Our first Sprint Nationals report is going to be a little Krakenz 60 focused as we haven’t managed to meet up with anyone else. Though this will no doubt please our army of admiring fans we will endeavour to have a few more storylines tomorrow.
The day began rather early with wake-up times usually reserved for home invasions and house fires. Remarkably everyone was on deck before their allotted time on the pick up route and we were on the road to Picton by 04.20. A quick coffee, the usual tedious queuing and we were on a big boat and heading across the Cook Strait.
The word tragedy is over-used these days but the team was left reeling on the crossing by some genuinely tragic news. On my trip to the marina last night I allowed myself to be distracted from the important mission at hand and forgot to collect the whiteboard from the container. I shall spend the rest of the trip, the season and possibly my life trying to make up for this appalling failure.
We disembarked around 11.15 and, perhaps moved by the trauma of Whiteboardgate, we started the car journey by examining and expressing our inner hopes and fears for the campaign ahead, with all the emotional depth and honesty you would expect from a group of 60+ men. By the time we reached the bottom of the ferry ramp that was done and dusted, so we listened to the The Breeze instead.
Glenn, who left Nelson on Sunday, was offering us regular updates on what was happening at the Lake as we made our way North. We managed to take a wrong turn on the road on the West side of Lake Taupo which meant we missed the deadline of 7pm to get to Karapiro, look around, say hello to any MOCC paddlers mooching around and drop my V1 in the marshalling area. On the upside we avoided driving through Tokoroa.
After an average dinner stop we arrived at our palace in Otorohanga to find Glenn relaxing in style. Jeff, ever the homemaker, was straight into the kitchen to unpack all the goodies Pui had made. Pete was on tea duty, Rodney was trying to figure out the wifi and I was in a dark room reflecting on my whiteboard disaster.
The action starts tomorrow so stay tuned for news from all the V1 paddlers as well as some mostly invented gossip about the rest of the MOCC contingent.
Its never too early or too late to start paddling waka ama
We always welcome new members to the Maitahi Outrigger Canoe Club.
We have social and racing waka ama crews catering for a wide variety of ages and abilities.