Taranaki Wave Classic - Q-mans version
By Quentin Bye
An expression session format wavesailing contest held along
the coastline of the Taranaki district on the north island of New Zealand.
Day 1 Saturday 26th of October
The wind was west southwest and so we headed to Waitara (pronounced
‘white-ra’).
This is a port - tack break and this day the wind was ranging between
0 and 20 knots with a swell between half and three quarter mast high.
There was a good turnout to the event, 67 competitors in all. Some carnage
of note was a collision between one sailor going for a forward loop
and the other going for a back loop as well as the comp jetski driver
planting it into the beach at an angle and getting slapped onto the
sand. There was plenty of good vibes, with everyone hitting the barby
and beers at the end of the day with the same enthusiasm that they had
been hitting the waves with earlier.
Saturday Night cocktail party at Wunderbar cafe, Oakura.
Boys + Tequila - Girls = Rock ‘n Roll Rumbling
After about five shots of tequila each Geoff (Doofro) Sutton, Mick (Puddin’
and Dog’s Eye) Westra and myself decided that it would be a hoot
to punch each other up, much to the entertainment of the other competitors
and patrons. The only rule was ‘no head shots’ and although
we all thought we were invincible at the time, we woke to discover plenty
of bruises and grazes for our efforts.
Day 2 Sunday 27th of October
The wind was back to the north so we headed to a break called Kina Road.
The conditions looked promising at first, a logo high wind swell on
the point and the northerly wind building slowly. But Huey, toying with
our minds made the wind swing onshore, drop back and the swell drop.
The super-session was held nonetheless (top ten or so from the expression
session fight for their places in an hour) and the lighter or light
wind equipped sailors reaped the benefits.
The crowd was treated to an awesome display of light wind wavesailing,
the standouts being Dan Berry, Woo Norris and Clayton Dougan who between
them landed about 30, 000 perfect forwards and back loops.
Results
Special Thanks go out to the event organisers / sponsors and also Jono
from avehaven who loaned us his van and put up with us staying in his
backpackers!
The TWC was professionally filmed this year and next year will be
bigger and better than ever- so all you wavesailors out there fire up!!
This event rocks!!
words by Quentin Bye.
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