Paddling in the Wairarapa this weekend

There's plenty on offer this weekend in the Wairarapa.

Paddy Rimene and the Wairarapa Waka ama Club are hosting the final event of their winter Series on Henley Lake in Masterton on Sunday

The winter series is open to waka ama, kayaks and SUP's with a 10 km and 5 km course on offer.

Read the flyer below for more details

Also on Sunday the Wairarapa Multisports Club are running their annual Ruamahanga River race. The event has a 31 km long course and also a 19 km short course option or you can split the event and take it on as a team....12 km and then 19 km.

Entries close today... but you can still enter by paying the $5 extra late entry fee.

Looking at the water gauge we could be in for 35 - 40 cumecs on the day or if the rain falls nicely on Saturday it could be up again....you can follow the levels by following this link http://graphs.gw.govt.nz/?siteName=Ruamahanga%20River%20at%20Waihenga%20Bridge&dataSource=Flow

For more info on the event www.wmsc.org.nz 

Click on any photo to enlarge

Times from Petone

The biggest turnout to date this Season for the Cold Kiwi Series with 64 paddlers out on the water.

The Long course started from the Giant Oars and headed east along the foreshore, then turned a sharp left up the Hutt River where all paddlers safely navigated there way around anyone of the Seaview bridge piles, as well as keeping an eagle eye on fishing lines coming off the bridge. Once around the bridge paddlers would definitely have noticed the extra depth of the water as they headed back out of the river then heading along the Petone Esplanade again into the shallow water again past the start finish point....but wait there's more....one more parade of craft down to the Petone Wharf to complete the final 2 kms and back to the finish.

The Short course was a lap to the Seaview Bridge and back to the finish (minus the Petone Wharf leg)

The event was held close to high tide the start was at 10 am in the end with the High tide at 11.11 am. Conditions were coolish at 12 degrees but still with the sun out and after 5 to 10 minutes paddling I'm sure everyone warmed up nicely. Wind strength today was a mixed bag as it went from moderate to gusty and back a few times with various parts of the course more challenging than others depending on the craft you were paddling, and special mention to Karl and Rob on Stand up paddle boards who had their fair share of breeze on a few sections being higher off the water than the sit down craft.

Thanks to Kate Booth and James Sadler for helping Sharlene out today and the Lyall Bay Surf Life Saving Club Parents for their support keeping track of all their Club paddlers as they all finished.

Most importantly thank you to all the paddlers and craft transportion people for getting craft and people to the event, it's team effort and we appreciate everyone who plays their part, both on and off the water

Spot prizes today.

Lawrence Hynes - Adrenalin pants
Les Morris - Adrenalin pants
Grace Kingi - Adrenalin top

Please support Fergs Kayaks they are our local retailer and they support us well.

For photos go to the Welly Paddlers Facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/WellyPaddlers?ref=hl

The next and last "Cold Kiwi Series" Event for the Season will be September 13 and will be at Dolly Vardon Park, Mana. 

Next Sunday we're all spoilt for choice with Wairarapa Multisport Clubs Ruamahanga River Race and Wairarapa Waka Ama Clubs final winter series event on Henley Lake

Long course 7 km

35:48 Chester Burt SS
35:51 David Long SS
35:52 Danial Bremner SS
35:55 Kyle Christensen SS
36:04 Blair Simpson MK
36:43 Derek Cox MK
36:56 Les Morris MK
37:09 Dave Dellabarca MK
39:47 Hokoikoi Te Puni mixed W6
38:05 Dave McKnight SS
38:31 Tom Oolders SS
41:20 Otaki J 16 boys W6
41:28 Jeff Booth SS
39:45 Lawrence Hynes W1
40:19 Barton FletcherSS
40:35 Rueben Hill SS
40:52 Alaynah Bettany
41:05 John Toomath SS
41:30 Kate Nota SS
42:25 Otaki J 16 girls W6
42:44 Otaki 5 up W6
43:24 Moutere womens W6
42:29 Luther Maxwell SS
42:41 Liam Simes SS
42:48 Piki Emery W1
43:25 Sandy Winterton SK
45:28 Tony Gibbs MK
45:32 Pete Notman MK
45:56 Megan Cox SS
45:58 Ella Kingi SS
46:16 Grace Kingi SS
46:26 Sharon Henderson SS
46:59 Alex Edmonds SS
46:59 Trevor MacDonald SK
47:29 Jamie Simes SS
50:15 Liam Chesney SS
54:11 Karl LeQuesne SUP
56:24 Louba Coates SS
35:15 Tyler Maxwell SS (missed Hutt River section - rudder issues)

Short course 5 km

42:13 Rob Futter SUP

click on any photo to enlarge


  

Cold Kiwi Series @ Petone

Outlook for Sunday North Westerly around 30 - 40 kmh, fine weather and looking at 13 degrees C.

Don't be put off by the wind, you'll find that this location will produce a great session with a positive course that will suit everyone.....and yes with anticlockwise (ama) turns and both courses being a single lap !

