Another dominant winning performance from Taipa waka paddler Tupuria King, and a surprise late entry from South African surf ski exponent Sean Rice, gave the annual Bo Herbert Memorial ocean paddling race an extra edge at the weekend.
King, the current national waka ama sprint title holder, defended the Bo Herbert memorial title for the third year running, completing a gruelling 32km course on the Tutukaka coast in 2 hours 47 minutes.
Rice, who is ranked in the top five ocean surf ski paddlers in the world series, stormed to victory in the ocean ski section in 2 hours 25 minutes, hitting the finish line inside the Tutukaka Harbour seven minutes clear of Aucklander Andrew Mowlem in second spot.
In testing conditions, paddlers started the race at Matapouri Beach, headed north to Whananaki before turning to paddle with tailwind conditions to Ngunguru before a short upwind leg to the finish line at Kowharewa Bay inside Tutukaka Harbour.
King was initially chased hard by Maui Kjeldsen, a former Northland waka paddler now based in Hawaii, and Tahitian Nohoarii Tahiata. In the end Tahiata got third with Sean Herbert finishing second in the race held in memory of his father Bo. While Kjeldsen, Tahiata and Herbert did manage to gain ground on King in sections of the race, King was too strong in the final few kilometres.
