Rubber Ducky 4

I finally made it to one of the Wellington Rubber Ducky twilight events on Tuesday. All paddlers were greeted by an easy 15 kmh Southerly and a boomerang shaped, two lap course course from Hataitai Beach onto and along Cobham Drive and back.
The Rubber Ducky is a handicap series which has been running for around 20 years now and is now run by the Mana Kayak Racing Club. Each week kayak and surf ski paddlers off from scratch 2,4,6,8 and 10 minute intervals.

When I did my first Rubber Ducky event, just after they first started, it was made up of pretty much

downriver racing kayaks, K1's, touring and multisport kayaks. 20 years later K1's are still there on the good days, though multisport kayaks and surf skis provide the bulk of the entries and on some nights adventure racing doubles show up in good numbers.

Greg Adlam pretty much runs the Rubber Ducky nights by himself nowadays as far as recording entries and timing, and is assisted by both Kupe and Mana Clubs members. The course is set by Mana with Sandy Winterton and other available Kupe Club members placing the buoys.
By the time the last event rolls around in early December all the handicap times are down to a fine art and any burglars are general sorted out by then.

To find out more about the series and who's paddling each week http://manakayakracing.wordpress.com/ and http://kupe.org.nz/

Sorry I didn't quite get in to the swing of things taking more images.............I'll do better next week.

click on any photo to enlarge