The forecast wind won’t work for the beach this Saturday. It should be fine for Sanson, so the Manawatu track should be good for a sail. Let’s go up there and have a good sail, then back in time for Xmas BBQ at Barb and Ian’s in Waikanae.
We need your help
You may have seen the articles around about Blokarts and Otaraua Park https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/kapiti/105060594/multi-milliondollar-park-development-on-the-cards-for-the-kpiti-coast . While blokart sailing is mentioned in the draft plan, there is not actually an ideal area in the plan for us.
Capital blokart Club Inc have been working to get a sailing venue in Wellington region for many years. We have met with Kapiti Coast District Council (KCDC) many times and blokart sailing is mentioned in the draft plan for Otaraua Park. While there is not an ideal spot for us in the present draft plan, it is a good start.
To help evaluate Otaraua Park for blokart sailing suitability, we have tried sailing on the soccer fields when they are not used in the summer.
The fields are sailable in the right wind, however the area is less than ideal because of its low elevation and positioning in regards to the hills, trees and predominate N-NW wind. The wind is a bit restrictive on this low lying area and being grass it needs extra wind to overcome frictional loss.
The predominate wind for Kapiti Coast is North to North West. The hills and trees close by the fields are probably a welcomed shelter for soccer players, but is a disadvantage for blokart sailors.
Blokart sailing needs a flat, hard area that is exposed to the wind. An area of around 10,000sq/m would be ideal. It would not have to be fully sealed and could contain grassed areas. Looking at the plan, there is a couple of areas that would work for blokart sailing:
1. The cross-over area between #17 and #9 could work with modification. A concern would be the height of the multi-purpose hub and grandstand (#8), as this would be a potential wind block.
2. The Hardcourts area (#18) could work well for blokart sailing as it has close parking and is well away from wind blocks like the grandstand. The height of the surrounding trees would need to be considered.
Please checkout the plan online https://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/Our-District/Our-Community/Parks-and-Recreation/otarauaparkfuture Where you will see links to the Draft development plan, Consultation Document and Survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/otarauaparkfuture
We want everyone to have a look over the plan and give feedback.
Marathon Success!
Congratulations Ian Timperley!
Ian added the 50km Marathon Trophy to his collection today.
Congratulations to everyone who competed today, especially Ian, Malcom, Ernie and Geoff for taking away the medals.
After postponing this Marathon for 5 weekends, we finally had the conditions we needed. The cooler, wet forecast put a few off, but 7 brave sailors were rewarded with some great sailing today. We normally run a 50km and 100km marathon concurrently, but because of the low numbers and pending bad weather later, we settled on one 50km Race. The odd shower came through to cool them off and test their fortitude. The beach was reasonably clean and sailing was in 27 – 39 kmh NNW wind. This meant a bit if tacking going North, then speed runs of up to 70 km/h going South.
See the full results here on MyLaps
Waitarere Beach 100km Marathon this Sunday
Capital blokart Club Waitarere Beach 100km Marathon is on this Sunday. Wind is looking good for a quick race. Our record for this race is 2:05, let’s see if we can beat that.
See here for more details
Marathon Winners!
The annual Landsailing Kapiti Waikanae Beach 50km Endurance race was a great success yesterday. The marathon event was run in almost perfect conditions with a clean beach and 20-30km NW wind. The winners completing the 50km in 1 hour and 10 minutes.
See the results on MYLAPS Speedhive site https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Events/1496293 checkout the Lap Chart to see all the jostling (in a gentlemanly way of course) for position, especially in the first few laps. Congratulations to everyone who took part, especially Trevor for taking Gold and the Event Trophy, John for taking Silver and Ernie for taking Bronze medal.
