Thrills and skills on the Great Lake

It has been a busy season for sailing on Lake Taupo, including the newest and fastest Olympic event – the breathtaking Windfoiler Class. HANSA results

The 303 Singles was won by Darrell Smith of Wellington, 2nd was Graham Hook of Wellington and 3rd was Paulien

Chamberlain from Tauranga.

The 303 Double was won by Matthew Henderson of Wellington, with Wellington’s Laura Stuart 2nd and Jordan Grogan of Tauranga 3rd.

The Liberty class was won by Tony Vaka of Auckland, Robert Coulter of Auckland 2nd and Tom Scott from Tauranga 3rd.

The regatta also doubled as the Blind NZ Sailing Championships with the 303 Double B1 Gold won by Toby Ireland of Wellington.

The 303 Single B2 Gold was won by Paulien Chamberlain of Tauranga, the B2 Silver went to Dave Allerton of Taranaki and the 303 Single B3 Gold went to Davey Parker from the Bay of Plenty.

Full regatta results are available at www.ltyc.org.nz/page/590676.

HANSA Class yachts prepare to start racing.

All Photos: Graeme Robinson.

Lake Taupo Yacht Club commodore Alan Simpson says the club has hosted eight regattas this season.

Most recently, on the weekend of April 9-11, the club hosted the 2021 HANSA Class National Championship – a class designed for sailors with a range of disabilities.

The event was originally meant to be held alongside the club’s Centreboard Regatta in March but was postponed due to Auckland’s Level 3 lockdown.

That didn’t faze the competitors who turned up “eager and enthusiastic to compete”.

Three days of sailing included nine races in each class, plus two social events.

Alan says Taupo is the perfect place for this type of event because of its central location and “easy and acceptable” sailing conditions.

Conditions were “ideal” with moderate breezes for Friday’s racing, increasing in intensity on Saturday and fading on the Sunday.

Competitors came from Wellington, Taranaki, Bay of Plenty and Auckland.

Alan thanked the Lake Taupo Harbour Master and staff for their assistance during the event and for enabling the competitors’ boats to be moored overnight in the Taupo Marina.

Prizes were donated by Chris Wornal – a NZ Paralympic sailor in Atlanta, 1996 and presented by HCNZ representative Tom Scott.

High speed action

In November the club hosted the newest Olympic sailing class – the Windfoiler Class.

Alan says these are probably the fastest sailing craft ever seen on the lake.

He says competitors sailed to the rock carvings and back at speeds only matched by the fastest power boats.

In mid-March the club also hosted a fleet of 29er sailors, competing for the first time on the Great Lake.

Amongst the fleet were a number of teenagers who are close to representing New Zealand at Olympic level.

And at the end of March the Club hosted the traditional CNI Secondary Schools’ Teams Sailing regional championships which selected teams to represent the region at the Teams Sailing Nationals, held at Algies Bay at the end of April.

Daniel Hutchinson

And they’re off and racing.

Conditions are perfect for sailing.

The crew of the Kura are hard at work.

The NZUA is delighted to announce the launch of its

Survive the Dive online training and certificate platform.

Sponsored by Water Safety NZ and Maritime NZ, the ground-breaking web application allows divers to refresh and test their diving and boating safety knowledge with a gamified quiz and apply for an NZUA-endorsed certificate.

Created by Fathom, an Auckland-based web marketing and digital development agency, the Survive the Dive application is an exciting opportunity to offer the NZUA’s extensive diving and boating knowledge base to every New Zealand diver in a fun, engaging and meaningful manner.

Growing popularity

Ben Christie of Water Safety NZ, sums up the Survive the Dive application well.

“Water Safety New Zealand is thrilled to fund this new initiative and continue its strong partnership with NZUA,” says Ben.

“We are blessed with places to dive in this country.

“Diving in all its forms continues to grow in popularity across all demographics.

“It’s so important that every diver makes safety a priority and gets the knowledge they need to stay safe in the water.

“This free interactive learning platform will make access to that critical knowledge so much easier.”

The low-down

The Survive the Dive web application is available in six languages: English, Te Reo, Samoan, Tongan, Hindi and Simplified Chinese.

Thanks to sponsors, Water Safety NZ, Maritime NZ and Air Purity Limited, Survive the Dive certification is available free.

The Survive the Dive platform is an engaging way to refresh diving and boating safety knowledge. It’s suitable for divers of all levels, as well as dive boat operators.

It’s gamified, allowing participants to save high-scores and track their learning process.

It doesn’t replace commercial dive

qualifications, so if you’re unqualified and planning on diving, please take a formal, professional dive training course. Again, all aspects of the Survive the Dive platform are available at no cost. Everyone who passes the final exam with 80 per cent correct answers receives an NZUA-endorsed Survive the Dive certificate, valid for two years.

Ready to play Survive the Dive?

There are two stages:

A gamified quiz with 10 randomly generated questions.

Take the quiz multiple times to cover all the material. Save your high scores to track your progress.

An online exam with 20 comprehensive questions. If you pass the exam (scoring 80 per cent or more), you’ll receive an NZUA-endorsed Survive the Dive certificate, valid for two years.

Try the Survive the Dive certificate application at: www.certficate.nzunderwater.org.nz

Surf Life Saving New Zealand is advising people to plan ahead when visiting the beach as they prepare to end their patrol season.

Some patrols across Bay of Plenty beaches have come to an end with most of them finishing up after the upcoming Easter weekend.

The recent Beach & Coastal Safety Report released by SLNZ highlighted an alarming rate of fatal drownings in New Zealand, 48 per cent more per capita than in Australia.

There have been 33 fatal drownings in the Bay of Plenty during the 10-year period 2010 to 2020 and the last oneyear overview showed three fatal drownings in the region, matching the annual average.

It is a number that is too high in the opinion of SLNZ lifesaving manager for Eastern Region Chaz Gibbons-Campbell.

He highlights specific concerns such as the disproportionately high rate of males involved in fatal drowning incidents and an overall poor national average. “Most of our beaches are finishing up or have finished with the last patrol weekend Easter,” says Chaz. “But obviously it is still quite warm out there and we are still seeing a lot of people visiting even the beaches that have finished there are still people out there booking bachs and stuff like that.”

Chaz is telling beachgoers who are set to attend unpatrolled beaches in the remaining warm weather postEaster to be prepared. “Our message is to plan ahead. Check the weather, the surf forecast, check to see if there is a patrol operating on the beach and make a bit of a plan with your family or friends so that you know what you are going to do and who is going to be there. Make sure you have got all the right kit for any watersports and obviously make sure somebody is with you.”

Ideally, Chaz hopes these are protocols swimmers, surfers and boaties already follow.

If you do see someone in trouble, dialling 111 and asking for the police is the advice given.

“We will still have our callout squads operational throughout the season so if we do need to call anyone out there is that capability to get some lifeguards out there.”

Chaz admits that in the BOP we have an ‘awesome playground’ in our backyard but that the waters can be unpredictable. If someone is unsure about whether the water is safe, he has a simple message.

“If in doubt, stay out.

“People really need to assess the risks and their ability and if there is any doubt there then stay out or go to a safer location.”

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