2024 Swift Racing New Zealand Coastal Rowing Beach Sprint Champs

EVENT DESCRIPTION

The Porirua Rowing Club are proud to host the 2024 Swift Racing New Zealand Coastal Rowing Beach Sprint Championship on 4-5 May, at Titahi Bay Beach, Wellington.

This sport is growing in popularity and is now an event at the 2028 Olympic Games. 

Rowing New Zealand will be attending and these national championships will be a factor in selecting New Zealand trialists for the Open and Under 19 crews to represent at the World Championships in September 2024 in Genoa, Italy.

There is also a fun/competitive side with events for different age groups and abilities. 

Drones will be livestreaming the event with a commentator also broadcasting through the sound system to those on the beach. There will be music playing, a bbq available for the public and when the racing has finished, the Surf Club will open their bar for a few drinks on Saturday and Sunday. The regatta will be advertised to get people down to see this growing sport. The aim is for fun, excitement and competitiveness!

EVENTS OFFERED

There will be 19 events in total. Open and U19 will be the only events to offer single races, to align with the World Championships. Open will have a mixed double.

The remaining events will have male and female doubles; and all quads are mixed.

• Open (Senior or Elite) – CM1x, CW1x, CMix2x, CMix4x+
• Club (Novice/Int/Club) – CM2x, CW2x, CMix4x+
• U19 – CM1x, CW1x, CM2x, CW2x, CMix4x+
• U17 – CM2x, CW2x, CMix4x+
• Masters CD (43+ av age) & EF (55+ av age) Grade – both grades CMix2x, CMix4x+

Note you must also nominate a coxswain for the quad. The coxswain steers with a very responsive rudder and can easily win the race with accurate steering and if fast, being the runner to get the crew away quickly.

The Open and U19 mixed quads must have 2 male and 2 female rowers as this is how the World Championships will be raced. The mixed quads in the remaining events must have at least 2 female rowers, but can have up to 3 female rowers. This flexibility should allow more opportunity to get quads on the water and racing. The coxswain (male or female) does not count as a rower.

It is recommended you bring your own boat holders as they can help your team enter/exit the boat, are allowed to push the boat and for the single and double, can help navigate by pointing from the shore to steer the boats around the buoys.

EVENT PROGRAMME

The detailed 2-day program will be confirmed once entries have closed and we have confirmed numbers. This will enable us to identify which events have large entries and require longer racing times and so on.

If you can only make it for one day, still sign up. If the final schedule doesn’t work for you, we’ll give you your money back.

EVENT FORMAT

The format will start with time trials. You will have 2 races against the clock. Each race will take about 3 minutes and include a sprint to the boat, navigating around buoys until about 250 m from shore, and then racing back to finish with a sprint to the buzzer. Time trials are run in a processional format, meaning all those in a single category race back-to-back, in order to maintain maximum fairness in conditions.

Knockouts: In this stage, the top four rowers/crews from the time trial are seeded and paired up. The rowers sprint to their boats and slalom like in the time trial. However, at the third buoy, the rower completes a 180-degree turn and sprints straight back to the beach. Once out of their boats, the rowers run around their flags and sprint to the finish, often with a dive to the button to stop the clock.

Winners of each race progress to finally meet to battle it out in the A final.

SELECTION TO REPRESENT AT THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Rowing New Zealand will be supporting an Open and Under 19 team to attend the World Championships in Italy. To be considered you:

– must complete an application form

– attend these NZ Champs 4-5 May

Trialists will be named on 8 May.

Click here for the 2024 RNZ Coastal Beach Sprint Selection Policy

Click here for the 2024 RNZ Coastal Beach Sprint Selection Guidelines

ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

Coastal boats are set up for sculling and therefore for safety reasons, only rowers can enter the regatta. The rowit database will be used to confirm that competitors have the skill to race in a coastal boat. But talk to us if you believe you can safely compete! (Contact details below). Note you do not need to be a current member of a rowing club – but must be able to show you have the skills to safely compete.

You may enter multiple events as long as age group and classification criteria are met. For example, a novice/int/club may enter the ‘Club’ grade and row up in the ‘Open’ grade as well.

Your class eg novice, intermediate, club, senior or premier will be the class you rowed at for the 2023/24 season. 

The Rowing NZ Rules of Racing 2023 detail the age and classification criteria. 

ABOUT THE VENUE

The Porirua Rowing Club is located in the city of Porirua, only 20 minutes north of Wellington. We have partnered with the Titahi Bay Surf Club to run the regatta from the Surf Club, right in the middle of the beach. 

The surf club are providing the safety plan, life guard duty, first aid cover and giving us access to their building and facilities and we are running the regatta as a team. We will make sure this is a safe and fun regatta.

The beach is the prime site and is protected from a southerly wind. However, while autumn is the calmest season for Wellington, a strong northwesterly may mean we can’t run the regatta from the beach.

The Porirua Rowing Club is only 1km from the beach and is well protected from such a wind, especially in coastal boats. The Surf Club will be able to continue to support the regatta from the Porirua Rowing Club, if we had to move to this back-up plan. This is plan B though as there is no sandy beach to enable the running component to be included.

What this means for you is that we will do everything possible to ensure this regatta goes ahead.

Cost

The boats, sculls, regatta setup, safety oversight etc are all covered by your entry fee. There is no need to arrange boat transport – just come to the regatta and enjoy Wellington. 

The costs are based upon the number of events you enter and are per person:

You race in 1 event – $50+gst eg Club men’s double.

You race in 2 events – $90+gst eg Club women’s double and Club mixed quad.

You race in 3 events – $120+gst eg Club women’s double and Club mixed quad and are coxswain in Open mixed quad.

You race in 4+ events – $150+gst

Registration Guarantee

If the regatta is cancelled, you will receive a full refund.

It’s important for planning purposes that we get your registrations in as soon as possible, so we can confirm that there are enough entries to justify the regatta and confirm events. Entries close on Sunday 21 April 2024 at 8pm.

Contact Details

Please email, text or call if you are unsure about anything:

Tony Tikiku

Email: admin @ safetyhub.co.nz

Cell: 021 0292 6927