Wellington Windsurfing Association Newsletter

March 1997

P.O.Box 453, Wellington

In this issue -

Wellngton Regional Slaloms

Seatoun 15/16 March (wind dependant)

Briefing at beach 10:00 am

$5.00 WWA members

$15 non members

Cup awarded

Further Info ring
Dean (04) 234-8072

Water Start and Gybing Clinic for Women

professional coach

Pauatahanui

Lindsey Guy
call or fax at 388-8055 fax at 388-8055call or fax at 388-8055e or fax at 388-8055

President's rave

All we needed was a little more wind! But apart from that, I think we can all agree that the Harbour Blast was a great success. There were a few gripes from one person who had not read the entry form during this or the previous events and felt disadvantaged by entering late. However, even this failed to dampen the atmosphere and I could see smiles among all the participants, even those, who like me turned back at Somes (Matiu) Island due to the lack of wind.

Some of the great aspects were:

Later in Windsurf News there is a more complete description of the race from Bruce Spedding. The race did raise a number of issues which I think that we should think about before next year.

The Harbour Blast has to be run in February if it is to be linked to the Wellington Wind Festival. There are a number of advantages in combining with the Wind Festival, including:

There are a few downsides, including holding the race during a month when there is statistically less wind. This year, as with last year, the light wind conditions meant that shortboards could not compete with longboards. Although the number of longboards is increasing in Wellington, we are primarily an association of shortboarders.

This year, the prize money attracted a large contingent of international sailors and many from up north, many of whom were longboard sailors. Do we want this to be a Wellington race or something which attracts national and international sailors and puts Wellington on the windsurfing map?

The current format of the Blast does not provide much of a spectacle for the public: sailors massed on the beach, hoot!, everyone blasting across the water, most receding into the distance, gone.

Here are some ideas which we are considering for next year:

We still have our own events, such as the Ditch Derby (which admittedly did not happen this year), the regional slaloms (15 March - see below), and the winter series races. But the Harbour Blast is the biggest with the highest profile. I think it should continue, but it needs to evolve to meet our needs. After all, the Association is hear to promote Wellington windsurfing!

Let me hear your views. Drop me a line (Box 453) or fax (239-9746).

The Blast spurred a group of women sailors to think about what should happen for women sailing. Lindsey Guy is organising a water start and gybing clinic for women who have got over the uphaul hurdle and have their own gear. A professional coach will be arranged and the venue will depend on the wind, but will probably be Pauatahanui. Lindsey had hoped the first clinic would be Saturday 8 March, but because the newsletter is a bit late, this may have to be postponed. If you wish to participate or have any other ideas about windsurfing for women, give Lindsey a call or fax at 388-8055.

Cheers, Bob

1997 Hutt News Wellington Windsurfing Association Harbour Blast Results

Place Sailor time

1 Christoph Sieber (Austria) 25 m

2 Tony Wrigley (Auckland) 26 m

3 Ricardo Giordano (Italy) 26 m

4 Pedro Silbiera (Mexico) 28 m

5 Ryan Pausina (Auckland) 30 m

6 Matthew Wood (Wgtn) 30 m

7 Jamie Silk 31 m

8 Steve Macris (Wgtn) 31 m

9 Alistair Radford (Wgtn) 36 m

10 James Richardson (Wgtn)

11 Jared Scollay

12 Duncan Lai

13 Mark Hill

14 Michael Cheyne

15 Raman Patel 40 m

16 Guy Cribb

17 Brendan Robertson

18 Shane Morrell 41 m

19(1) Barbara Kendall (Auckland)

20 Neil Prebenga

21 Brohn Torckler

22 Dean Dougan

23 Shane Miller

24 Luke Watson

25 James Dennis

26 Phil Harry 46 m

27 Glen Bright

28 Peter Fleming

29 Grant Shapcott

30 David Holt

31 Dave Steele

32(2) Denise Gray

33 Gareth Wood

34 Greg Lowe

35 Gerald Dickinson

36 David McInnes

37 Roger Tweddell 51 m

38 Steve Gray

39 Jim Rodgers

40 George Byers

41 Ritchie Phillips

42 Paul Cotter

43 John Burton

44 Peter Glover

45 Derek Teensma

46 John Cutterbuck

47 David Barclay 60 m

48(3) Lydia Heard (Wellington)

