Rena Latest - Volunteering

"Because we've got old oil that is remobilising on the shoreline, we still need lots of hands and bodies to sweep the beaches and pick up these weathered, tarry globs of oil.

Once this is done, the next phase can focus on mechanical recovery,'' he said.

Mr Quinn said while volunteer support had been outstanding, more people were still needed to help clean beaches over the coming days and weeks.

"We appreciate that people have busy lives, and that it's more difficult for people to get away during the working week to give us a hand.

"But if anyone can spare a few hours, either during the week or over the weekend, we'd love to have you come and help us. This is going to be a marathon - not a sprint.''

Mt Maunganui beach down to Tay St would stay open this weekend but other local beaches remained closed as old oil continued to come ashore."

NZ Herald

 

Volunteering information

1. You must be 16 years of age or older and physically fit. You should not be assisting with oil clean up if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.
2. You must be willing to work a minimum of a 4-hour shift.
3. If you haven't already registered as a volunteer, please do so online at www.boprc.govt.nz/oilspillvolunteers/
4. You must bring your own pair of gumboots. Volunteers without their own gumboots will not be permitted to clean-up for safety reasons.
5. Do not bring additional equipment, such as your own protective suits, shovels, rakes, sacks and gloves: these will be provided.
6. Bring a small back pack with your own food and water. Clean-up can be physically challenging so you will need to stay well-nourished. The back pack must be comfortable enough to stay on your back at all times.

If you have any experience in bird or animal handling and could help with wildlife recovery please call 0800 333 771.

For any further questions email renavolunteers@gmail.com or phone 0800 645 774.

Thank you for your ongoing support, help and enthusiasm - the response from the community and our volunteers is inspiring.
Pim de Monchy
Volunteer Co-ordinator

BOP Regional Council

Smashed 'em!

Rena Latest, Beaches and Harbour opened.

"Maritime New Zealand clarified its position yesterday after 24 hours of mixed messages as to whether people could swim off the 3km of beach between the Mount and Tay St that is open to the public. National on-scene commander Alex van Wijngaarden said people could "use their own commonsense" and do what they wanted in that area, provided they did not enter the exclusion zone around the Rena, which has been reduced from 45km to about 20km."

 http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/rena-crisis/5835638/Mount-beach-reopens

"However, Captain van Wijngaarden said there was still oil in the environment and people needed to be vigilant if they chose to go into the water. People should be careful and look out for any sign of oil contamination. Although the residual oil is a lot less toxic than fresh oil, people should still avoid it. The rest of the beach, from Tay Street to Maketk, remained closed to the public." 

Maritime nz 

 

The harbour has similarly been given the all clear for water quality, however Warnings still remain in place, primarily to advise of 'user risk' as I understand it. The Kiteboarding Nationals have gone ahead with no issues and the local crew have enjoyed a couple of unaffected days sailing in the harbour. 

Mr B.Anderson

Dean will  however, continue to provide daily "dipstick" duties to ensure we don't get oil on our nice windsurfing stuff. Cheers Dean, legend!

Darren, Roger and Adam checking kite related water hazards

The author gettin' some!

Website launched for Youth Windsurfing in New Zealand - WNZ

Are you a kid or parent looking for more information about youth windsurfing in New Zealand? This is the website for you. Here you can find out about:Schools and clubs, competition pathways, where to buy windsurfing equipment, fun windsurfing events and competitions and how you can have your say...

Are you a kid or parent looking for more information about youth windsurfing in New Zealand? This is the website for you. Here you can find out about …
…

* Schools and clubs where you can learn to windsurf.
…

* The different competition pathways you can take if you decide windsurfing is the sport for you, and what you need to buy and do in order to follow a particular pathway.
…

* Where to buy windsurfing equipment and how to work out what is best for your age, size, and favourite kind of windsurfing.
…

* All the fun windsurfing events and competitions happening for youth around New Zealand.
…

* And how you can have your say about windsurfing issues and what you’d like to see available in the sport.

…
http://youth.windsurfingnz.org/

Elements Watersports Spring Windsurfing Tuition

It's been a busy few weeks here at Elements Watersports - Our First Tauranga Slalom Windsurf Regatta, Club safety boat courses for Rowing NZ, the Auckland boat show and of course not forgetting the Rugby!

Elements has, along with other great local activity operators, taken over the glass box at the strand over the past few weeks and are there promoting our tours, lessons and courses over the rugby world cup period.  It’s a great venue for a walk or a lunch stop on the deck looking out over the water and there will be lots going on over the school holidays to check out.
There's so much to do here in Tauranga so come and talk to any of  us at the glass box at the strand
any day of the week between 9am and 5pm.

What's new this Season

Youth - School holidays and Term 4

Elements is offering lots more options for kids to learn and improve this year, with term long courses to single lessons, weekend courses and school holiday program short courses.

Check out our upcoming courses below or visit our website to find out more http://www.elementsonline.co.nz/default.aspx?page=activities.schools

Learn to Windsurf     -     Start Windsurfing Course

This Windsurfing course is the perfect introduction for juniors
(8 to 18 year olds) wanting to Learn to Windsurf.
Our Beginners course will give you a great introduction to the exciting sport of windsurfing.
During your course you will learn how to sail across the wind, you will learn how to tack  and how to launch, set up and look after your kit.
All our kids’ courses include a variety of games and fun exercises that help you gain the skills you need to be a confident windsurfer in light winds.
We provide you with all your equipment and all your Watersports clothing and fantastic instructors.

