A solid 2-metre sea swell couple with a decent nor-easterly zephyr greeted paddlers for the opening race of the Northland Ocean Paddling Twilight series held on the testy waters off the Tutukaka Coast.
A hardy crew hit the water for the first race of the year, a upwind dash intothe conditions before a downwind dash for home to complete a 10km course.
But such were conditions that several paddlers opted out after getting spooked by the big seas at the mouth of the Tutukaka Harbour, leaving the remaining competitors to battle into the wind.
By the time the remaining fleet reached the turn around point the competitive edge had subsided, and a collective decision made to abandon racing to enjoy the challenge and make the most of the downwind conditions instead.
Leading fleet for most of the way was Jason Eruera on his OC1 waka ama, fresh from his gold medal winning efforts at the Waka Ama Long DIstance Nationals in Gisborne recently.
Never far off the pace was the leading woman, Ngaire Pehi, another OC1 paddler.
But the strong following sea and wind conditions played nicely into the hands of the surf ski paddlers led by Tim Eves who rocketed home on some impressively big skates on the ever growing sea swell.
The conditions also proved ideal for Nigel Draper and Birget Meister paddling an OC2 waka who chased Eves all the way back to the safe waters of the Tutukaka Harbour.
The next race in the series is at the same Kowharewa Bay venue in the Tutukaka Harbour on October 26 and will be the first of the new 'Hare and Tortoise' points series paddles.
The Hare and Tortoise races will see paddlers bunch start and paddle for 40 minutes in one direction into the wind then the whole fleet turns and dashes for home.
