Taranaki Wave Classic New Zealand

2006/10/30

The Taranaki Wave Classic is a premier wave event on the New Zealand windsurf calendar. Our national FANATIC team riders performed extremely well in this event. Unfortunately the weather was not too nice (rain, mist, not much wind), but quiet a big swell.

Saturday kicked of with a skippers meeting at Kina rd where we were all told that the event was on hold due to the lack of wind (5 to 9 knots on the inside) in conjunction with the size of the swell for the average person. James Court, one of our team riders decided to give it a go and for sure he got the reward when he made it out and back. James put on a great show ripping up some mast and a half swells for the other 50 competitors who decided it was a better call to stay on the beach. Eventually one other person made it out, but that was it for the day.

Sunday kicked in with similar fashion, very little wind and a slightly smaller swell but the event organizers decided to call a start to the expression session with the hope of finding the top 10 sailors to go through to the finals. After around 2 hours sailing the wind started to ease and eventually dropping out meaning there was no chance of the final being held. The judges decided that they would select the top 10 sailors from what they had seen in the past 2 hrs and crown someone the winner of the TWC. According to the judges it was a very tough call for first and second, but they decide Chris Lefrance had won the event, Fanatic team rider James Court in 2nd, Fanatic team rider Chris Norris in 3rd and Fanatic team rider Clayton Dougan in 4th.

Results Top 5 , Fanatic 3 of the top 5:
1. Chris Lefrance
2. James Court (Fanatic/ Neil Pryde
3. Chris Norris (Fanatic/Neil Pryde)
4. Clayton Dugan (Fanatic/Neil Pryde)
5. Lawrence Young

Thanx to Dave Mcphee from Wild Winds New Zealand!

More Pics at: www.wildwinds.co.nz