7's Parade

I went and checked out the Wellington 7's rugby parade at lunchtime and took some snaps from 7 feet in the air.
The Wellington leg of the tournament is quite big for a lot of people around the Country with lots of fancy dress so it's always good to be in the City to see what costumes people are trawling around in...........actually you don't actually have to go to the stadium at all just dress up and wonder around the Cafes and bars or even take a picnic into the City and just go walk about...........cheap as that way bro...............if you are not lucky enough to get tickets.

The Parade was it's usual spectacle with Austin Powers impersonator a regular there were the Batucuda drum group who provide a great spectacle always, a few mixed music bands the Army Brass band who mix it up a bit and also a Tongan brass band who were quite swish and put out a few great beats.

After my leisurely stroll through the City streets I headed back home for a feed ski whipped all the gear into and onto the van and headed out for a great ski paddle.

A 30 km Northerly and some great swells in Evans Bay and even better around on Oriental Parade. On the Evo II it ate all the swells for breakfast, it may be slightly wider than the faster Uno and the likes of the V12, Fenn Elites etc................but at 12 kg a few extra muscle strokes and you catch anything that curls up behind or in front of you.

The 1/2 metre swells were great to surf and punch through to the next best sets, so had heaps of long rides down Evans Bay............I hope these conditions stay with us for this weekends Downwinder TWO.

Last wind predictions for Sunday:
Petone: Northerly 25kmh gusting 35 kmh
Evans Bay: Northerly 45kmh gusting 60 kmh
I'm out at Petone tomorrow surfing the waves out there to see how they are running.

Click on any photo to enlarge