49 David Sharp

50 Gary Lokum

51(4) Sue Johnson (Wellington)

52 David Frame

53 Richard Penman

54 John Schuyt

55 Bruce Spedding

56 Dave Lowe

57 Roger Waite

58(5) Nicola Sinclair (Auckland)

59 Trevor Sutherland

60 Mike Dwyer

61 Dave Freeman

62 Darryl McConnell

63 Tim Collins

64 Simon Murray

65 John Crook 79 m

66 Phillip Neutze

67 Gavin Stevenson

68(6) Veronica Wheeler

69 John Evans

70(7) Mary O'Brien

DNF Rory Hocking

DNF Clayton Dougan

DNF Ruth Wallis

DNF Tony Rule

DNF Russell Lewis

DNF Bob Zuur

DNF Andrew Broadbent

DNF Boyd Benton

DNF Nolan Penning

DNF Michael Nolan

DNF Lindsey Guy

DNF Anton Douche

DNF Wilbert Knol

DNF Carl Vasta

DNF Ralph Roberts

DNF Shane Bright

DNF Paul Cooper

DNF Paul Fraser

DNF Troy Stevens

DNS Philip Howman

DNS Nev Jamieson

DNS Dave McPhee

DNS Phil Hutton

DNS Lorne Somerville

DNS Aaron McIntosh

Spot prizes

Kilwell carbon mast 83 John Clutterbuck

Barkers $40 clothing voucher 29 Steve Gray

Barkers $40 clothing voucher 34 Gary Lokum

Barkers $40 clothing voucher 28 Duncan Lai

Barkers $40 clothing voucher 16 Gerald Dickinson

Barkers $40 clothing voucher 77 John Burton

O'Neill backpack 39 Wilbert Knol

O'Neill backpack 15 Neil Prebenga

O'Neill wetsuit 36 Anton Douche

O'Neill cap and sunglass ties 24 Nolan Penning

O'Neill cap and sunglass ties 3 Rory Hocking

O'Neill cap and sunglass ties 70 Shane Morrell

O'Neill sweatshirt 6 Dave Steele

O'Neill T-shirt, sunglass ties 38 Dave Lowe

O'Neill T-shirt, sunglass ties 64 Michael Dwyer

Bic bag 60 Shane Bright

Bic wallet 4 Dean Dougan

Bic UP Harness lines 45 Lydia Heard

Bic UP Harness lines 54 Aaron McIntosh

Bic fin stash 30 Lindsey Guy

Bic fin stash 48 Veeronica Wheeler

Hoyts double movie pass 13 Russell Lewis

Hoyts double movie pass 10 Ritchie Philips

Hoyts double movie pass 11 Tony Rule

Hoyts double movie pass 63 John Crook

Hoyts double movie pass 12 Trevor Sutherland

Hoyts double movie pass 75 Simon Murray

Hoyts double movie pass 49 Grant Shapcott

Hoyts double movie pass 85 Troy Stevens

Olympic Swatch watch 9 Brohn Torckler

Olympic Swatch watch 53 Matt Wood

Olympic Swatch watch 91 Roger Tweddell

Neil Pryde T-shirt 27 David Sharp

Neil Pryde T-shirt 20 Sue Johnston

Neil Pryde backpack 56 Steve Macris

Neil Pryde backpack 51 Gareth Wood

Neil Pryde cap 65 Gavin Stevenson

Neil Pryde cap 7 Dave Holt

Neil Pryde anatomic harness 17 Bob Zuur

Neil Pryde harness lines 90 Raman Patel

Neil Pryde harness lines 72 Richard Penman

Wild Winds T-shirt 52 Derek Teensma

Wild Winds T-shirt 25 Michael Nolan

Notes

ORCA ENCOUNTER

Local sailor Wilbert Knol posted this story on the net recently following a discussion about shark encounters ...

