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How Hugh’s ‘Think Big’ project could spark a rowing rescue
Seeing his daughter row across flood ravaged farmland only fuelled Hugh Ritchie’s vision for a new Hawke’s Bay regatta venue
Hugh Ritchie has two big ideas running through his head 24/7.
One is a project that is going to be in the “hundreds of millions” of dollars.
The other’s smaller in comparison. Let’s say, “tens of millions”.
Bringing both to life might seem overwhelming, impossible even.
“These things come along and you sort of make a decision or think it's a good idea at the time,” says Hugh, “and the heartache it gives you in the meantime is something else. But why not?”
The thing that came along was the Ruataniwha Dam project in Central Hawkes Bay in 2013 which involved flooding part of the Makaroro River valley to add 100,000,000 cubic metres of water storage for the region. Hawkes Bay Regional Council’s investment arm sunk $20m into investigating the project.
There was opposition to the proposal but the project looked set to go until a Supreme Court ruling in 2017 seemingly left the dam’s construction dead in the water.
The Regional Council walked away, selling the Intellectual Property for $100,000. That included one crucial component; the approved consents for the project.
Hugh was among the buyers.
“If the consents folded the significant natural area legislation would actually preclude that site being used again,” says Hugh. “So, there's some quite critical reasons why we have strongly held on to these consents. You'd hate to think in 20 years’ time, ‘Shit, if we just put a bit more money at that we could have saved it.’”
Then along came the election of the National-led coalition government in 2023 and its list of 149 projects for fast-tracking, with the Ruataniwha Dam among them.
It’s a good time to point out to rowers there’s a clue in the Ruataniwha name in all of this.
Hugh’s well aware of the story behind the construction of a lake to offset the risk of flooding for the Upper Waitaki hydro scheme in the 1970s and 80s. It was part of the then-government’s ‘Think Big’ infrastructure projects. Out of that, some shrewd former rowers dreamed of creating the “finest rowing course in the world”, which led to the opening of Lake Ruataniwha in 1982.
By the time the fast-track legislation had revived the possibility of the Ruataniwha Dam, Hugh had also found something else to occupy his busy mind. Rowing.
He and wife have three daughters, eldest Hannah and twins Megan and Sarah. They’ve all come through Iona College and the twins will compete in the Under 17 and 18 Double at Maadi Regatta on Lake Karapiro this month.
Just a couple of years ago Hugh decided he wanted to take up the rowing challenge himself so joined the Masters programme at Hawkes Bay RC.
The Ritchie clan out on the Whanganui River for the winter series. Hugh, in the bow, only took up rowing a few years ago. Now he wants to build a 2000m course in the Central Hawke's Bay.
So here he is, on one side of 50 and giving the sport a go. Then one thing led to another, in no particular order.
He got chatting to longtime HBRC member Ross Webb. Ross is chair of the assets committee at Karapiro Rowing Inc.
They got to talking about the growth of rowing and how to ensure Karapiro can manage the sheer volume of racing at big regattas.
For a while Karapiro Inc has been considering alleviating the congestion by running a second course down past the pylons at Waipuke Park to run in conjunction with the main course.
Hugh stored that away in his busy brain as well.
Part of the infrastructure development of the Rutaniwha Dam project could well include building a 15-20km canal between the Tukituki and Waipawa Rivers to further improve irrigation and water storage.
Light-bulb moment.
Just like Ruataniwha in the south, why not use the opportunity to build a 2km watersports course.
Hugh reckons the ideal place would be on the western side of State Highway 50 somewhere in the vicinity of the small town of Ongaonga.
It would benefit the region and beyond.
“You look at Wellington,” says Hugh. “There’s just nowhere for them to train or row really well. With a bit of serious contemplation, this idea’s got a few opportunities going for it.”
Next thing Hugh’s watching the Boys in the Boat movie and he sees the special trains that carried thousands of spectators alongside the big Varsity Eight showdowns a century ago.
Hugh got to wondering, heck, with Hawke’s Bay’s Art Deco weekends, why not recreate some of that alongside the race course.
And then there was Cyclone Gabrielle and the devastation caused by the flooding across the province.
If anything brought home to him the need to create flood protection and increase water storage capacity it was the sight of his daughter Hannah rowing her single across fields of crops submerged in metres of floodwater.
Originally, five landowners picked up the consents for that $100k outlay. Only two, including Hugh, remain but they’ve gained a significant support base.
“What we're setting up at the moment is a community trust to hold the IP and the consents...50 per cent of the trustees will be from District Council [and] from the previous owners...the other 50 per cent is from iwi, so it is genuinely being tried to be set up as a true partnership of how to run this and manage it.”
