts Park and Oriental Bay, bottom picture Dave's tee shirt...........you'll also see him sporting one of the latest Think Hoodies!........and caps, yep for gear, he's got it all sorted :-)

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Cold weather........you need good gear.

I was out on the water last Wednesday on one of the colder mid week days on the my Think Evo II....... and no surprises it was bloody freezing with the Met Service saying it was 8.8 degrees.........feels like 5 degrees on their website..... they were correct, it felt all of that!

It was a good test for my current gear my adrenalin top was nice and toasty but my adrenalin longs with the extra chilly water splashing around just didn't quite cut the mustard on the ski. Luckily I have ordered some Vaikobi gear from Fergs Kayaks to cover that area. Sometimes our favourite retail shops can't stock all the right gear when we need it so

you look around locally to see what else is available.

In April when we ran The Motorway Event we had Travers from Surf and Snow in Cuba Street enter.............since then I've dropped SUP magazines in to him and today it was time to support his workplace by buying some booties from him. I choose the Rip Curl 3mm

Flashbomb wetsuit booties ($77 RRP) due to the fact they had a very flexible rubber sole, they weren't bulky, are fleece, are super warm and best of all they dry really quickly between sessions on the water. So if you need some go and see Travers at Surf and Snow (on the basement level)

If you are crazy enough to get out in this weather get the right gear that will keep you warm on the water and for 10 minutes after while you are mucking around packing up post paddle.
Winter is not all bad either we do get some fantastic sunny days, albeit the air temperature is not too peachy at times, but with good warm gear it doesn't take too long before you are nice and toasty. Tuesday and today Wednesday has been stunning to blast around Wellington Harbour on my Evo II, when you get days like this in between some very cold or extremely windy days it's just makes the paddle all the more special.

The Think container is just over a month from landing at Fergs Kayaks in Auckland so here's a sneak peek of the Think Ion performance (From my trip to Think Kayak Australia) on the left parked next to the Uno Max. In the other image "Happiness is a Think surf ski Paddler" Iain Gillies on his Think Evo II at one of the Tuesday Twilight events earlier this year..............it won't be long and a whole new bunch of Think surf ski paddlers will be out on the water in Wellington...........the container arrival.............warmer weather.........Love it!
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Think wins at World Champs

Sean Rice from South Africa won the inaugural ICF world surf ski Mens title in Portugal yesterday. Sean won on the Think Uno Max over the 22 km downwind distance. All the results should be re formatted in the next day or so.
http://www.oceanracingportugal2013.com/

So the Think ski is the fastest ski in the World this year with  Sean Rice on it.............but you don't have to be a world champion or an elite paddler to paddle one of the sexy looking skis in the Think Kayak range.

Think surf skis are made for everyone..........and you can paddle an Uno Max, Ion, Evo II, Big Eze or Eze in just over 1 months time with the arrival of Fergs Kayaks container of Think surf skis into New Zealand.

When the skis arrive in Wellington we'll be putting another photo slideshow of Think skis together
as we did last year and it'll include the Ultimate construction (which is in clear carbon)

As the skis land in Wellington I'll put an APB out to paddlers who'd like to take any one of the new models out for a test run prior to purchase.
In the meantime view info here http://thinkkayak.com/ and also some of the latest updates here https://www.facebook.com/pages/Think-Kayak/108850809138216

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Event THREE cancelled

Tomorrows forecast is for rain and strong cold southerlies rising to gales.

In light of this we will have to cancel this one.

The weather is much better today though, so get out on the water while you can.

Event FOUR of the Welly Paddlers Winter Series will be hosted by Turi Hodges out at Onepoto on July 28...........by this time the worst of the polar blasts should have blown through by then, so we'll see you all in a couple of weeks.

Chester and Sharlene.

Postponed event......this weekend

After some stonking Northerlies last weekend which caused the postponement of event THREE.....(which will now be on this Sunday).........it will be a case of out of the frying pan into the fire. This Sunday we are looking at a patch of strong southerlies!