On the subject of wildlife...last Sunday the BT Global Challenge fleet set sail from Wellington to Sydney and, since it was a nice, windy 4.5 B&J day, I decided to ‘wave’ them out :-)

I cruised out to the shipping lane, hopped off, and spent ten minutes floating around on my back watching the BT yachts sail past and out the heads, very impressive.

Back on the beach I caught up with a fellow boardhead, my old buddy Pete, and we had a good old jaw flap for a few minutes...until Pete shouted "$#!^ [expletive deleted] did you see that??" He had spotted a set of rather large fins a couple of k’s off the beach.

Without my glasses I am as blind as a bat and I didn’t see a thing, so I jokingly dared him to sail out for a close look. Unfortunately Pete agreed to risk life and limb in spite of having wife and kids etc, and we wobbled off, yours truly on his small wave board, and Pete on his huge slalom machine.

Having caught a good puff I got out first, gybed in the shipping lane having seen neither fluke nor dorsal, and, trying to pump the old shampoo bottle onto the plane, I spotted them....big black fins 200 m straight ahead of me...and they were HUGE!

Frantically trying to catch a wave to get going I cursed the iffy wind...and then all went dark underneath as the killer whales crossed my path. I came close to having the brown stuff run out the wetsuit trousers. Luckily I managed to get out of the hole and motored straight back in , meeting Pete heading out screaming "didyouseethemdidyouseethem???".

According to Pete, who is a professional diver, there were two big males and five smaller fish, trying to find the harbour entrance to get out. He reckoned they were probably in a grumpy mood being contained in sewage-logged Wellingon harbour and ready to take a bite out of anything getting between them and Freedom.

Pete had some bullshit story about sensing bad vibes originating from the water, he also claimed that they wouldn’t bite him since he is too old and tough like old boots, and the moment I hit the water I’d be as good as Dead Meat. "They are mean...big...bad and they are out there...waiting for YOU".

The bigger fins would have been around 1.5 m tall, roughly level with the gunwall of a yacht sailing past. After I while they figured out how to get out and disappeared into the Strait. The other one who disappeared was Pete, his ‘pass for the weekend expired’ after 2 hrs of sailing. It was an eventful session.

Wilbert.

1997 Masters Games - Wanganui

Having earlier indicated my intention to attend this event I was grateful the John Clyde from Wanganui rang me to see why I hadn’t sent my form in. A reality check showed that I had done about 2 hours real sailing since Christmas (we’re talking February here!) and that if I didn’t schedule this event in the situation would continue, so despite the work load I rang John back and told him to expect me. Soon after John Shute, another Wellington sailor decided to go, doubling our normal representation.

Thursday morning 8.30am on the river bank saw the reunion begin on the river bank, with faces not seen for 2 years appearing from board laden vehicles. The usual assortment of slalom gear, wave boards and long boards of questionable pedigree appeared, indicating that this event is, as always, a sail-at-any-cost 4 days. The usual light winds determined that course racing would begin the event, and equipment that had not seen the water since the last time was pressed into service. Racing on the highly tidal river involves extra calculations, over a period of 2-3 hours over high tide the current changes direction from a strong upriver flow to an even stronger down river flow, so with each race the tactics change. As always, issues such as right of way were discussed on and off the water, andobstacles such as posts and sand bars investigated. At the same time the various other yachting classes were competing in the same stretch of water, creating considerable interest at times. Typically of the event and the time of year the light winds persisted for 3 days through to Saturday, giving plenty of time to investigate the social aspects of the Games (‘nuff said!), as well as enjoy numerous BBQ’s laid on by our Wanganui hosts.

