November 2025 Newsletter

Well, another month has slipped by. Your Committee is, as always, hard at work making things happen

In years past, your club had an active corporate rowing program, where any corporate entity could enter a team, preferably 8 rowers. This is run as a fundraising activity and to raise the profile of the club with some subsequent Masters joining the Club. The club provides all equipment, a coxswain and coaching over a 6-8 week, twice per week,  program prior to a competition. We will be looking for teams with an aim to compete at the Blue Lake regatta in October/November 2026 so if you think this may interest an organisation you are involved with please let us know.  Also suggested was perhaps a Strand regatta for them. Planning is currently underway. Further information will be provided as things happen.

Funding Success

We have now taken possession of our new boat trailer.  It still requires a few add ons to be complete, but it is fully roadworthy and can be used from now on.  Our thanks to New Zealand Community Trust and TECT who provide the majority of the funding for the trailer.

Our thanks also go to Pub Charity who have this month approved funding of $3,554 towards the cost of  6 Blue Ocean megaphones for the coaches which they are now happily using for training on the water and saving their vocal cords.

Waters Edge Lounge: 

We are moving through many maintenance items required in the lounge. The lounge gets a lot of use, so things get damaged, worn, and we need to keep on top of these issues so that we can charge a fair rental, and keep our good reputation intact. We will need to organise a working bee to freshen up the paintwork etc one weekend when bookings are not affected.  If we pull together this will not be a major task and provide the facelift  to keep bookings rolling in and therefore sufficient to offset the operating costs of the building.

We are also in the process of transferring and upgrading one of the main marketing tools for the lounge, the Waters Edge website, from a Wordpress to a Squarespace platform.  If this is an area where you are able to provide some expert assistance to help out we would love to hear from you. 

Please remember to promote the lounge hire at every opportunity.

Tauranga Harbour Pontoon Plan

We have become aware of plans to erect a maritime emergency response pontoon adjacent to the railway bridge which we have advised will have a significant impact on access to training routes for our club’s rowers and other water based sports.  Access from the Strand then under the bridge following the waterways vessel direction rules will be blocked.  More information is covered in the Bay Times News article linked below.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/residents-and-rowers-riled-up-over-tauranga-harbour-pontoon-plans/4HCS256YAZFFDMKVNBEZQ6T6WM/

Regattas back in full swing

I attended the second day of the Memorial Regatta at Karapiro, the first regatta I have attended for some time. Things have certainly changed since my rowing days. The whole scene is completely different from what I remember. I will need to spend some time getting used to the changes.

Karapiro Club Regatta

Boat loading will be on Thursday 27 November from 4 pm.  All those attending are expected to be there along with their 10mm spanners.   For this and future regattas assistance is required ahead of the regatta to transport tents etc and the small box trailer so that these can be on site when the regatta begins. Please let our Club Captain know if this is something you can help with.

Your coach will advise what time you need to be at the regatta and this is likely to be 1 ½ to 2 hours ahead of your first race on day 1.  Please note there are roadworks scheduled on the Kaimais which may affect your travel time.  Please allow for these Restrictions (daily):  8:00 pm to 6:00 am: Stop/go operations. 6:00 am to 8:00 pm: Lane diversions and a temporary 30 kph speed limit. 

We all wish all our athlete’s good luck in your coming regattas; row hard do your best. 

As your President it is my role, amongst other things, to stay in contact with members and supporters. Feel free to contact me at:  clubpresident@taurangarowingclub.co.nz with any comments/suggestions you might have.

I have yet to hear from anyone about how we could do things better following the above request. I look forward to hearing from you.

Neil Chinnery-Brown