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NZ Race News (Archives) |
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16th June 2002 THUNDERCATS ATTACK WELLINGTON
8 Thundercats made the 9-hour drive to NZ’s Capital City to show the locals what our sport is and how we do it. There are a couple of older Gemini’s in the Wellington area but are used for recreational purposes only. There are a couple of race teams (ex NZIRC) who live close to the City and came and joined with us for the weekends racing.
Most of the guy’s left on the Friday, to arrive in Wellington from 1.00pm for the early ones to the stragglers finally arriving at 3.00am Saturday morning. While the journey from Hamilton would take 7 hours to complete, Mark & Nigel towing Waikato Sandblasting 99 managed to turn it into a 14 hour marathon, 5 hours towing as far as the township of Bulls, 7 hours sitting in the local pub waiting for the rest of the Waikato boys to catch up, and the final 2 hours being chauffeur driven the remaining leg into Wellington City as they were so……’happy!!’
On the Friday the harbour was being buffeted by what was described as a ‘breeze’, 96km/h winds were blowing across our proposed circuit course right in the heart of the city. We envisioned undoing the straps on the trailer and then seeing the boats being blown up the side of the cliffs that ring the bay! The local Harbourmaster assured us that the wind would drop in the night and a gentle southerly was predicted for mid morning.
Saturday morning was really cold and a 15 km/h NW was blowing in across the bay. We setup on the small beach and completed scrutineering by 10.30am. Aimee who was our only lady on the trip settled herself down under various jackets, raincoats and umbrellas, to do the lapscoring for us. Thank you Aimee!!
We left 1 boat out per heat as a marshal boat and raced the rest together. 5 laps on the ‘W’ course was raced around the Fountain, which is a landmark of the Wellington waterfront (see the accompanying photos) Due to the fact that Radio ZM and 1ZB had been promoting us all week, a good crowd started to build around the walkway that borders the waterfront. We had 1 very keen, potential racer turnup on the beach at 8.30am dressed in his gumboots, raincoat and lifejacket, ready to race!!. The fact he was 8 years old made him all the keener to jump in the boat and to do the business.
We cracked out 4 races and then the rain started to fall. Being the hardy souls that we are we continued racing in the increasing heavy rain. A couple of our beach helpers retreated to the safety of the local restaurant and watched the racing with a beer in one hand AND provided a race commentary to the diners that were in there having lunch.
Racing continued until 1.30pm, then we packed up the course and the boats headed out into the harbour and followed the motorway for 20 or so minutes. On the way back a few wakes were jumped by the boys and then we headed back to the beach at Freyburg Park to pack away the boats.
SATURDAY NIGHTAfter spending the remainder of the afternoon soaking in the Motels heated indoor swimming pool, we all headed into town for a go-kart race. We split into 2 teams, Auckland against the Waikato. Racing was hard and fast with no sign of racing lines being kept or judging by the bumping there was no way either team was going to let the other win. With a win each it was called a draw and we all headed downtown to watch the All Blacks / Ireland game on the big screen. Someone called ‘Follow me, I know where I’m going’ decided to take us to a local show on the other side of town. After walking us around for an hour or so, he finally admitted defeat and the lead was taken by Mark Powell. After finding the venue and haggling with the big ugly gorilla on the door who wanted to charge us double because I think he didn’t like the look of us, half of us headed home while the other half stayed in the city. Last one back was Matt, just in the Nick of time at 5.30am.
Lyall Bay. Sunday 16th June 2002 9.00am on the beach, which is located on the other side of Wellington City, was cold (7 degrees) and wet (pouring). Most of the crews arrived at the beach well after the scrutineering time (ummm….we got lost on the way) and set the beach with the sun finally breaking through the clouds. Waves were an easy 1 metre in height with no wind at all through the day.
The Harbourmaster called down to see how we were going and had bought his wetsuit with him. We obliged by putting him in the front of Waikato Sandblasting 99 and had Mark drive him around the course for a few laps. Judging from his grin he enjoyed his ride and was very impressed with the club and the way we ran our raceday.
We completed 4 races in the surf and then took out some of the public for rides. One of the local residents who overlooks the Bay(gidday Richard), came down and jumped in the boat with me. I blasted the waves and got some good jumps and bought him back to the beach, also grinning from ear to ear. We packed up at 2.00pm as we all had a long drive home.
Racing for the 1st time in NZ was Marcelle who drove the Aquarius boat. It will be a learning curve trying to come to grips with having to use a prop guard on the boat, as the South Africans do all their racing with no guards.
Big thank you to Alan Astrop as our R.D Also those that helped on the beach, Aimee, Dave, Bruce, Matt, Wayne, and the guy who got us lost on Saturday night.
A big big thank you to the Harbourmasters Mike, Greg and Patrick for making the obtaining of permits easy and letting us lay our race course right in the heart of the city. Also thank you to Wellington Regional Council for their permits and help in choosing the venues.
Results for the weekend 1st. 0800 Sandblast 2nd Aquarius 3rd Ceasar Racing 4th Under Construction 5th C.R.C 6th Kamikaze 7th Waikato Sandblasting 99 8th Arano Juice
Pertinent Points. 1. Marcelle’s Jenny Craig diet went out the window with the addition of supplements, KFC, McDonalds, Chocolate. Maybe next week Marcelle. 2. There’s no truth in the rumour that Matt was Nicked!! 3. There was 3 in the bed and the little 1 said, roll over!!! (waz, flash and scott) 4. I know where I’m going (you know who you are!!) 5. I DON’T snore (we all know who you are!!!!!!!)
Rod (thanks Cam for trusting me drive your boat Under Construction )
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Copyright © 2002 TRA-NZ
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