Saturday afternoon the wind kicked in after racing had officially finished and a somewhat frantic slalom sail ensued before the tide dropped. Showered and relaxed we were dragged off by the irrepressible John Clyde for a spot of wave sailing at Kai-iwi before arriving just in time for another BBQ at Laurie Petherick’s. Sunday’s wind kicked in as promised, then kicked out again before finally settling down. A series of figure of 8 slaloms followed, beach starts taking place chest deep on the rivers edge during what was the highest tide of the year. As usual interest was added by the odd bit of driftwood that floated through the course, and a steadily rising wind had those with enough gear rigged swapping sails. By race 5 (to my relief and with my support) the racing was finished as the attrition had reduced the fleet to 50%, I changed down from my 268/6.6 combination to a 254/4.8 wave sail and was still overpowered. A final medal ceremony and goodbyes before those of us with distances to travel set off for home, many (I hope) with the next event in February 1998 in mind. As always the Masters Games event was a great social and sailing break for me, the guys in Wanganui are great hosts and the attitude that sailing in whatever form possible will take place rather than a rigid event always pans out. I hope to make the trip to Dunedi again next year, probably taking a week with a break at Lake Clearwater - anyone interested in joining me get in touch.

RESULTS

Course Racing

1 Paul Williams (AK)

2 Phil Meade

3 John Shute (WN)

4 Chris Ryan

5 George Dold

6 Laurie Petherick

7 Bruce Spedding(WN)

8 Kevin Battersby

9= John Clyde

9= Nigel Cavendish

11 Graeme Moody

12 Dave Neilson

Slalom

1 Phil Meade

2 Laurie Petherick

3 Bruce Spedding(WN)

4 Graeme Murphy

5 John Clyde

6 John Shute(WN)

Overall (combined)

1 Phil Meade

2 Laurie Petherick

3 Bruce Spedding(WN)

over 55’s

1 Laurie Petherick

2 John Clyde

Edited Notes from the NZWA.

FROM THE OFFICE

Aaaah.....holidays!!! Sunshine, warmth, waves and the odd cyclone, not very conducive to doing office work, but I'm managing to keep the admin. ticking over in between going to the beach. This situation has certainly been helped by the recruitment of our first ever 'Member's Representative' - Antony Wrigley. Many of you will know Antony - he is here, there and everywhere in windsurfing circles and has lots of energy and enthusiasm to offer (check out the Harbour Blast!) He is now set up with the Access Database for monitoring the NZL Sail Numbers List, and hooked into the Internet for sending the updated information - all systems are go ...

I've also been very busy administrating the five INSTRUCTORS COURSES we've had over the last two months. That is three more than we usually have, plus there is another in the pipeline for Auckland. Thanks to Matthew Wood, our new 'South Island' Master Instructor, for russling up interest and for running three courses in three weeks! The first courses held in the Sth Isl. since the introduction of the new scheme in 1988 or so - that's a long time! Interest has only just picked up enough to warrant holding courses plus we now have a specialist to ensure all goes ahead - you may remember we had to cancel the courses arranged last season due to insufficient candidates. Also thanks to Ken Kingsbury - our new 'North Island' Master Instructor, for all his input into the new BTS and for running two courses. Both Matthew and Ken gained their titles only last year and have proved their expertise thanks to their thorough training by Paul Tuck (over three instructors courses). Paul has now retired as Master Instructor and is off to Aussie to find a bit more action...

All the new NZWA Instructors are now primed and perhaps even already using their skills for beginners around the country. We have great faith that the flow on effect of this will be not only introducing lots of new people to the sport in an effective and safe way, but will be inspiring them to continue in the exciting sport of windsurfing!

The NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR WINDSURFING SCHOOLS SCHEME

Flags and certificates have been sent to the following Windsurfing Schools who have completed the standards and become NZWA Certified: Rotorua Windsurfing School, Windsurf Pauanui, Pt Chevalier Windsurf School, Wildwinds Windsurfing School (Wellington), Seafari Windsurfing School, and the Watercooled Windsurf School, (Dunedin). Schools which should be certified over the next month are:

Mad Loop Windsurf School, Kiwi Windsurf School, 93FM Windsurfing School (Napier). There are about three more schools which need a physical assessment but which should pass before the close off date for funding in April. Some schools just are not busy or big enough to warrant the extra cost involved in completing all safety items required (such as a motorised rescue craft), but you never know what may happen in the future...especially with all these new NZWA Instructors around.

