NEW ZEALAND April 2017
We left home
at 5am on Tuesday 4/18 and arrived in Auckland at 4:30pm on Wednesday. While the clock is only two hours earlier
than Kauai, the calendar is a day later.
My computer is even confused by crossing both the International Date
Line and the equator.
Crossing the Pacific
After getting
stopped in customs so they could examine my packed hiking boots for soil (which
in theory I’m in favor of, but, I had cleaned them) it was irritating to have
my luggage opened – we were so tired. We
just crashed at the hotel and woke up to a whole new world.
Sunrise over Rangitoto Island, a 600 year old volcano in the Hauraki Gulf, due east
DAY ONE – AUCKLAND
We are staying
at Takapuna to be close to canoeing events, but we needed to ferry back over to
Auckland to get the accreditation passes.
We enjoyed an afternoon in the city, walking around.
Ferry traffic, Devonport to Auckland
Downtown and the ever present Sky Tower
Albert park with huge trees
We dropped in at the art
museum next to Albert Park. Only one exhibit caught our fancy, portraits of
very old Maori men and women done between 1910 and 1940. Fabulous.
C. F. Goldie, artist.
They break your heart don't they?
Lake Pupuke
Late afternoon,
back at Takapuna, we checked out the venue at the lake. With no little misunderstanding on the bus
system, we were glad we did the recon as it made the rest of the days go
smooth. After enjoying seeing white
swans everywhere in Europe, I was thrilled to see the NZ ol’ blacks.
Double hulls rigged and waiting, Yippee!
Sprint venue
THE PADDLING
Who is
Anuenue? (ah new eh new eh = rainbow).
This is a traveling paddling team from Oahu that have been enjoying
waters around the world since 1983. These
men and women have all reached their 70s and beyond! This year they recruited a 60s team from
Kauai that included Gil. One Oahu guy, Bernie filled the
60s canoe.
Kauai guys – Jack, Christian, Steve, Gil, and Art
The first race was a V12 500
meter. Two 6 man canoes are connected with 4x4s to make a double hull. This was a combination of the 60s and 70s men.
V12
Bronze finish
Wanted Gold (of course) but happy to place
Our friends Greg and Linda from Kauai that are in the volleyball
event later in the week, came to support Gil his first day. We went to lunch at a fine Irish pub called
Florie McGreal’s and caught up. Good
fun. Both Greg and Linda got great shots
of events including this one of the 50s Tahitian team that Steve and Christian
jumped in on (far left front and back row).
Tahiti 50
Christian - leading the pack
Steve - no one else in sight
6 Man Races
The first heat
of the V6 was the biggest challenge.
These 6 man canoes are entirely different from the Hawaiian canoe – they
have flat bottoms, higher sides, and are 100 pounds lighter. The 1000 meter course is four 250 meter legs
with three turns. They had watched a
video and practiced for once week doing the
turns at home. Since the ladies went
first, the guys studied each position hard as the boats were maneuvered around
the tiny flags in narrow lanes. First in
their heat, they moved to finals next day.
There were six more heats to see who they would run against.
That evening was the
opening ceremonies. While there are 500
participants in the canoeing events, there are 28 sports, 100 countries, and
25,000 participants in the area! The
international feel is really fun. I met
a woman here swimming for Austria and saw a very excited Russian in our hotel
that just won Silver for weight lifting.
One of the volunteers we met was cycling for Canada. We took a bus to catch the Devonport Ferry to
Auckland and then a train up to the stadium at Eden Park. Not everyone attended, the general feeling is
that once is enough and at the end of the day we agreed.
Stage
V6 1000 Meter Heats - Saturday Afternoon
With lots of
NZ teams to compete against, no one knew what would happen. Not home court advantage but home canoe advantage, for the Kiwis. It wasn’t enough for the Salty Dogs from
South New Zealand, they flipped their boat (huli) on the first turn. They were allowed to continue to play-offs
which everyone thought was generous for the sport, showed a lot of Aloha
spirit.
Before 1000
Front: Bernie, Art, Christian,Jack Back: Steve, Gil
Salty Dogs – South NZ
Huli
SUNDAY AM
Anuenue 60s won Silver in the V6 1000 meter. Soon after, they took Silver in the 500 meter
(no turns).
1000 finish
Again, lucky weather, cool but pleasant for spectators and event was really well run.
Spectators
and more spectators
and food
V6 500 Silver medals, also color coded hats each win
MONDAY AM – Marathon
Moving to the
long distance race, or marathon as they say here, the venue went from the
freshwater Lake Pupuke to Takapuna Beach on the ocean. We have been graced with no rain all week but
the breeze/wind is wicked cold. I spoke
with the Cook Islands women’s team and they said they would never come back
here – ugly water. It got measureably
worse by the time the men went at noon (instead of 11am).
Takapuna Beach
Anuenue was in
full force; the 70s women won their 15km race.
In the men’s, the 70s course was also 15km while 60s men had a 22km to
run.
60s 22km team, boat already safety checked
70s L to R: Harry, Hardy, Jon, Sam, Australian (?), Nappy
Side note, the Australian filled in for Ted who was hit by a car the night before!
Heading to start
Waiting
Takapuna Beach Park, very nice, in the lee of the chilly breeze most of the day
NZ Magpie
NZ Surfer
I almost felt guilty having an organic, GF salmon crepe (gallete). Yum
The water was
so rough, the officials shortened the later mixed (men and women) race course to 20km and Legend Nappy
Napolean steered again for them, another 15km, at age 77! FYI, he will race Molokai this
coming October for the 60th consecutive time. (far right in 70s photo above)
Kauai’s 60s coming in at 2 hours 26 min, second of five – all the
others from New Zealand.
Bar none, they
complained about the awful conditions and sloppy churning water (these all
being veterans of many channel crossings).
They were teeth rattling cold, came back at almost dark for the awards. Most of the team agreed to skip the one man race
tomorrow, brrrrrrr!
Results
3 medals – Grizzly Gold NZ: gold; Anuenue USA: Silver; Terminal
Velocity: NZ, bronze
L to R: Gil, Christian, Jack, Bernie, and Art (Steve didn’t quite
make it back).
Steve Cole actually did race the next day, took gold in the OC1 60s and came in third overall, beating many younger guys! Now everyone just asks how many hats?
I cannot convey the wind's chill, the excitement, the multi languages, but I did try to capture some of the team shirts and personal decoration.
I cannot convey the wind's chill, the excitement, the multi languages, but I did try to capture some of the team shirts and personal decoration.
