The new boat, obtained through funding from the New Zealand Community Trust, has been christened “Four Petes”, after a top crew for the club in the 1980s whose first names were all Peter.
Starr said the boys’ teams were expected to do well in the North Island schools regatta in early March and they would finally have a boat the right size for them.
Crews from Gisborne Boys’ High School, Gisborne Girls’ High and Campion College will compete in that meet and, two weeks later, in the prestigious Maadi Cup (national secondary schools regatta).
The Gisborne club has been growing but its fleet is ageing.
This led to a Gisborne crew winning the women’s intermediate coxed octuple sculls A Final in a boat they borrowed from another club. They had never trained for that race.
Coach Lewis Green said the result was in some ways a surprise and in some ways not.
“The club’s never raced an octuple before,” he said.
“All the girls in that race trained hard and row well together.”
They rowed together in quads and double sculls.
“It was good to see that their hard work over the past three seasons paid off.”
Club girls’ head coach Alex Hyland said it was the type of combination that could be brought together quickly, but the result was impressive.
“It would have been quite special for them all.”
The girls won’t be racing the octuple any more as it’s not an option in school regattas.
Although club members were thrilled with the octuple win, the rowers are now focusing on the schools events.