We will also have Grant Sheehan who'll be taking photos from his drone, one or two pics may well feature in a book he's putting together called "NZ from above"

High tide 11.11 am

Start / Finish by the Giant Oars on the Petone Foreshore (by Cuba Street)

Toilets : are just along the Foreshore 200 metres west of the Giant Oars

The Flying Bean Coffee Cart is 100 metres west of the start.

The courses will be the same as detailed in the previous post.

We'll be down at the start from 8.15 am.

Briefing : 9.35

Start : 9.45

Remember PFD's must be worn by all paddlers.

Click on any photo to enlarge

Petone Cold Kiwi Update

Sorry for the late post today I've been running errands in the rain today then when it cleared up late this afternoon it was time to take advantage of the fine patch and go for a quick spin.

We're coming up 4 days out from this Sundays event and the forecast is looking great.

North Westerly 35 kmh - gusting to 48 kmh with plenty of shelter along the Petone Foreshore and up the Hutt River.

With everyone probably getting "all lapped out" at the 5 lap Wellington event and the clockwise (or non ama) turns we're changing the format for the Petone event.

The likely long course will be 7 km from the Giant Oars to the Seaview bridge back past the start finish then turn a buoy just before the Petone Wharf.

The short course will be either 5 km to the Seaview bridge and back or a 2 lap course around to the Petone Wharf buoy and back a distance of 4km.

click on any photo to enlarge 

Cold Kiwi Event FIVE this Sunday

Three weeks rolls around really quickly as does the worst of those winter cold snaps of single digit temperatures.

As per the plan Event FIVE will be in the Hutt City area again and we'll more than likely hold the event at the Giant Oars on the Petone Esplanade as we did for Event TWO

The forecast, if it holds true should see us with a good patch of fine weather with 12 degrees C and winds of 40 kmh NNW which is just above a breeze for Wellington !

High tide is at 11.11 am so some extra depth along the foreshore is always handy

Again the long course will be just over the 7 km mark and the short course at around 4 km.

PFD's must be worn by all paddlers at these events 

Spot Prizes : We will again have around 3 items of Adrenalin 2P thermal clothing drawn out at the briefing....I thought it would be best to spread some of the winter gear to all areas that we hold these events at, (especially as it's handy on some of these really cold days) and there are always a few that aren't able to make the Grand Spot Prize draw at last event on September 13....which is where we've traditionally dished out all the spot prizes in the past.

By the end of the Series we will have given away around $1500 - $2500 in spot prizes which we've sourced through Fergs Kayaks.....and we'd like to thank Dave Annear for allowing us to take multiple sizes of gear so every one walks away with the perfect fit and some good quality prizes !

We'll post another update on Wednesday and announce the final venue and likely courses by 10 am this Saturday morning.

Here's a few pics from Event TWO at Petone.

click on any photo to enlarge

Clocking through the winter

It's been a pretty challenging winter to date with it's fair share of icey cold days....which never put's the hardened paddlers off. 

There's plenty of good reasons to get some extra water time in over the next month or so with some great events coming up.....so down be put off, put all your warm gear on and just get out there and take up the challenge.

Events coming up over the next month or so :

Aug 22 Ruamahanga River winter series Final event

Aug 23 Cold Kiwi Series Event FIVE
Aug 30 Ruamahanga River Race
Aug 30 Lake Henley winter series Final event
Sep 13 Cold Kiwi Series FINAL Event
Sep 20 Cambridge to Hamilton River race

Sep 20 Twin Rivers Kayak race

Oct 17 Foxton Loop Race
Nov 1 Whanganui River Challenge

Click on any photo to enlarge

Coming up this weekend

Saturday August 8

The Whanganui Canoe Club hold one of the Canoe Racing New Zealand 10 km series events on Saturday at Lake Wiritoa.

The event starts at 11 am

All the funds from this event will go to re instate their club house which suffered from severe flooding a month or so ago......inside the club it was covered in mud and a number of craft were badly damaged so it's been a costly affair from this very active Club, a few of who you would have met at this years Motorway Classic in Wellington.

To find out more contact Brian Scott brandf at xtra dot co dot nz or phone 027 291 7571 or follow their Facebook page for updates https://www.facebook.com/WhanganuiKayakClub?fref=ts

Sunday August 9

Paddy Rimene and the Wairarapa Waka Ama Club are hosting Event 4 of 5 of their winter Series on Lake Henley in Masterton.
Paddy and the Wairarapa paddlers continually come over to Wellington to support events here.....so this weekend is a chance to return the favour and support them for one of their events.....Sharlene and I will be there so see you on Sunday !

