The race is on: Ideal conditions forecast for powerboats’ big Napier weekend

Rainbow Haulage and racers Colin Dunn and Darren Butterworth, neck-and-neck with Langslow Engineering in the national offshore powerboat drivers' championship and heading for a catamarans showdown off the Ahuriri and Westshore coast on Saturday and Sunday. Photo / Shot360

Offshore powerboats and their crews are on their way to Hawke’s Bay for the third leg of their national championship after confirmation racing will go ahead off Ahuriri and Westshore on Saturday and Sunday.

The confirmation came late this morning but in time for teams to stick to their travel plans, mainly from the Auckland region.

There had been concerns about the weather, but former New Zealand Offshore Powerboat Association (NZPBA) president Paul Greenfield, who is in one of the two catamarans vying for the major title, said the forecast had improved such that racers can expect ideal conditions.

It comprises two races of up to half an hour each from midday on Saturday and a longer-course race from midday on Sunday.

The NZPBA consulted with Coastguard Hawke’s Bay before giving the green light, with the main issue the possibility of logs on the ocean surface.

“We’ll be scanning it when we get down there,” Greenfield said.

The situation seems to have navigated past a repeat of last year’s dilemma in Napier, when several boats had gear breakages on the first day, leading to the abandonment of the second as winds and the swell increased on the Sunday.

Greenfield, who will be on Langslow Engineering, level pegging with Rainbow Haulage, with each crew having won two races, says 10-14 boats are expected in Napier.

But in Wairoa, where the storm has been more dominant, the unrelated Ian Reeves Memorial Ski Race on the Wairoa River, also scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, has been postponed with a tentative new date in February.

Today’s MetService marine forecast for Hawke’s Bay was for northwest winds up to 37km/h on Saturday, changing southwest to 27km/h in the morning, turning northwest to 18km/h in the evening, with an easterly swell of 1m diminishing.

On Sunday, northwest winds to 27km/h are expected early, changing easterly to 18km/h early, and southwest to 27km/h late, with a southerly swell of 1m developing.

On Wednesday, association vice-president Owen Mackay said it is never a single factor that leads to a cancellation – they can race in rain and in bigger swells.

“Two days ago it was looking a certainty we would cancel,” Mackay said.

The fleet will be arriving in Napier on Friday, and boats and trailers can be viewed on Te Karaka Reserve, near the Hawke’s Bay Sports Fishing Club, which has several members and their boats involved managing the racing and movements of craft which are not involved, and therefore not permitted across the course around the times of the racing.

Earlier rounds were held on Gulf Harbour in October and Lake Taupō in November. The Gisborne race on February 14 is threatened because of road damage in the region, and the last round is scheduled for Whitianga in March.

The Napier race is one of the longest-standing on the circuit, with a history dating back to the 1970s, and racing most years since a revival at the end of the 1980s.

Doug Laing is a Hawke’s Bay Today reporter based in Napier, with more than 50 years in the news industry, covering most aspects of local, regional and national news.