Weekend in Blenheim

Headed overseas in the weekend :-) to Blenheim. Leon Rossbotham is out from Hong Kong for two weeks and said yeah I'll be in on that trip. We took 7 surf skis across on top of the van....5 from the National demo fleet my own Ultimate and an Uno Max Ultimate that Nelson's Mark Washington pulled out from under our Auckland mates noses....man he's quick!

Above Mark Washington looking as happy as a sand boy with his new purchase.

Saturday we ran a Think Kayak demo session from the Blenheim Rowing Club on the Wairau River and Mark was pretty quickly in to grab his ski and take it out for it's first test run. 

The weather wasn't the brightest for the demo with rain and a cool southerly breezing through....but that didn't deter the locals with 12 people turning up in quick succession and pretty shortly there was a cue for a few of the skis.

Though the Uno Max was in hot demand as you'd expect the Big Eze and Eze were pretty busy....as were the Ion and the Evo II. 

The Marlborough Multisport and Triathlon Club are very active they run triathlon, biathlon and kayaking events and also have a keen base of regulars who support many of the events really well. In the last year or so they have taken to surf ski, and they have a group that gathers regularly to paddle and sip coffee afterwards.....as many of our group do after events in Wellington.

If anyone is passing through Marlborough at any stage conatct John Blackmore and he'll link you up on one of their regular paddle sessions.

Anyhow's here's some pics from the 3 hour demo session on the Saturday and the 20.5 km Twin Rivers race on the Sunday....which was 4 km on the Wairau River truning right into the Opawa River for the next 16km heading all the way through to the amphitheater into the Blenheim Township.

Click on any photo to enlarge