Captains Report: 88th Head of Harbour

Both our novice, junior and senior squads returned to racing at home on Lake Pupuke on Saturday the 10th of February, for the 88th Head of Harbour Regatta.

Racing started bright and early and Lake Pupuke provided picturesque conditions with plenty of flat water for racing. To start the day off Ollie Moy and John An placed second in the Division one of the Boys Under-15 double sculls.

Two races later the Girls Under-15 quad of Milla Mckendry, Skye Grice-Douglas, Stella Bradley and Emily Western coxed by George Cockayne would do the same placing 2nd in division one.

Next up the girls Under-18 double of Eliabeth Mckendry and Nia Shipkov would place 2nd in division one. Just one race later Holly Shipkov and Neave McConnachie would take out division two of the same event.

Another notable performance was the Boys Under-17 coxed eight of Ben Mansell, George Layburn, Toby Fost, Ollie Burton, Charlie Tallon, Caleb Willman-Childs, Bill An and Leo Bacchus coxed by Ashlee Bourke who rowed to a second place in division one.

Four races later the Boys Under-18 coxed quad sculls of Charlie Bourke, Thomas Bloom, Matthew Molony and Erik Brownlow coxed by Maia Stebbing would take out division one and TGSC 2 comprise of Lachie Anderson, Liam Crampsie, Archer Grey and George Glass coxed by Jasper van Tonder would place 3rd.

Later in the day the Girls U15 coxed Octuple sculls of Milla Mckendry, Skye Grice-Douglas, Stella Bradley, Sophia Twine, Farrah Grice-Douglas, Alexa Waterworth, Emily Western and Sofia Cagney Potts coxed by Aleisha Patel would place 3rd in division 1. Milla and Stella would then team up to place second in the Girls U15 double sculls

This race was closely followed by the Boys U18 coxed four of Charlie Bourke, Ollie Burton, Thomas Bloom and Taylor Dodds coxed by Maia Stebbing who placed 2nd. The Boys U17 four of Ben Mansell, George Layburn, Bill An and Caleb Willman-Childs coxed by Ashlee Bourke would also place 2nd in Division 1.

Next up was the Girls U18 coxed quad sculls of Nia Shipkov, Lizzie Mckendry, Holly Shipkov and Neave McConnachie coxed by Maia Stebbing who in an excellent race placed second.

Not long after Holly and Nia Shipkov would take out the girls U17 double sculls in a well executed race!

To end off the day TGSRC would field both a Boys and Girls U18 eight which placed 4th and 7th respectively.

Overall, the entire club was entered into 66 races throughout the day resulting in a regatta that was both action packed but also extremely busy. It was great seeing everyone actively helping Taka crews get off water and the culture really started to flourish.

For the Novices who Head of Harbour was their last regatta of the season it was great seeing you all progress through the season and step it up another notch this weekend. Hopefully you all enjoyed your first season and are looking forward to doing it again.

The Junior and Senior squads will have a well deserved weekend off after 3 weekends in a row of racing before heading back down to Karapiro for Aon Junior. Let's keep building on all our racing experience and really make the most out of these last few regattas.

A big thank you to all our coaches, especially Kira and Martin who have done an amazing job coaching our Novice Squad. Lastly thank you to all the parents that helped out, without you this weekend wouldn’t have been possible. In particular thanks to Chris and Kent who were both instrumental over the weekend.