January 19th, 2003 - Himatangi Beach
Round 2 NZ Inflatable Boat Championships
Great weekend in Manawatu
Well I had such
a great weekend I thought I would put in my 5 cents worth from a
competitor's point of view. After
driving for 7 hours from Auckland we arrived at Himatangi Beach about
1pm. First thing that blew me away was the amount of goodwill
displayed around the area with 'Go Thundercats' or 'Welcome
Thundercats' signs everywhere you looked. It's not often we have
been welcomed as the main attraction to a 3-day festival.
Saturday gave us time to checkout the
beach and have a bit of fun taking the public for rides (and there were
some very lovely looking public I might add!!). There were 3 small
sandbars which made an appearance as the tide receded. They created
waves that were different to those we are used to on the East Coast.
There was no wind and only a half metre swell so it made for an easy
relaxed day.
Saturday night we headed back to the
beach from our motel in Palmerston North (nice place - Supreme Motel
Lodge) to the Himatangi Cosmopolitan Club for a great meal and a few
drinks. Once again we were treated like royalty with everyone so
friendly and going out of their way to make us feel at home.
After dinner some of the guys &
gals headed into Palmerston North's Square while the rest of us sensible
(old) ones stayed back at the motel. (rumour has it Matt McKain was once
again the last one home………3am I believe).
Scrutineering on Sunday was 9.30am at
the motel and then off to the beach for a 1pm start. While
setting up the beach we were treated to an Air Display from the ‘Red
Checkers” aerobatics team as well as an Air Force Iroquois
Helicopter.
Racing started around 1.30pm & by
then the wind was blowing a steady 40 kph on shore with honest 2 metre
waves breaking on the back line.
We had a 6m tinny out as marshal
boat, but had to bring him back in as the conditions were too severe and
the boat broached a couple of times & looked like it may have been in
need of rescuing itself.
This was the 2nd round of
the National Championship and there was a lot to be proven, so when the
hooter sounded most boats opened their throttles wide………and ran into
trouble. The wind made it hard work going out, the sandbars on the
back straight created a huge washing machine effect, and then more
sandbars made it shallow around A & D buoys! Thus, there
were many rescues mounted during the day and a big
thanks to the Surf Club Rescue Inflatable that braved the conditions and
assisted.
The atmosphere on the water was
similar to last year at Whangamata in 4 metre + waves……………not
that easy but we were determined to get through the day and gain some
valuable experience for when we head overseas!! When it eventually
came time to pack it in I think we were all relieved, tired and sore but
better off for the experience.
BIG thank you to Laura & Cheryl
who were down in the water with us. It was cold and full of grumpy
guys but they sure managed to sort us out at start times. Thanks
also to our RD, lap scorers, marshals and family & friends who helped
setup and pack away the beach gear for us.
And thanks to everyone from Himatangi
and Palmerston North that welcomed our club to their event………
Rod Klaassen
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