Gisborne’s Waikanae IRBs eyeing national honours

Waikanae driver Hamish Swann and crewman Taran Wilson in action at the North Island IRB Championships. They are part of a small but powerful Waikanae team competing at the IRB nationals. Photo / Jamie Troughton-Dscribe Media

Waikanae are gunning for top three honours at the BP New Zealand IRB (Inflatable Rescue Boat) Championships and on recent form they should achieve it.

The champs, being held at Waipu Cove north of Auckland, have attracted a record 123 crews from 30 clubs across the country and three of those will be wearing the Waikanae cap.

Kaiaponi Farms Waikanae achieved six gold medals, three silver and three bronze medals at the North Island champs at Pāpāmoa earlier this month. Their small team of three crews finished fifth overall, performing particularly strongly in the open and Under-19 men competitions.

At the nationals, which start on Friday, Connor Mitchell, crewman Oliver Shivnan and patient Michaela Clearwater will be looking to add to their open men’s division medal haul from the North Islands.

They took out the open men’s single rescue and mass rescue titles and placed in the tube rescue and assembly finals.

The U19 men’s crew of Hamish Swann (driver), Taran Wilson and Clearwater will be driving hard again in their division.

They won the single rescue, tube rescue and assembly at the North Islands, and were second in the mass rescue.

The combined Waikanae team of Mitchell, Shivnan, Swann, Wilson and Clearwater won the mixed teams’ title that weekend.

Waikanae’s reformed masters crew of Eric Clearwater, Rodney Richards and Michelle Mitchell will look to add to the silver and two bronze medals they picked up at Pāpāmoa.

Waikanae IRB coach Connor Mitchell said that success was a great boost for them going into the nationals, but they realised they would have to lift their performance level even higher.

“It’s going to be fast and technical racing this weekend, with no surf, over a short course,” he said. “We are going to have to get all the little technical details of IRB racing correct.

“It will be tougher than the North Islands, but we’re ready for it.”

He rates the U19 crew as strong contenders for titles.

Mitchell and now Auckland-based Shivnan have been among the most consistent crews in the country for the past 10 years.

“Considering Ollie and I are living in different parts of the country now, we are still firing,” Mitchell said. “We’re hoping to do well ourselves again this weekend.”

The masters crew showed plenty of promise at Pāpāmoa, he said.

“So they could score some national medals, too.”

The competition starts midday Friday with the tube rescue races in all divisions.