Easter 2012 Great Annual Waikato River Seagull Race. NZ

[Rex NZ]

Easter Weekend April 2012
The Great Annual Waikato River Seagull Race. NZ

The longest Seagull Outboard Race in the World at 142km.
Every Easter from the Karapiro Dam to Port Waikato over two days.
The race has been held annually since 1983.

Hi Seagullers, This is the 29th event of the Great Race.. every competitor gets a Seagull cap as a gift for entering, we’ve got Black ones ,Pink ones and Blue ones and those who don’t enter can buy one for $15.00… Also this year we have The BathTub Racers joining us, they will start behind our fleet, they will run a Poker Run for the event and join us at Rangiriri for the festivities [pity the Bermudans weren't here to keep them under control] .. our representative will be Raoul, hope he gets better reliability out of his Suzuki than he does out of a Seagull.. John Crighton

Video of The Great Race 2008
http://youtu.be/GcSzZQAsxSw

Full details here
http://seagulloutboard.com/?page_id=11

Contact John email sandspitmotor@xtra.co.nz

RexNZ

[Rex NZ]

A word from the organiser

A very quiet buildup to this years event, have’nt had to convene the “rules committee” once this year, perhaps its the $50.00 fee that is putting rules contestants off, as Raoul would say its only 7 more sleeps to the big day, Raoul and I will do the scrutineering again from 3 pm on friday 6th, lay out your spares and safety kit, once again there will be a prize for the best presented entry for scrutineering [of course bribes will be considered] For the imaginative and daring in the flock the forms of motive power sanctioned for this event are the 3 “S”[sail, sinew and seagull] over the past years we havent seen any serious attempts to take advantage of this combined power source, the last attempt I saw was about 12 years ago when an enterprising gentleman was rigged for sail, but the mast caught on a low tree in the rapids area, which put an end to that attempt, anyone passing Phil Bennett, ask him about this happening I’m pretty sure he was in the race that year, he may even recall the name of the unfortunate competitor, the “sinew” part of the equation is of course oars or paddles, imagine crewing for Captain Cruel [Brewce Lorhan] from Bermuda, knowing he has a fetish for whips and hoods, I can picture him standing in the stern, hooded, resplendent in a pink thong, whip in one hand, bottle of Merlot in the other counting the stroke for the hapless crew,….. maybe next year. So Captains to maintain morale/discipline at sea, dont be afraid to put the crew to work, scrubbing cleaning, rowing……. This year we have the “bathtubbers’ with us, there will be approx 8 of them plus their backup crews, as first timers to the event do what you can to make their trip enjoyable, they will be with us all the way through too the prizegiving dinner, our very own Raoul Lealand is carrying the flag for the Otaua Boat Club, his “tub” looks magnificent, I’m pretty sure he’ll complete the course this year as he has a trusty 8 HP Yamaha doing the job. Last year at pizegiving at the Cossie Club we had to compete with some “yobos” during speeches and dinner, this year I have insisted on a “private function” classification for our function… this excludes the “yobo” factor, but will mean a little more paperwork for myself, so please be patient, have your dinner tickets on hand as you enter, your names will have to entered on a “master sheet”on entry, after all it is Easter Sunday and licensing laws are pretty tough in our district. Remember Sandie at Rangiriri Cafe has organised an extra camping area for tents campervans etc , she has also organised to be open extended hours for us, they have good clean facilities with a small charge for camping and great food,coffee, please make your own arrangements at evermore.estate@xtra.co.nz Have had a look at the river, have had a pretty good flush out of debris and levels are above average, moor on River conditions at the briefing, this week the markers will appear in the traditional spots to ensure we all get home …. thats it for now .. be safe … cheers John Crighton

[Charles uk]

Headlines from 2012 race.

Drama at overnight boat park at base of dam.

Day 1 fatality free, just a great days racing.


Full race report will follow when we find a Kiwi that can do joined up rytin.

[Charles uk]

Got an Email from Chicken who seems to be doing realy well, well done mate!

