Power boat club to grapple with Henley Lake weed problem

The heavy artillery is about to be brought in to try and win at least one battle in the war against weeds in Henley Lake.
Recreational users of the weed-infested lake constantly struggle to pursue their water sport because of the rampant weed growth but the Wairarapa Model Yacht and Power Boat Club is about to clear at least its own patch.
Club captain Ray Ticehurst said talks have been held with Masterton District Council and the green light has been given for the club to roll out the heavy artillery.
This will be a tractor, wire and grappling gear that will be used to literally wrench the weeds from the lake bottom.
Mr Ticehurst said this would happen on Saturday week and the plan was to clear the area used by the club with councillors on hand to see how it was done.
The council would then take responsibility for taking away the weed mounds.
Mr Ticehurst said he thought the weed would probably be used to make compost.
The battle plan consists of rowing on to the lake with the wire rope and grapple, dropping the rope with the grapple into the area to be cleared and pulling the grappling gear back by using a tractor and winch on shore.
About 25m is cleared at a time in three or four stages as the grappling gear becomes less effective if it is overloaded during a single drag of the lake bottom.
Mr Ticehurst said having councillors on the spot was a way of showing them how effective the method was and if other water users did the same for their areas much more of the lake would be freed up for using.
Apart from the model yacht and powerboat club the lake is used for waka racing, by kayakers and other water sports.
Weed clearance by Mr Ticehurst and his companions will start about 8am from the Te Ore Ore Road section of the lake where the main flow of water enters Henley Lake.
On one other occasion about five years ago the club took measures to remove weeds from their racing waterway and cropped around 17 tonnes of weeds from their area.