To the Waikato Heads - Sun 29 Apr 2012

Awesome day out on the Waikato River. Put the boats in by the Tuakau bridge at about midday, decided not to do any racing, so shot off down the river to Port Waikato. Den and Ree in one boat, Graeme and Vanessa in another, myself (Sarah) went along with Rodger, Caroline (1st time in jet boat) went with Doug in the Msprint, Wayne and Andy in the last boat. We had hoped to grab some fish n chips, but the store had closed! So we went into the dairy next door.   We went all the way to the Waikato Heads to look at the Tasman Sea before heading back up the river. Rodger had fun wake surfing until a loud bang from behind made us s**t ourselves! We detoured a bit and a couple of boats took in weed, Graeme and Vanessa first, then Wayne and Andy. (Sorry to whoevers whitebait raft we broke!) Graeme and Rodger had a bit of fun on the way, soaking not just themselves, but their passengers as well! :P Just before we got out of the water, we went for one last sprint under and between the pillars of the bridge.   Overall a very fun day, we were on the river for about 3 hours total. Graeme’s boat (really Vanessa’s?) managed to complete the trip with no mishaps after being out of the water for a year! Thank you everyone for the great day, and thank you Rodger for taking me (Sarah), and thanks Doug for taking Caroline.

Sprint 2-12 - Sun 11 Mar 12 - Meremere

Sprint 1-12 - Meremere - Sun 26 Feb 12

The first Sprint of 2012

Here we are again. Who is going to take the trophy off Doug for the new season?
All the usual suspects were there and everyone ready to hit the water after the summer break.
The pond was full, thanks to Cam, but there was lots of weed, hence we were able to do two recon runs to try and clear the track a little.
We welcomed newcomer Jed Claude who has resurrected P17 from the deep south, and with the help of the Pred team, we all hope to see the boat competing real soon.
We had a quick rotation for the day and times were quick. Cam ran fastest time, Den followed next with Doug 3rd in P9, myself and then Rodger 5th in P9. What a busy boat P9 was.

Now to the real story and what really happened on the day.

For starters Den had trouble with boat and trailer. He drove off without P9 attached (twice) and then Doug had taken the bungs out and told no one.

Rodger was having problems, his boat dying due to lack of fuel in the carburettor, so the boat bummed out twice in the same place. He walked the boat back and found all the deep holes, especially at the ramp.

Everyone loves the sound of Wayne’s boat, but by day's end the sound was even greater than even Wayne’s expectations when the exhaust pipe decided to modify itself.

Doug demonstrated to Jed in P17 how a boat handles without a skeg - he ended up on the island before the start.

Nice to see Pam and daughter Rachael, who helped out with the navigating. Be nice to see Rachael driving P5 to build up the ladies competition.

See you all at the sprint on the 11th.

-Ree