The Windsurfer LT had its first event for 2026 on January 11th at Tairua. This was the second time we have run this event at Tairua. Tairua is a Māori name which translates literally as tai: tides, rua: two.

The concept was to sail up the Tairua Estuary with an incoming tide until the leader cannot make it further due to the turned tide. At that point, he turns back with the tide flow. The “Cascade” is a handicap restart, and so when others see any sailor sailing back, they can also turn around and sail back. This is a “Cascade” restart, an automatic handicap start.

The 11am downwind start from Mary Beach Reserve was straight into the first leg in NE winds of 4 to 8 knots, aided by a strong incoming tide, and over shallow and crystal-clear water. This had sailors navigating sand bars, and enjoying the spectacle of stingrays gliding away beneath them.

Doug Ferguson was first to arrive at a shallow sand bar where the Taira River meets the estuary, followed by Ryan Pausina and Claudio Barbuzza, and awaited for the fleet to regroup.

Just after the handicap restart up the first narrowed stretch, the wind changed to the gradient SW wind, which got up to an gusty 15 knots, so we were tacking upwind. However as the stream became narrower and windier (as streams do) the angles of the straights made for good lay-throughs and tacking around the bends.

Ryan followed by Doug had a great race and were eventually passed by Bruce Kendall. It was an interesting change to be tacking up a narrow water way, surrounded by trees (which required avoiding the over hanging branches or submerged fallen trees), seeing hawks hunting, hearing sky larks and surprising swimmers cooling off in a secluded spot. One lady asked if we were getting along on wind power alone!

The top three sailors at the turn of the tide at around 1:30, Bruce, Ryan and Doug, were in sight of each other as they neared the petrol station at Hikuai, the turn off from State Hwy 26 to Pauanui.

Getting an ice-cream was discussed, but it was decided we had a long way to go back in a dying SW wind.

The fleet regrouped where the river changes into the harbour, just as the wind switched to a 12 knot NE sea breeze before dropping down to 5 knots, making the last leg home a long beat, with the tide helping.

Doug was first to finish, followed by Bruce with Claudio close behind.

• Heavy weights: 1st Claudio; 2nd Nigel.
• Light Weights: 1st Doug; 2nd Ryan.
• Youth: 1st. Will; 2nd Katie.

Bruce and David swapped between sailing and support boat driving, with Alex and Salty as crew.

Next year this event will be replaced with a Jan 1 Annual Lake regatta near Lake Rotorua. Details to be confirmed.