Our members, whanau, and friends feel very proud to have hosted such a successful, and well-attended event.

To our Kaumatua and Kuia for the welcome and blessing of the race days, and your continued support of our waka whanau, tena koutou.

Photo credit: Adeline Chua

Thanks to our faithful support boat skippers crew who return year after year; Don, Brady, Roydon, Phil, Shane, Kelvyn, Craig P, Gus, Craig B, Roger, Lee, Fred, Julia, Frankie, Clint and their crew; Andrea, Dave, Penny, Sue, Tish, Kathy, Taiko, Viv, Gail, Dan, Roy, and Bjorn.  Also special thanks to Raglan PRIME and St Johns for the stand by medical support.

Thanks to Raglan Top Cut Butcher who has supplied all our meat for many years, Alison and Richard are selling up and moving on, but we thank them for supporting us and never batting and eyelid when we call in ordering 100s of sausages and many kilograms of meat.

We couldn’t set up our site so well, without support from Karioi Dog Trials, Raglan Sport Fishing Club, Rob from Tractor FM, Te Kopua Holiday Park. Greenlea, WDC, Whaingaroa Maori Wardens, and Extreme Zero Waste.

Thanks to Macpac who supported us with all our divisional prizes.

We also had generous support from local business with vouchers from;

Raglan Fish – 8km divisions

Orca and Rock-it – 24km divisions

Raglan Roast  - W1 overall winners.

The spot prize of a Tai Paddles paddle was won by Leanne Joyce from Pakuranga, and the Raglan Palm Beach Motel voucher for an accommodation package at the 2016 Hoe was won by Rich Thompson from TMOCC.

Just one reflection from our crew, after hosting such a great competition all day on Saturday we were disappointed to notice the volume of rubbish including empty bottles that were left around the race venue. 

The Whaingaroa community is striving towards zero waste.

Please raise your awareness. 

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

But on a positive note…

Our safety check crew noticed some very organized crews during race checks, thanks to you all!! This really helps with keeping our day running on time.

Special mention goes to Novice Men’s crew; OPM-Yay from Pakuranga for being a stand out in the organized/on time competitor division!!

Our race registration crew wants to thank the clubs that made one payment for all their team, this made reconciling your entries a piece of cake!! Next year we will only be accepting one payment per club.

Thanks to Waka Ama NZ for your support; Lara, Amiria, Debbie and Conan.

And lastly but not least to our Whaingaroa members who put many hours into the running of the race, every year it seems to run smoother than the last. 

Ka pai koutou! 

Here's looking forward to 2016!

Nga mihi nui

Amber Hartstone

COMING SOON on our face book page…

Some awesome video footage (thanks to Dan and Darcel).

And photos of the W6 races!!

https://www.facebook.com/whaingaroahoe

Here’s a brief race report, see attachments for a full list of results.

SATURDAY - W6

RACE 1

The first race on the water was the Novice and Junior 8km, once again proving the largest start line of the day.  The 54 crews who lined the harbour for a fog-delayed race must be congratulated on their patience and skill on the start line.  Well done!!

Te Manga White J19s and Te Manga White J16s from the Cook Islands club took out overall first and second with La Familia (Te Au Rere) taking out third.

The first novice team to complete the course was TnT (Waitakere) who took out the novice mixed division.

The course times for the winners and the last crews were 4 minutes faster than 2014.

RACE 2

The start line for race 2; Mixed and Women’s 24km was the largest we have ever had.  Forty-six teams lined up just off the boat ramp.  The open mixed division was the largest with 14 entries.

The fastest women’s team over the 24km course and winners of the Chrissy Herbert Memorial Trophy went to the masters team Maketu Wahine Combined (Maketu) in a time of 1 hour 52 minutes.  They were third fastest overall in the 24km Womens and Mixed race behind mixed winners King Whanau (Nga Hoe Horo) and 2^nd placed mixed team; Hokianga Natives (Waitakere).

Master mixed was won by the WDBAWAA team Coffee Club.  The open women’s trophy went to Wera from Tarawera.

RACE 3

Once again the racing in the men’s 24km was tight, with the race won by Bhuttys Boys (Hei Matau) in 1 hour 34 minutes. 

The top four teams teams finished within of 2 minutes of each other, and a sprint finish put Pineula (Akarana) into second, just .03 seconds in front of Herberts on Tour (Nga Hoe Horo).

The Master Mens division was won by Te Kopae from Turangawaewae.

The Piripi Kereopa Memorial Trophy (Senior Master Men – 24km) was awarded to Waikuta (Ruamata) with a time of 1 hour and 43 minutes.

SUNDAY – W1 and W2

RACE 4

With a large swell running before the weekend and a check of Manu Bay early on Sunday morning lead to the W1 and W2 race being shifted to an alternate course on the Raglan harbour. 

Tupu King took the W1 men’s race from a close finish with Noho Tahiata, and Steve Roulston taking 3^rd place.

The open women’s W1 was won by Rose King followed by Koha Vitolio and Tui McCaull.

Only two W2 took on the 16km race on Sunday with Bubble n Squeak finishing 14^th overall and winning the mixed masters division.  Well done to Theo and Frank who won the golden master (70 +) men’s W2 completing the course in 1 hour 49 minutes, awesome effort from these two paddlers.

The W1 master men’s division was the largest with 15 paddlers. Richard Pehi taking first place from Mike Rogerson and Mark Weiss.

Comments from paddlers suggested it wasn’t an easy course with strong tides and a brisk wind to contend with in parts.  Well done to all paddlers with all 46 finishing from 1 hour 24 minutes to 2 hours 8 minutes.