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A team of Mangawhai Waka Ama Club paddlers took out line honours in the 24km double relay event at Takapuna Beach earlier this month.
The team – Brandon Barclay and Jacki Fanning in one boat, and Ray Tischik and Emma Fisher in the other – crossed the line 30 minutes ahead of their nearest rival.
Barclay, who is also the club co-captain, says it was a “pretty awesome” result for a club, which started just two years ago.
Altogether, just under 100 crews, including some from overseas, competed in the various races, ranging from 18km to 42km.
“The conditions were terrible,” Brandon says. “Last year we finished one of the races in four hours, but with the wind and sea conditions this year, it took us more than five hours. Some boats overturned and there were others that snapped in two.
“It was pretty extreme and the hardest racing I’ve ever done.”
The club has nearly 40 members, both men and women, and ranging in age up to paddlers in their seventies.
“Kaipara District Council has just granted us a lease for land on the foreshore of the estuary, just north of the camping ground, and we’re in the throes of moving a six-metre shipping container onto the site. This will give us a base and somewhere to store our gear.”
New members are welcome to join a weekly social paddle on Saturdays at 8.30am. More information is also available on the club’s Facebook page.
More than one crew came a cropper during the Takapuna Beach Cup.
