The Andy Duff Memorial Kaituna Challenge is held annually in the height of summer in Okere Falls. Andy Duff was a local raft guide and kayaker and the race was started by his friends after he passed away while traveling in America. The race is a medley of mass starts beginning with short boats followed by long boats, tandems, sledgers/swimmers then finally rafting.
The racing can get a little bit hectic with everybody looking for a chance to take out the titles but it is all in good spirit with everybody looking out for each other.
Geni took out the women’s sledging title.
I have competed in this fun race for the last 3 years but this was the first time I entered in all 5 disciplines which was pretty full on but I was stoked to make it to the finish line in all 5 races especially the sledging!
My favourite race this year was definitely the raft race, with unprecedented carnage nearly every raft which entered flipped at some point down the river! We were in 3rd position coming up to the waterfall behind the NZ Men’s team and the team from River Rats Rafting. All 3 boats flipped and we managed to overtake the River Rats crew by getting our boat upright at a much faster pace. So in the end we finished in 2nd place behind the NZ men’s team which wasn’t too bad considering that they were recently crowned fastest team IN THE WORLD on that stretch of river.
Sam and Rob going for the carnage award.
Every year a special carnage trophy is handed out to the person or team who create the most epic/memorable carnage during the race. The carnage trophy used to belong to Andy Duff himself so in a way it is the best award. This year the award went to Mike Hudson (the guy with a red helmet in the photo above) who attempted the sledge race for the first time and had some epic downtime underneath the waterfall. Also see below the winner’s of last year’s carnage award.
Also a big kia ora to Douglas McCormick for the photos and for organising the race, thanks Douglas!
Most of you have probably seen ‘kayak kiss’ the viral video that shot Palm Team paddler Ben Brown into the main stream and onto TV screens during major sports events like the US Super Bowl.
The success of that was in no small (excuse the pun) part down to Go-Pro cameras and Ben is a master of making the sorts of videos that the rest of us aspire to with our wobbly and grainy footage. It also has something to do with the sort of water he paddles being that bit more impressive than most of us manage.
We’ll Go-Pro have stepped up again this week, launching their new Hero3: Black Edition, and guess who is one of the lucky athletes featured in the promo – Mr. Ben Brown!
The narrative is a bit of ’a day in the life’ kind of affair, with kayaking featuring along side other sports like freediving, surfing, skiing and more. The previous Go-Pro High Definition camera was cool but wow, to say a camera quite literally sings and dances is quite true of this new model – slow motion, amazing angles, great definition, bright and light: It looks amazing.
Anyway, enough of an advert, we are just super stoked to see our man Ben in there, representing kayaking and cutting it up amongst the likes of Kelly Slater and Aaron Chase. Keep firing it up the Waikato warrior!
It’s the weather report every kayaker waits for, and every non kayaker dreads…. A Heavy Rain Warning. Earlier this week, the remnants of a slow moving easterly cyclone and a cold and wet front roaring up from the Southern Ocean collided over the North Island of New Zealand. This was bad news for Easter holiday makers but it was good news for us. As per normal when heavy rain is approaching the cell phone lit up, plans were hatched and a restless night ensued…. The rain arrived as predicted and it was game on. Our destination for the day, The Wainui River…
I had been itching to get on the Wainui after missing the first descent several years earlier due to food poisoning that I picked up the previous night from drinking a large number of dodgy beers… Or something like that! Since then there has been a number of descents and the reports filtering back have been all good! Stories of epic slides and big drops were more than enough to wet the appetite…. Finally, on Tuesday, it was my turn!
- Only a kayaker knows the feeling! The moment we live for…. rolling off the lip of the big one.
- Inside the beast… About 50 feet into the freefall and preparing for impact!
- Tucking in and hanging on….
- This drop in the middle of the Wainui is about as good as they come… Who says kiwis can’t fly.
- Pretty stoked, and a little dazed and confused!
- Watching Simon take his run.
- Jamie taking flight.
- Big old air boof on little brother.
- Airing it out on little brother.
- The other end of a 30 foot boof… This would explain the stiff neck!
- Simon styling it!
- One epic slide after another…
- Letting gravity do the work on another rowdy Wainui slide.
The West Coast of New Zealands South Island is world renown for its steep creeks. During the Southern Hemispheres summer months the West Coast ranks amongst the worlds premier paddling destinations. What is lesser known is that the North Island also has some world-class creeking hidden amongst her rolling hills….
During the Autumn in New Zealand, South Westerly Low Pressure systems tear up from Antarctica bringing with them strong winds and heavy rain. Whilst this weather is not really conducive to many outdoor activities it does grab my attention because with this rain comes the possibility of some of my local creeks starting to flow…
The rains have been battering New Zealand over the past few weeks and with the Northern Hemisphere adventures rapidly approaching I was pretty eager to get amongst my local runs for one last time before heading North.
Here are a few shots for you to check out from my backyard…