I'm not pulling the blankets over my head just yet on the call for this Sunday............I'm always hopeful that the forecasts will shift. In a wintery Southerly we have two very good options to run an event.
We have some great shelter along Cobham Drive............so one event staging area is the Marina carpark at the bottom of Evans Bay.
The second option is on Oriental Parade and the Start point we will use is a set of steps that leads to the

Beach it's by a pedestrian crossing and across the road is a toilet block. Keep an eye out on the weather updates here from Friday with the venue decision on the venue being made on Saturday by 10 am.

Events coming up........... 

July 28 Winter Paddle Series Onepoto Turi 021 685 625
Aug 4 CRNZ 10 km Series Onepoto manakayakracing@gmail.com
Aug 10 Foxton Loop Race 18 km or 8 km SUP's http://www.sportsground.co.nz/ruahinewhitewater/22266/1/

Photos: A couple of "selfies" from yesterday in Evans Bay.....keeping well wrapped with warm gear on some chilly days and winter weight eyebrows to keep the forehead warm :-)
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What a difference a day makes

Wellington lived up to its sometimes fearsome reputation with a couple of days that were, what we call........."a little on the windy side".........else where they use terms like extremely gusty and gale force.

To be fair we did have some fairly gusty winds, the forecast from the day before was right on the button and taking into account what's been happening over the 4 day period and viewing our 2 wind sites it wasn't a too difficult decision to postpone Sundays scheduled event. The actual wind strengths I saw pop on on the Met Service website during the 10 am to 12 noon period on Sunday were Northerlies 46 km/h gusting to 78 km/h. In Evans Bay the gusts were accelerating through the gullies from Northerly to Westerly, which can produce nervous moments on the water.

It was disappointing for Auckland Starboard sponsored rider Felipe Alonso dos Santos who was down to take part in Event THREE ........ but then again he choose not to go out for a downwind paddle that afternoon either, probably acknowledging that the conditions looked pretty wild. Still we spent some time with Felipe discussing local SUP activities and looking at what boards he thought are the one's to introduce to Wellingtons paddlers at the Fergs Kayaks Wellington shop. Felipe will be back down at some stage for another winter series event and being a qualified SUP instructor he would like to run some Coaching sessions closer to summer.

For me today was my first spin on the water since last Wednesday when the conditions then were marginally less windier than Sunday........ (yes big difference in conditions we only missed the smooth Harbour conditions by half a day).............so today I had the pleasure of enjoying some warm sun on my back, a smooth harbour, a mix of light NW and a light Southerly.

We are now well over halfway through the winter (in my books it really finishes at the end of July) as August is sort of like an entree for summer and in August and September there are a number of paddling events on that help pass the time by quite quickly...........it's always good to have something to aim for.

Hey did you guys read the Dompost Newspaper on Friday?

Did you read the Dompost newspaper on Friday July 5, page 3 a photo with a caption explaining how some one was fishing off the rocks............wakey, wakey Dompost people there was a SUP Paddler in the photo too!!!!! and most of us recognised it was Neal Luka otherwise known as "Movie Guy"..........anyhow Neal would like you all to know he's 189cm and 95kg............ rides and paddles with Starboard equipment his passions are riding the big waves in Lyall Bay and he has a soft spot for fried chicken from a certain bakery in Miramar.

Top two photos taken on Sunday at 9.50 am.............bottom photo just off Oriental Parade.
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Welly Paddlers Event THREE

Well it's Saturday morning 10 am and I've just been checking all the wind forecasts and this period of strong winds is hanging around like the proverbial bad smell.

Based on the fact that we are getting 50 kmh Northerlies gusting at around 85 kmh at times with the same winds hanging around till tomorrow afternoon we will have to........ postpone tomorrows event..............not cancel.

We will hold Event THREE next Sunday July 14 at Hataitai Beach.........by this time the winds right across the Wellington Region will have settled down.

Many people paddled last weekends Matariki.............event THREE next weekend..... then event Four two weeks after that............it's probably all worked well for many.

In the winter it's a matter of getting out when you can and being sensible and hey there's some good paddling to be had next week.

If you are a SUP buff and want to hide out of the wind this afternoon pop down to Fergs Kayaks in Wellington and have a chat to Felipe Dos Santos he's a Starboard sponsored rider he works at Fergs Kayaks in Auckland. He's around to talk Starboard and show you a range of 5 race boards that he has in the Wellington Store. Felipe is a qualified SUP instructor also and a great Ambassador for all the paddling Sports

Weather for Sundays Event

Update Friday 10.00 pm........... the weather patterns haven't changed much from what's already been forecast. We'll watch the MetService and Windfinder sites again at the times mentioned below to see if we can more accurately pinpoint what's going on as far as wind speeds go.