"boat got done at 7 oclock last night no testing got done.didnt matter was getting around 8 to 12 knots depending on whos gps but was going good. Was leading though to ngaruawahia now in second. Lost speed and revs just be for hamilton have now cleaned out jets so should be back to normal tomorow."

[Chicken]

Just a few, will put all up on picasa with a link later

[Rex NZ]

Another sensational event

Commenced with a pre-race chrisis when the power board decided to open the gates & max the power generation for several hours. Quite spectacular to watch the turbine exhausts erupting with bursting boiling foaming white-water from riverbank to riverbank. Flooded the pond & nearly lost 1/2 the boats. All saved by a small bundle of twine.

Day 1

* The first breakdown was a steering breakage minutes before the starters gun. Some urgent repairs.
* The river was high & the rapids all but disappeared. All passed without incident
* Many bathtub racers (not being familiar with the river) got confused at the concealed entry to the narrows. Nobody hit the rock-wall finger, or, drove over the top of it
* Busy day for the rescue boats. Multiple overheats, engine failures, steering failures, cable breakages, & yet another gearbox smashed clean off never to be found. The high river level removed many hazzards.

Day 2

* Another day of clear weather
* Most got a clean getaway. The first breakdown happened within 50m. Another overheat, & apparently their 3rd & last engine.
* A late start for the green longboat, & a real race to make it to by the 12:00 cut-off safety deadline at mercer. Made it literally in the final minute!
* Many groundings on the meremere sands
* More breakdowns requiring towing, steering failures & engine breakdowns
* The swamplands proved a confusing labyrinth yet again. Some nearly missing the initial turn & heading out to sea. Others getting lost within the matrix & needing to be searched for
* All arrived home in good time.

Back at the Club;

* Lots of stories & many lies
* Next year is the 30th anniversary. We're expecting some records to be broken.

Rex NZ

[Charles uk]

Thanks for that Rex.

So what your saying Rex is "a bit more pre race thought & preparation might well help towards to a less stressfull weekend.

Come on Tinker, Chicken & Pirate Pete give us the gossip.

[Chicken]

https://picasaweb.google.com/1053607529 ... lRace2012#

Here you go , no doubt Pete will have many many more.
Chicken

[Pirate Pete]

God Grief, I remembered my name and password .. brain must still be working!

Fabulous weather for the weekend, great company, good racing, usual fair share of motor issues and another great Easter Seagull race in the bag. Happy to report that the ministrations that Ross Leger and Charles Large did to my 5R worked a treat and I had 3 knots extra speed (19-20 gps knots) and with just enough water to get down the river without running aground was enough for what I thought was a personal best effort. Pushing the tide from Mercer to the finish line on the end might have robbed me of actually gaining my personal best time.

But I was more than happy enough

Photos, numerous and of various quality (all care and no responsibility for the captions):

https://picasaweb.google.com/1120659176 ... aikato2012

Enjoy

Pete

[Charles uk]

Superb pics Pete.
Many thanks.

Only too happy to help anyone with a blue Seagull.

[Charles uk]

Hi Seagullers,
Another successful Event in the history of the Great Race, although numbers were slightly down in Seagull boats the fleet was bolstered by the addition of the “Bathtub Racers”, they staged there own event in conjunction with ours, right through to the dinner and prizegiving.
Friday started with the slow trip to Karapiro, caused by large amounts of “jaffas” escaping the confines of the big city to spread themselves far and wide, arriving at Karapiro we were reunited with old friends and a few new ones. My first stop was the lake front to scope out competitors and check out the “bathtubbers” setting up their machines, of course thats where I found Raoul acting like a tourist asking “jaffa” like questions of the “bathtubbers”, little did they know the X6 bathtub was comfortably packed away waiting.
Scrutineering ran very smoothly in the hands of Raoul, we got through 25 boats in short time, Seagull Racing has come along way, with well prepared boats , motors and ample spare parts being carried by the competitors... once upon a and time you lined up 3 motors that ran and took them all, so you could cannibalise your way to the finish, now it is one motor, springs, plugs etc and away you go .
Among the new boats this year was Cam Sutherland who arrived with the epoxy still “tacky” for scrutineering, this year he had a good safe skimmer with a 4.5 hp which unfortunately let him down on the 2nd day, .. next year Cam, ...also among the new boats was a particularily beautiful green “wave piercer” modelled off J.J.Sauers record holder from Bermuda, J.J “s boat is 32 ft, the NZ version is 22ft and powered by a 4.5 hp Silver, the proud owner Terry Carter had obviously convinced his wife Adrienne that this was a great promotional tool for their busines, as they had both lovingly spent many hours building, sanding and painting, alas mechanical preparation let them down, on starting the “beast’, Terry rammed the dam, apparently we have a directional problem associated with the steering, never mind Terry you’ve got 12 months to get the boat to head in the direction you turn the wheel, but for his efforts Terry walked away with the “Hard Luck Trophy”.
The 2.5 hp modifieds went off at 8.30, Jim McAustin leading the way in his 22 footer lovingly painted by his granddaughters, averaging approx 10mph he broke the long standing record of Bill Bartle set in 2000 well done jim ... preparation and testing ....theres the proof
Our visitors included Olaf Eidevik from Norway who can just remember a Seagull that his father had just after the war, Olaf carved a beautiful Viking head for John C’s boat, every kid around photographed the serpents head, our other visitor was a “reject’ NZer from Australia, Shaun Hewson arrived in town about 2 weeks before the event, went to a secret preparation camp in Whangarei, turned up ran second in dinghy class, behind the old master Graham Keagan .. well done Shaun see you next year.
Modified Dinghy saw Ian Aitken lead Al Ward home, Ian by now is a practised campaigner who prepares so well, time to lift it up a notch Ian and give that record a shake, Al with a new boat this year, next year should see you keep them honest Al.
Ross Leger headed “Kneeling” Pete Nottman home in the Open class, all boats recording impressive times on day One .. but the wind against the tide on the second day put the times out for a lot of the slower classes
Bermuda Classic class saw a new team in contention, Jason Baird and Eugene Phillan took the honours over veteran campaigners Graham and Lorraine Hallen, the margin was 1 min 25secs after 88 miles hows that for nail biting racing, the International Bermuda Class was taken by John Crighton, crewed by Olaf Eidevik, after warning competitors of the dangers of sandbanks, I demonstrated my skills of mounting sandbanks whilst closing in on Andy and Holly Murray, Andy must have ‘speeddialled” every competitor in the race, as I was congratulated by one and all at the end, Andy Murray known as “Tinker” on the SOS site couldnt stand the rattle of the stator plate, so under instruction from daughter Holly he tried to tighten the locator pin to reduce the rattle, until finally ........ you guessed it, he crushed the top bearing and seized the motor, never mind Andy beautiful boat though.
Phil and John Hollins overcame their first day problems to take the Regatta trophy, well done
Our continual struggle with the folks from Mighty River Power, may have been raised to a new level, this year they flooded the pool area after midnight, raising the levels to the point that all the boats at the bottom of the dam floated , luckily night watchman Rex Charlton, was on hand to ensure none of the boats made an early start ... thanks Rex, soon after that a couple of the local ‘plebs” delivered him a refrigerator from the top of the dam , narrowly missing a couple of boats, dangerous stuff this Seagull Racing, we passed the refrigerator next morning in Hamilton, caught in the willows
I think the incident that deserves perhaps the biggest round of applause is the efforts of our very own Rev Phil Bennett and his intrepid Rescue Boat crew, “human fender” and forward hand Peter Elliott, Reece Taylor,[unsure of Reece’s status ]... running out of fuel 50m before the pylons which support the bridge and mark the finish line at Rangiriri, Peter was dispatched to the bow to fend the boat off the offending pylon that was looming square on the bow, Peter bravely took his position on the bow with his back to the cabin front , legs outstretched,..... next there was an almighty crash and Peter was compressed to half his normal size, Reece is peering nonchalantly over the stern, wishing he wasnt there, while Rev Phil retained his Captains pedestal and nonchalantly waved to the assembled Finish line spectators,what else could you do? I think a second rescue boat was dispatched, captained by the Revs grandson to bring the shortened Peter Elliott and his helpers ashore, Peter has an appointment this week to get all his trousers shortened by 2 inches so the cuffs dont drag on the ground.
Next morning to ensure the bridge pylon was still in the same position, Rev Phil, Reece and a yet to be identified midget were observed pushing the pylon from the downstrean side for about 20 mins , when questioned about their intentions, they said they just wanted to ensure the bridge was in the same position it was yesterday, “just keeping things tidy”they replied.
This year saw the first electric start seagull on the Waikato, i think it was Paul Gilchrist that demonstrated this remarkable engineering feat, Im sure the trend will catch on and Seagullers from all over will clamour for the manufacturing rights ... well done Paul,.... looking through the list Mark McMurtry returned with his triple surfboard pack, this year with a dodger on front, between him and Pete Nottman it is a toss up as to who does the trip the hardest way possible, I think Mark, as he takes longer.
I announced at the prizegiving that next year 2013 was to be the 30th Anniversary ... searching back through the older records I find I have made a terrible mistake, the Otaua Boat Club was established in 1985, so that means we are 2 years away from our 30th trip, on announcing to Bruce Lorhan and Charles Large after this years race it was the 30th next year , they both indicated they would attend next years event, I hope this doesnt put them off and I’m sorry for the misinformation.