Hugh remains optimistic the “hundreds of millions” idea will get the go-ahead with public and private investment. It would benefit the entire region.
“The figures out of the old scheme in trying to put it in understandable terms was effectively two more complete wine industries for the Hawke's Bay.
“It's a significant regional project and hence why the government was interested in it. And it won't be going into dairy cows and ruminant production - the water is too expensive for that – it'll be permanent horticulture, specialist seed growing and probably a whole lot of stuff we haven't even thought about yet.”
The long-lost club on a near-forgotten lake
Regatta day at Lake Hatuma 1985. Two Central Hawke's Bay crews in their distinctive green and white singlet. Hosting outside the boat shed with a BBQ. Hawke's Bay RC made the drive down with a full trailer of boats for some flat-water racing.
Just south of Waipukurau lies one of the country’s least-known regatta venues.
Lake Hatuma (Whatuma) is just 2km long and was once the home of the Central Hawke’s Bay Rowing Club.
It’s a shallow lake fed by a weir at one end, and has over the years slowly dried up as sediment from surrounding farmland clogged it up. The conversion of wetland to farmland also sped up degradation of the whenua.
But a restoration project is under way, administered by the Whatuma Management Board.
The board wants to restore the wildlife and native flora to the 100-hectare site, which it projects will take 100 years to complete.
Hugh Ritchie believes the dam and canal project could help.
“It is quite weedy and degraded and everything else. So part of the plan is to get water to flow in at a reasonable rate, and then it could flow out through the backside of Waipukurau and round back into the Tukituki River, so it could be enhanced quite drastically by a decent supply of water.”
Engineer Jeremy Coxon rowed at Central Hawke’s Bay for a season in 1985. He started rowing at school for St John’s in Hastings and when he moved to Waipukurau for work, bought himself a single and joined up.
The club had around 10 members back then. More of a social rowing organisation than anything.
He remembers the odd regatta there with Hawkes Bay coming down from town to race for the Hatuma 1000 trophy. It’s still around, these days at Hawkes Bay RC.
Memories are getting vague on rowing life on Lake Hatuma, although one thing has stayed present for Jeremy. The enjoyment of just being out on the water.
“You get that feeling from rowing don’t you. You get away from the world and you’re in your own world.”
Paul Hales was the last club captain, when CHB wound up in the late 80s. Some of the boats got shipped up to HBRC.
The rest? Legend has it, hanging in the rafters of the aerodrome at Waipukurau.
Andy Hay
Andy Hay is a freelance producer, writer and rowing coach. He was cox of the world champion New Zealand eight of 1982 and '83. He is NZ Olympian #446.
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- Home
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- Masters Rowing
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- How Hugh’s ‘Think...
How Hugh’s ‘Think Big’ project could spark a rowing rescue
Seeing his daughter row across flood ravaged farmland only fuelled Hugh Ritchie’s vision for a new Hawke’s Bay regatta venue
Hugh Ritchie has two big ideas running through his head 24/7.
One is a project that is going to be in the “hundreds of millions” of dollars.
The other’s smaller in comparison. Let’s say, “tens of millions”.
Bringing both to life might seem overwhelming, impossible even.
“These things come along and you sort of make a decision or think it's a good idea at the time,” says Hugh, “and the heartache it gives you in the meantime is something else. But why not?”
The thing that came along was the Ruataniwha Dam project in Central Hawkes Bay in 2013 which involved flooding part of the Makaroro River valley to add 100,000,000 cubic metres of water storage for the region. Hawkes Bay Regional Council’s investment arm sunk $20m into investigating the project.
There was opposition to the proposal but the project looked set to go until a Supreme Court ruling in 2017 seemingly left the dam’s construction dead in the water.
The Regional Council walked away, selling the Intellectual Property for $100,000. That included one crucial component; the approved consents for the project.
Hugh was among the buyers.
“If the consents folded the significant natural area legislation would actually preclude that site being used again,” says Hugh. “So, there's some quite critical reasons why we have strongly held on to these consents. You'd hate to think in 20 years’ time, ‘Shit, if we just put a bit more money at that we could have saved it.’”
Then along came the election of the National-led coalition government in 2023 and its list of 149 projects for fast-tracking, with the Ruataniwha Dam among them.
It’s a good time to point out to rowers there’s a clue in the Ruataniwha name in all of this.
Hugh’s well aware of the story behind the construction of a lake to offset the risk of flooding for the Upper Waitaki hydro scheme in the 1970s and 80s. It was part of the then-government’s ‘Think Big’ infrastructure projects. