South Taranaki surf lifesaving club Opunake proved size was irrelevant when they gave the rest of a strong field a lesson in small rescue craft skills to dominate the North Island IRB championships at Whangamata.
Premier driver Chris Scott, crewman Jaron Mumby and patient Zac Bradshaw expertly led one of the smallest clubs in New Zealand to complete domination in the championships, which attracted 77 crews from regions throughout the country.
The premier crew won the assembly and mass rescue titles in the morning and capped off an outstanding day with a narrow victory over Mairangi Bay in the important single rescue in the afternoon.
The only result Opunake did not feature in was the tube rescue.
The single rescue was raced at low tide, meaning crews had to manhandle the boats more than 20m through shallow water before they could get aboard.
Mairangi Bay's Danny Morrison, Jason Pocock and Mike Buck were just a few metres behind Opunake on the homeward journey, and that was still the margin after the 30m sprint up the beach by the drivers.
The Opunake senior, under-21 and women's crews added their weight to finish the day with a total of 98 points.
Their nearest rivals, New Plymouth Old Boys, were on 32 points in second place.
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