Wendy Kendall - Secretary

Want to advertise your second hand gear? There’s two more options after you’ve tried Exchange & Mart (which works pretty well I think). You can advertise it here for free if you are a WWA member ( for a small fee if you’re not), and you can also advertise on the net in the wiNZurf ad pages. Do it yourself by going to :
http://www.winzurf.co.nz or if you don’t have access to the Internet, check out the kiosks at the library (go for Wellington Information/ Sport/Windsurfing ) or contact Bruce on (04) 4759236 and leave the details.

Check the site out if you’re looking for gear too, it covers the whole of New Zealand.

The Harbour Blast - "Surfin’ past Somes" (Bruce Spedding)

It has to be the most fickle time of the year to hold any event (check out the Masters Games report), but like many die-hards I turned up again for more punishment. Last year I competed with a long board, fortunate enough to be too disorganised to switch to a slalom board at the last minute, even so the main reason I finished was to get away from Tim ‘everything deleted’ Collins who had used a slalom board and wasn’t happy. This year I had the long board again but I was determined not to use it, regarding that as a defeatist (in my case) attitude. So I rigged my biggest (Multisail in 6.6 mode) on my 268 and managed to plane ok (well sort of).

After listening to the pre-race maneuvering of a few serious sailors who thought they were in with a chance for the money, I lined up with the rest for a Le Mans start in what was certainly marginal winds but probably the best we were going to get that weekend (wrong!). Without too much delay the race got underway, and as usual the first few seemed to be most of the way out to Somes (did I say we were starting at Eastbourne?) before I got on the plane, somewhere about the middle of the fleet. Just holding it on the plane I was slowly gaining on a few ahead but also being passed by a couple of late starters as we all forged towards the island and the motorway beyond. Nearing Somes, I realised the sailor immediately in front that I had been gaining on was Barbara Kendall, and with memories of the first Harbour Blast about 10 years ago (I passed Bruce Kendall in that one) I prepared to add another personal notch to my harness when the wind dropped and Barbara pumped away into the distance, never to be seen (on water, by me) again.

Decision time! Others were already turning back, I decided to head on and hope it was just a Seatoun wind shadow. About 10 minutes later I decided that such hopes were hollow and after several attempts managed to sail (well point the board) back towards Eastbourne. It soon became apparent that I wouldn’t clear the island and that that option was gone, it was Petone or swim. Sail my 268 with a 6.6 downwind in about 3 knots, not a chance I though, however the mild southerly swell came to the rescue as I pumped and surfed every little ramp I could find, egged on by the less than dulcet tone of Tim’s voice wafting across the water behind me (probably adding at least another knot to the breeze).

Murphy’s law dictated that the breeze would freshen just as I hit the beach, but I resisted the temptation to go back out, opting instead to scrounge a lift back to Eastbourne for my van (of course by the time I got back again it had dropped out).

Finally the barby and prizes, all those spot prizes and I didn’t get a thing, but the food and drink was plentiful and appreciated. All in all an excellent event, well organised and executed compared to some earlier events, I can only congratulate all those involved and remind those that weren’t happy with the start that thems the rules and the breaks!

Two days later John Abbot rang me to apologise for not competing as he wasn’t quite fit enough this year, but promised to be in again next year. John is 70, that’s the sort guy John is, and that’s the sort of event it should remain.

WELLINGTON REGIONAL SLALOMS

SATURDAY/SUNDAY 15/16TH MARCH

CONTACT DEAN DOUGAN (04) 234 8072

DON’T FORGET!!!!!

(Continued from page #)

Aaron MacIntosh is now on-line, he can be contacted via email : aaronmc@xtra.co.nz - he will also have his own web pages at

http://www.winzurf.co.nz/co/com/aaronmc

photos, race reports and other info will be posted there by Aaron as he travels.

This issue was mailed only to FINANCIAL MEMBERS of the WWA. If you didn’t get your copy how come you’re reading this? - no, seriously, rejoin please, it helps us to support windsurfing in Wellington.

Barbara Kendal anounced as Sportswoman of the Year

Well done Barbara!

Got a story to tell, want to buy or sell, anything to do with the newsletter contact Bruce (04) 4759236X