Hope to see you all next year ... dont forget for event updates contact the regattaevents website ... cheers John C

Hi John and fellow Seagullers thankyou John for your rendition of the Great Race 2012 however I must set the record straight I was not despatched to the bow my amazing powers of deduction and speed of summing up the situation that was about to happen prompted me to move to the bow with boat hook in hand when I saw the enormity ( Bridge ) of the Problem I knew the only course of action was to use my No 14’s Boat Shoes to cushion the impact. The rest of storytelling is completely true.



Cheers & Thanks

Peter

[Charles uk]

Great Annual Easter Waikato British Seagull Outboard Boat Race Results
2012

Dinghy 2.5 modified
1st Jim Austin 9:44:41
2nd Fred Roberts 14:00:52

Dinghy 4.5 hp
1st Graham Keegan 7:22:02
2nd Shaun Hewson 8:27:06
3rd Mark McMurty 9:33:48

Dinghy Modified
1st Ian Aitken 8:35:56
2nd Al Ward 11:16:06
Open Class
1st Ross Leger 4:26:34
2nd Pete Notman 4:49:39 (3 mins credit for rescuing green machine from clutches of Karipiro Damn Dam face)

Class Name Number Day 1 Day 2 total time
2.5 Mc Austin 01 5:17:00 4:27:41 9:44:41
2.5 Roberts 555 6:39:03 7:21:49 14:00:52

Dinghy Keegan 21W 4:01:08 3:20:54 7:22:02
Dinghy Hewson 666 4:40:08 3:46:58 8:27:06
Dinghy McMurty surfboard 5:00:10 4:33:38 9:33:48
Dinghy Gilchrist 66 6:08:43 3:26:36 9:35:19
Dinghy Brown 71 6:14:47 5:11:04 11:25:51
Dinghy Beard 269 7:18:58 6:06:26 13:25:24
Bermuda Classic Hallen 165 7:06:20 6:20:32 13:26:52
Bermuda Classic Beetham 279 7:06:01 6:24:53 13:30:54

Bermuda class Crighton 77 5:00:21 4:07:35 9:07:56
Bermuda class Murray 47 5:01:47 4:20:11 9:21:58


Modified Aitken 127 5:09:42 3:25:10 8:34:52
Modified Ward 210 6:16:16 4:59:50 11:16:06

Open Leger 48 2:33:16 1:53:18 4:26:34
Open Notman 35 2:46:54 2:05:45 4:52:39

Regatta Hollins 713 DNS* 6:02:25 6:02:25

Dinghy Green 111 5:47:50 DNF
Dinghy Heath 481 DNF DNF
Modified Sutherland 33 5:17:00 DNF
Modified Carter 454 DNF DNF

* [Credited with 6:26:38 for day 1????]