Waka ama better choice for lake plans

If the lake can be converted to a dragon boat course, then it is extra value for a cheap price.

I HAVE been amused by the debate in our letters and texts regarding the redistribution of an island in Henley Lake to make way for a dragon boat course.

As a newcomer to Wairarapa I've always felt the lake is something of an anachronism. Artificial lakes are nice to have if the time can be taken to make them beautiful, and I assume plenty of people have enjoyed their by-the-water stroll at Henley Lake, assuming it's not befouled with poop from Canada geese.

It's basically the equivalent of a water feature in your garden. A bit English, a bit antiquated, but one way of beautifying your town and giving people a chance to see birds in a natural habitat.

So, it's a perfectly good lake with perfectly good intentions, although the algae blooms have been a detriment to its value.

If the lake can be converted to a dragon boat course, then it is extra value for a cheap price. It is easy to rile up the texting brigade with the talk of spending money, but $28,000 to reshuffle an artificial island is realistically a spit in the ocean (or lake).

Dragon boating is probably mentioned a lot because of the success of Wellington's Dragon Boat festival, which I've covered many times and never fails to be an impressive weekend for Wellington. But dragon boating events are not that common, and attention should really be given to a far larger and more popular sport, waka ama, or outrigger canoe racing. We don't see it much in Wairarapa, but in other parts of the country it is commonplace, with kids competing at national and international events in the Pacific Islands.

Waka ama has been part of a boosting of youth pride in communities like Porirua, where Maori and Polynesian youth have discovered it's an excellent way to earn mana and an impressive six-pack at the same time. Granted, Porirua has a harbour and a substantial youth population. We have Lake Wairarapa, but it is a problematic location with weather. Yesterday morning I had to run for the car with my dogs as the storm crashed down.

Masterton tends to have better weather than South Wairarapa, and within the waka ama circuit (or dragon boat), everyone's always looking for the new novel location that isn't in the middle of nowhere. Masterton, already an official campervan-friendly town, has all the facilities really close by. The concept of a North Island competition, or secondary schools comp, could work.