Race Day Summaries

WAIPU COVE SURFCROSS

Waipu Cove  |  31 January 2010

Type: National Surfcross

High tide: 09:30

SUMMARY

Round 4 National Surfcross

With battered bodies from the day before 23 racers were greeted with a 1.5m even and glassy surf at the start of race day. Due to a spring tide racing commenced at the later time of 11.45 but a crowd of approximately 3000 on the beach were treated to some exciting racing many people not having experienced Thundercat racing before. The first heat saw series leader Jungle Coffee flip in the first lap after riding over Robert Page Engineering. The combination of surf and an afternoon onshore wind saw boats such as Ur Mama, Spaceships and Hell Pizza vying for the extreme air award. Winner though was PBS who returned to earth and rolled backwards and upside down. The race lead constantly changed in each heat as the big wave sets rolled in. This provided a mix of placings during the day but it was the A final which proved the most eventful. In the competitive racing new crew Quin Buildings from Hawkes Bay were driven onto and over the outer B buoy effectively stopping them in their tracks. The Dodge team closely following had nowhere to go and struck Quin spectacularly popping their pontoons and partially sinking the boat. Fortunately there were no injuries and all returned to shore where a technical finish was called by race director Gary Morrison.

Overall winner for the day was Black Pepper followed by equal second place Novo Technical Services and Smuggler Marine.

Next race is at Lyall Bay in Wellington where the Wellington weather can bring all sorts of surprises.