October School Holiday             Start Windsurfing Course
When:                       Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th October      
Time:                         9am till 3pm
Where:                      Elements Watersports, Kulim Park
Cost                           $125

Term 4                      Start Windsurfing Course:
When:                       Choose 4  x Mondays between 24th October and 12th December
Time:                         4pm till 630pm
Where:                     Elements Watersports, Kulim Park, Matua, Tauranga.
Cost:                          $125.00    Payment plans available.

Term 4                    Windsurf Improver     -       Intermediate Windsurfer

Our Windsurf improver’s course builds upon the skills you learnt on your Start Windsurfing course.  You will progress quickly over the next 8 weeks and once you’ve completed this course you will be skilful and confident enough to windsurf in more challenging conditions and competent enough to hire equipment with Elements Watersports or transit to the racing circuit.

Course start date:     Wednesday 26th October
Course finish date:    Wednesday 14th December
Time: 4pm till 630pm

Where:   Elements Watersports, Kulim Park, Matua, Tauranga.
Cost:  $260   Payment plans available.

This course also runs during our Summer school holiday program or can be booked over a weekend anytime during the year.
Book a course by emailing jules@elementsonline.co.nz or for more information on how to get started call us on 0800 486 729

http://www.elementsonline.co.nz/default.aspx?page=activities.schools

Elements Watersports Spring Racing - The Match Report

Another magic Tauranga morning raised a few concerns early on, but those enthusiastic competitors who had made the effort to roll down to Fergusson Park early were more than happy to register and wait. Along with Alexander from A’ND Distribution, some of Auckland’s finest sailors had also made the trip down for a bit of ‘Bay action’.

Peter and Julie from Elements Watersports ran through the format for prospective racing, and Alexander followed with a overview of some of his latest windsurf equipment. While keeping one expectant eye on the flags, everyone busied themselves with a bit of rigging and tuning in anticipation of a ‘call to race’. As predicted, the Nor’Wester built enough to warrant setting a course, and getting wet!

Everyone hit the water for the first round of racing, a straight forward ‘figure 8’ within the narrow confines of the channel. A couple of tight start sequences challenged the fleet early on, however cunning startline strategies started to evolve as the races progressed. Despite all of the hectic starts, only one passionate protest was directed at the committee boat, (and was quickly rejected after ‘careful’ consideration, sorry Darryl). Tim Wood (GBR7) had the measure of the day’s conditions, (and the congested short course) and was rarely headed over the 6 races. 

Following closely were a tight bunch of 6 or 7 sailors battling across the whitecapped harbour. Amongst this group and exhibiting no loss of form,(despite many years swinging from kites) was Glenn Bright, representing the locals with a 'class' effort. We were also impressed with the young RSX/Techno racers who gave the 'short version' of the sport a go, on their funny looking gear.

Those running bigger rigs were clearing out from the rest as the conditions eased, so the fleet was separated for the final few races. Fortunately, the race committee were able to evaluate final results after Day 1, as Sunday’s forecast failed to provide suitable weather to get a start*.
*A few hardy locals did head out to ‘test’ conditions, much to the amusement of those who were content with warm/dry clothing and hot coffee.

OVERALL RESULTS (with discards removed)

Congratulations Tim! And a special thanks to you and Marilyn for the all the valued technical assistance offered over the weekend.

While the Auckland crew showed their experience on the racecourse, some enthusiastic sailing from the Bay locals should inspire a few of us to look to competing in more organised events. Many thanks to those guys who came from out of town to sail with us, we look forward to catching up again soon for more racing.

 

A big thanks to the event sponsors for all of their assistance with Tauranga’s first serious windsurf event, in many years. After talking about running this type of comp for a long time (and finally having the support to put it together) we are now confident in offering more comps in the not too distant future.

 

www.assault.co.nz

 

A massive thank you to Anton and Bruce @ Windsurfing NZ for the technical, legal and emotional support to enable us to pull this all together. We certainly hope to follow this event up with another to further promote the sport locally, and generate a bit more of a 'community' feel to it.

Please give Brent Devcich a call if you are in need of any of his awesome photos. They are now posted on Flickr to view. Great commitment to sacrifice competing himself, to record the day's action for all to see. Cheers Brent.

Thanks to Barry and The Otumoetai Sports & Recreation Club for the use of  facilities over the weekend, much appreciated.

And thanks to Candace for providing the excellent food and coffee, and the great service over both days. Cheers.

Once again I would like to acknowledge all of the time and effort afforded by Pete and Jules to make this such a fantastic event. With their valued input, this event has highlighted the opportunity local sailors have at getting a little more organised, and a lot more competitive. Great work!

Tauranga Spring Racing - Day 2

Spring Racing Day 2 - Moving the sailing to KULIM PARK today. Start time 11am.

Please get in touch with Peter for any further info.
Phone : 0800 4 TOPAZ / 0800 486 729
Mobile : +64 (0)21 369 807 or +64 (0)275 369 807
Email : info@elementsonline.co.nz