We are definitely looking at Hataitai Beach as our start finish area.

Friday and Saturday in the Capital we will be buffeted by some strong Northerly gale force winds..............but now looking at the wind speeds forecast and what have been recorded by the Met Service the winds don't appear to as strong.

By Sunday the forecast is for the strong North Westerlies to ease........ the rest is about working a sheltered course in the Evans Bay precinct and much of this can only be done by going down and checking the water and wind out on the day...........(I will have paddled the course and set the buoys for each course by 9.15 am)

The next weather update will be Saturday morning at 10 am.............and also Saturday afternoon at 4 pm.

If you view the photos from event one (on the right hand side of the page) you'll see two great courses set on a day when we had 35 to 45 kmh North Westerlies in the morning...........of course that afternoon the wind whipped up into a frenzy!

I will watch the weather patterns carefully in anticipation of a good pocket of weather developing for us on Sunday Morning.....continue to watch this space. 

Hello Wind!

It's back........ and at about half throttle today so I skulked down to Evans Bay.........well inside Greta Point to be honest to test the courses for this weekend just to make sure I have all the angles covered, you can't rest on your laurels when getting the course placements right in the winter.

On the surf ski a good North Westerly at 43 kmh with gusts of around 70 kmh which were fairly hairy at times and had the yachts dancing all over the place as the gusts funnelled off the blocks of apartments and valleys nearby. A good hour on the water on Think Evo II surf ski doing circuits and admiring the wind gusts and occasional tornado like wind spout on the water...............and I was probably the only one crazy enough to be on the water in Wellington City today........but it has to be done.

You have to be optimistic running events and you also have to get it right........ 4 days out and I'm expecting

the forecast strong NW to blow through by Sunday and with a bit of good luck this will be replaced by a Westerly at a much slower rate of knots.

I received the results from the weekends Matariki event and these should be posted on http://www.hoetonga.co.nz/ tonight. Note: Joern Scherzer paddled the 14 km course twice on his W1 finishing both courses within 20 seconds which is really consistant. Joern will be racing in one of the Aito International Ocean races in the Islands this month, he won a spot by winning Aito Aotearoa a few months back so best wishes for that event Joern.

Today I also had another catch up with Kristin Percy Wilson who has been working in Wellington for the past few days. Kristin is the secretary of the NZ SUP association and does the hard yards for SUP in this Country, she also runs their Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/NZStandUpPaddling 

Rumour has it there may be a couple of Auckland SUP'rs coming down for this weekends event if they can find a couple of Starboard race boards............watch this space to see if they do and also which way the weather will be swinging..............updates for Sunday's event.... daily from Friday.

The above photos were not taken today!........click on any photo to enlarge

Wrap up from the weekend

The Welly C4 SUP crew and Hanza look like they had a great spin at Mt Maunganui in the weekend with a course just off the Mount Beach in light conditions with a small 300mm to 400mm swell. You can view a video of the event on East Coast Paddlers Facebook page..........and I'm sure Stu Hiddleston and Brodie McGregor will have another blended video within the next few days.

Mike Tate came home in 6th place at the Hawkes Bay leg of the CRNZ 10 km series which was won by his brother Adam, a former National Sprint team member from the the 90's.

On the Wellington scene the Hikoikoi Waka Ama club struck gold with the weather again this year running three races from their club on the Petone Foreshore.

The results from Matariki should be on www.hoetonga.co.nz in the next few days.

In the meantime here's a video from Dave McKnight
who did the first event on the card a 14km spin out around Matiu and Makaro Islands and back to Petone again............for the record Dave was just cooling off......... after he crossed the finish line.

Good news the Northerlies are back in Wellington so I was able to run several loops around the Greta Point area checking out the wind angles for both the sit down and stand up craft this weekend.

If the winds play ball we may be able to stretch both courses out a little further than we did for event ONE at Hataitai Beach. The exact venue for Sunday will be announced by Saturday 10am......24 hours before the event.

Click on the picture above to view Dave's video.