It used to be called windsurfing or boardsailing but is now called foiling. A competitor in the 2023 Foiling Regatta sails from Waitangi Yacht Club.
It has been described as an “adrenaline-fuelled spectacle” and certainly the foiling regatta run by the Bay of Islands Yacht Club at Waitangi is exciting to watch.
It takes place from February 22 to 26 and is the largest foiling regatta in the southern hemisphere. It hosts about 120 competitors from New Zealand and several other countries.
It used to be called windsurfing. Today, the craft are the baby version of America’s Cup boats but with a single board and one sailor. There are four contemporary types of foiling craft, Wingfoil, Waszp, Kitefoil and Windfoil.
The regatta is for seasoned participants and social foilers alike. This year marks the sixth year of the foiling regatta and promises to be the biggest yet.
There are four days of racing. Friday to Sunday includes the Kitefoil and Windfoil nationals, Wingfoil and Waszps There are two days of social racing for the up-and-coming Wingfoilers. The About Being Seen Island Race is open to everyone.
The Bay of Islands Yacht Club clubrooms opened in March 1960, though the club had been in existence before then. It used to be called The Paihia Yacht and Motor Boat Club and members would store their yachts opposite the Anglican stone church in Paihia.
An apocryphal story says in the early 1950s two elderly men, World War II veterans, approached some club members before the clubhouse was built.
They said there was “£25 in the bank and land at Waitangi if they changed the name” and that was the beginning of the Bay of Islands Yacht Club.
This year the club will also host the interschools tournament, the NZL 29er Nationals and the J14-Cherub 3.7 NZL National regattas as well as the foiling regatta.
Research into some of New Zealand’s oldest European garments by specialist conservator Dr Tracey Wedge has shed light on the background of the Hansen family. They were one of the first Pākehā families to settle in New Zealand and in particular Thomas and Hannah Hansen Senior
Thomas and Hannah were the parents of Thomas and Hannah Hansen jnr. The younger Hansens would establish themselves at Hōhi together with other missionaries. It was the first mission in New Zealand set up by Rev Samuel Marsden.
“Thomas snr was a sea captain who had sailed the brig Active with Marsden’s first wave of missionaries from Australia to New Zealand, dropping them off at Hōhi in time for Marsden to preach the first Christmas sermon in 1814.
“Thomas snr left shortly after, though his wife Hannah snr remained at Hōhi for a while with her daughter and son,” Heritage NZ Pouhere Taonga senior collections adviser Belinda Maingay said.
Tracey Wedge, a Hansen descendant herself, discovered the family lived in the parish of St George-in-the-east;,a bucolic-sounding place located close to the wharves and docks of the Thames in London where the poor rubbed shoulders with the wealthy.
As a ship’s captain, Thomas could be away from home for weeks or even months on end and it meant Hannah snr was running the household single-handedly.
“A record from Old Bailey proceedings of January 1790 records Mrs Hansen claiming to have found two men in her home stealing items of clothing belonging to her husband. Hannah stood up to both men culminating in her chasing the two thieves down the road and catching one of them,” says Maingay.
Rev Marsden somewhat gracelessly described Hannah snr as “a very infamous drunken woman and completely master of her husband”.
But Tahitian missionary William Henry believed: “Mrs Hansen ...has been and is likely to be of considerable advantage by her needle work.”
In 1819 she was convicted in a Sydney court of being in possession of 10 stolen muskets at a time when guns featured significantly in trade negotiations with Māori in New Zealand.
Four or so years ago there was a mechanic and garage in Russell offering full Warrant of Fitness (WoF) checks and repairs. But Quarry Motors closed down and since then there has not been a viable substitute.
There is one mechanic who works from home but he does not do WoFs so Russell residents have had little choice but to go to Opua, Paihia, Kerikeri or even Whangārei for their WoF and service requirements. It is costly when fuel and ferry charges are added to the invoice.
But from this week, there’s a new kid in town. Dave Chapman has set up a mechanical repair garage on the site of the GAS service station at the beginning of the Russell end of Aucks Rd.
The complex is owned by Rod Haines and has a chandlery and storage units, as well as what was an unused garage. He had set up two hoists and work benches but had never run it as a business.
Chapman’s father-in-law approached Haines with a view to having his son-in-law run the space as a new business venture and negotiations proved fruitful.
“We haven’t even got signage up yet but we have customers and have had heaps of support through Facebook and with people dropping in to say hi,” he said.
Chapman will commute daily from Kerikeri because his three children are at critical ages and he and his partner Holly don’t want them disrupted. He admits it’s a “bit expensive” with the daily ferry cost “but the drive is nice”. His partner will also drive over regularly to help run the business.
Chapman has a personal licence to do WOFs but he needs a site licence so must apply to NZTA (Waka Kotahi) for that. A representative is due to visit this week and, all going well, he will have a licence to do WOFs on the site within two or three weeks.
In addition to all the meeting places, gathering spaces, stages, stalls and pop-ups that constitute Waitangi week, the Waitangi National Trust is providing visitors with the information to potentially own their own home.
In an inaugural initiative, the trust is bringing together housing construction, financing, service providers and housing products to provide aspiring homeowners and housing developers with the opportunity to engage with each other and assist in developing “roadmaps” to make owning a home a reality.
The theme for the expo is “Roadmap to My Home”. Attendees can gather information as they walk through a cul-de-sac of on-site houses, cabins and related stalls that showcase solar energy, waste management, hempcrete and water among other key features.
Pita Tipene, chairman of the Waitangi National Trust, says the expo is free to all attendees. It will have a field day atmosphere with displays, interactive activities, giveaways and a spectrum of housing solutions of different sizes and price points that will be whānau-centric.
“Very few people have the experience and a detailed view of what is involved in building a house or housing development, so we’ve brought the players together,” he said.
“This expo is for everyone, but particularly for Māori with collectively owned land where they can develop their own housing.
“Those not ready to build can access products that will make their current living situation more comfortable.”
The Waitangi Housing Expo 2024 will be at the Waitangi Sports Grounds on Waitangi Day from 9am to 4.30pm. The Waitangi National Trust website has further information, maps of the expo layout and a run sheet of events on the day.
The latest news bites from around the region.