Welly Paddlers turns 21 !

                           click on any photo to enlarge

Wow time Flies !

Welly Paddlers 21st birthday is October 15, 2024

It all started when we organised a harbour surfski and waka ama series for paddlers in Wellington.

The series kicked off in October 2003 with 8 km to 12 km distances over the Spring / Summer window. As times changed we then morphed into a winter series and also included multisport kayaks as we tended to use sheltered bays and waterways between Porirua Harbour and Wellington Harbours. The sheltered areas rational was all about ensuring we had a relatively sheltered place to start, finish and also paddle, winter is not a time for heroics and beating ourselves up paddling is the worst conditions. It was also about looking after all the paddlers (and their varied skill levels) that we welcomed into the series. 

You'll see write ups and photos in several of the old Welly Paddlers blogspot posts......just head to the right hand bottom of the main page and click on "older posts"

Over the years we picked up the organising of the Motorway Classic in 2009 and the Foxton Loop Race in 2019.

Motorway Classic

1990 - 2007 The event was organised by Mark Watson, followed by John Cussins and Paula Strickson and then the Mana Kayak Club following their formation around 2002. It was held between April and June with the original distance being 13.3 km

2008 The event was not held

2009 Welly Paddlers took over the custodianship of the event.

2009 waka ama were included

2014 SUP's were included and the 7 km and 3.5 km distances were added.

2015 was an event peak with 115 paddlers, ICF World Ocean surfski Champion Sean Rice raced and also ran Coaching Clinics

2019   12 x Molokai World Ocean Racing Champion Oscar Chalupsky raced and also ran Coaching Clinics

2021 the 30th anniversary Motorway Classic reached another peak with 190 paddlers

2022 the event was not held due to Covid / Parliament Grounds Invasion / Protest

2023 Due to the Te Ara Tupua walkway cycleway project the venue changed with the new distance extending to 14 km

2023 Welly Paddlers organised their last Motorway Classic

2024 the event was organised by the Mana Kayak Club

There are results on our blog from 2009 - 2018 and then on Webscorer from 2019 - 2023

Foxton Loop Race 

1991 - 2016 organised by the Ruahine White Water Club

1991 The original course was from Foxton out the wide section of the loop to the Whirokino bridge then back to Foxton via the narrow end of the loop (17km)

2008 In the 2000's era a tidal gate blocked the loop (at the Farmers bridge) so the start changed to Foxton Beach with the course heading to Foxton and back (18 km)

2010 an 8 km short course option was added 

2017 - 2018 event not held

2019 Welly Paddlers restarted the Event with 12 km / 6 km / 3 km courses the long course headed out the wide section of the river loop and turned anti clockwise around the first island ( 1 of 3 islands) prior to Whirokino boat ramp.

2022 It was no coincidence that the long course turned around the first island, because directly across from this is the opening to the narrow end of the loop. Two massive floods prior to the race cleared the vegetation overgrowth so we raced a 12 km / 10 km / 6 km and 3 km courses. The 10 km paddlers raced clockwise heading out the narrow end of the loop just as the 12 km paddlers were turning around the island. Timing is a wonderful thing !

2020 event peaked at 90 paddlers

2023 Welly Paddlers organised the event for the last time.

2024 organised by Daniel Cudby and the Foxton Surf Life Saving Club

Results for the Foxon Loop Race from 2019 forward are all on webscorer.

HUGE THANKS

To all the people across all the paddling communties who have supported the events that we have organised, it's your participation that has given us so much enjoyment. 

Big thanks to Fergs Kayaks (pre 2016) & Kayak HQ (post 2018) for applying discounts to products that we purchased as spot prizes over the years and to ipaddle, Nelo, Swazi, Q-Kayaks and Leiseane Foletolu for donating prizes at specific events over the years. 

Thanks also to all the Family, friends and paddling mates who have who have worked for us at the events over the years.

In closing please support your local community paddling events, as these are actually more important to the fabric of paddling. Why ? because these are the one's that we talk and bond with each other and that inspires new people (both young and old ) into the wonderful sport of paddling, and this applies to everyone from the social paddler through to the competitive paddler. 

Welly Paddlers media and services

2008 The Welly Paddlers blog went live.

2014 Welly Paddlers page set up on Facebook

2017 Welly Paddlers Group set up on Facebook

2022 Welly Paddlers on Instagram

2019 supply of non slip boat ramp mat to the Porirua Grand Traverse multisport event

2020 supply of water support to the PGT

2020 supply of non slip boat ramp mat to the Finesigns Crazyman multisport event

Historic post from the Welly Paddlers blog

Monday August 4 - 2008

Hi, you've reached the blogspot of the organisers of Wellingtons surfski & waka ama series.

Chester Burt and Sharlene Winiata are now in their 5th year of organising these events for Wellingtons paddling community. We started back in October 2003.

In New Zealand the first surfski series started in Auckland about 7 years ago and from this we were inspired to do something similar in Wellington.

The Wellington series has always had the majority of paddler numbers coming from the waka ama community, surfski numbers have been slowly picking up over the last 12 months which has been encouraging.

The main aim of the series is to have races for all paddlers from various water sports to particpate in. We encourage everyone to participate, and it doesn't matter at what pace you go at.

Our next update will contain more information on this years series. Currently our series schedule is in draft and we are working with Raukawa Comerford at Hoe Tonga.We are aiming to have our first race on September 14.