The 5th Bo Herbert Memorial will be a race that will be remembered for a long time. A 3m Easterly swell and 15kt South Easterly wind combined with the cliffs and reefs of the Tutukaka coast made for very testing conditions.

The day proved to be a challenge for most.
The race started with 70 solo waka ama/surfski entries and 4 waka ama relay teams.
Congratulations to this year's winners, Womens W1 for the second year Nyree King, Mens Surfski for the third year Tim McLaren and this year's Mens W1 and Bo Herbert Memorial Trophy winner Steve Roulston. We also had 4 teams in the Relay and one entry in the Womens Surfski.
We would like to make a special mention to all the women that entered this year race, also a big thank you to our support boat crews that did an awesome job.
Lastly we would like to thank all the paddlers who took the time during the race to help other paddlers. It's an awesome feeling knowing that everyone is out there to look after each other.
Thank you all for being part of this year's race and although not all that entered were able to complete the course, it would be fair to say given the conditions lining up on the start line was a big enough achievement.
We would love to hear some of the many stories and if you have any feedback you could email us taidesigns@xtra.co.nz,
The race and some neat photos will be featured in the next Mana Magazine and the Northern Advocate also wrote a few articles leading up to and after the event with some photos of the beach finish at Matapouri

http://www.northernadvocate.co.nz/photos/bo-herbert-memorial-race-2013/19130/#/0
http://www.northernadvocate.co.nz/news/wild-ride-waka/1786542/
http://www.northernadvocate.co.nz/news/waka-ama-testing-condition-for-bo-herbert-paddlers/1784221/

See you all next year!!

Herbert Whanau.

Thanks to our Sponsors:

Snapper Rock Bar and Restaurant,
Ocean Elements,
Moana Nui,
Tai Paddles,
Paddle NZ.


(The start was staggered, the first start was womens w1 and w1 relay followed 20mins later by mens w1 followed 10mins later by surfski)

Reader Comments

(This story is archived no further comments can be added)

1. YIP FOUND BO RACE TO BE A VERY HARD CHALLENGE BUT AT THE SAME TIME ENJOYABLE PITY SOME OF US HAD GEAR FAILURE.BUT WILL BE BACK AGAIN NEXT YEAR
   ALEX - 14-Mar-2013
2. Loved the race. Love that part of the country. Loved the huge swell. Loved that we have so many fronting up to the challenge. Thanks sooooo much for letting us be out there in it.
   Dolmi - 14-Mar-2013
3. Thank you so much for allowing us to race in such high challenging conditions .. yusss she was a monster of fun and milestones these waves were bigger than raro and the gold coast ozzy ... i swam about 5 times . Jokes lol heaps .. thank you to all the wonderful smiles and support on and off the water ... love this part of nz and yes this race is so on my things to do 2014. Love too you all whanau ... how wonderful to have such a great race after such an amazing man. Congratulations to everyone we did it we saw it. Miss King well done girl.
   Mena Hodges - 14-Mar-2013
4. Awesome day Conan , conditions massive, thanks for letting it go ahead ,scary but enjoyable look forward to doing it again .Awesome day to see all the bros looking out for one another and that everyone got back to tell the story .Funny thing was seeing the different boats going past looking at you saying to themselves what are you doing out here and that i was saying the exact same thing to myself .Big thanks to the Herbert whanau for awesome day .
   Daniel Wikaira - 15-Mar-2013