The event starts at 10 am

For more info contact Paddy - teamrims at hotmail dot com or phone 027 237 9696 or follow their Facebook page for updates https://www.facebook.com/wairarapawakaamacanoeclub?fref=ts

click on any of the photos to enlarge

Event FOUR at Hataitai Beach

Today was one of those days when you know the winds right up there, the weather looks scratchey and if we get 12 paddlers on the water we're doing pretty well. We turned up early and made 12 paddlers... then as we get closer to the start time we have 50 paddlers so that changed things around some what.

Thanks to the two crews from Te Rau Ote Rangi waka ama Club in Otaki and Tai Tonga 41 waka ama club for their assisting them and Walter Maxwell from the Lyall Bay Surf Life Saving club for his work mobilising a huge bunch of junior and some senior paddlers from the Club....
both these Clubs provided a good chunk of the paddlers out today....without them the numbers would have been halfed.

Today we had to go with a shorter course option due to an advisement that the local Yacht club were racing but it appears they switched to yesterday....despite this the option not to head down to the Coastguard Building was the best one as there was a good period where the gusty winds could have caused too much havoc on that turn.

Thank you to the waka ama crews for taking on the challenge of the trickier clockwise or non ama turns, this turn is a lot more difficult to manoeuvre  around and the craft loose a lot more ground than they normally would because of this.

Also awesome efforts Karl LeQuesne and Traci Linders hammering into the wind on the stand ups.

For a tight course and so many paddlers in a range of craft, it was great to see everyone respecting space on the turns especially. There was only one touch where craft stalled and touched on one of the turns and one of the surf lifesaving paddlers tipped out briefly but was quick to get back on, and back into the action quickly

Events like these give everyone an idea on craft speeds and paddling in larger groups a great experience for all the sports and what we all do.

Thanks to Sharlene and Lei for there efforts taking times and photos and to one of the Lyall Bay Mum's for helping out with all the times and Lyall Bay paddlers names

The next event will be based out at Petone where we'll revert back to a one lap short course and two lap long course option again and return to anti clockwise turns !

Click on any photo to enlarge

For more photos from today click here at around 6pm : https://www.facebook.com/WellyPaddlers?ref=hl

Spot prizes from Fergs Kayaks - 2P Adrenalin Thermals

Iain Gillies - asked to redraw his prize
- Seat 3 from the Huia Otaki crew - top
- Lawrence Hynes - pants
- Liam Chesney - top


5 laps (long course) 6.75km

31:46 Tyler Maxwell SS
32:17 Ben Manners SS
33:27 Tom Olders SS
33:59 Blair Simpson MK
34:12 Derek Cox MK
34:15 Danial Bremner SS
34:41 David Long SS
35:07 David McKnight SS
35:08 Les Morris MK
35:13 Dave Dellabarca MK
35:15 Tony Gibbs MK
35:49 Hayley Cox SS
36:11 Oliver Newman SS
36:57 Colin Crampton SS
37:19 Chester Burt - 2 min penalty (under wharf)
37:45 Kate Nota SS
37:51 Emma Risely SS
37:58 Barton Fletcher SS
38:11 John Toomath SS
38:32 Sandy Winterton SK
38:42 Lawrence Hynes W1
38:50 Rueben Hill SS
39:14 Alaynah Bettany SS
39:14 Trotr (Otaki) W6 Mixed
39:43 Luther Maxwell SS
39:56 Iain Gillies SS
39:59 Liam Simes SS
39:59 Keegan Bates SS
40:02 Pa Taikato W1
40:17 Ella Kingi SS
40:54 Grace Kingi SS
41:05 Matt Penney MK
43:11 Sharon Henderson SS
44:23 Alex Edmonds SS
47:25 Huia W6 (Otaki) J16 Girls
47:26 Liam Chesney SS
51:06 Karl LeQuesne SUP
51:27 Louba Coates SS

4 Laps 5.4km

40:57 Pete Notman MK

3 Laps (short course) 4.05 km

55:06 Traci Linders SUP

Hataitai Beach venue for tomorrow

click on the photos to enlarge

Tomorrow we are looking at a 50 kmh - 60 kmh North Westerly for our event and a temperature of 11 degrees.

As mentioned the other day we have a low tide at 11.35 am but with plenty of deep water where we need it, for good boat run through most of the course.

We will place our registration area in the shelter on the eastern end of the Kupe Canoe Club where well pitch our blue gazebo / tent.

Registration: from 8:15 am
Briefing: 9:35 am
Start : 9:45 am

The likely course we be a multi lap course triangular course from the short jetty by Cog Park North to the boat moored by Soi Restaurant then head south around the yacht closest to the last boatshed just before the Evans Bay Yacht maintenance Yard and then back to the Welly Paddlers buoy by the jetty.

There will be a short course (3 laps and) a long course (6 laps)

The Evans Bay Yacht Club has a regatta on Sunday as well.....so to keep our events separated we have to cut the course down at what would be our regular Southern end turning point closer to the main boat ramp...that works o.k though that turn tends to be pretty bumpy when it gets windy.

Remember all paddlers must wear PFD's and waer warmer paddling gear appropriate for the cooler conditions.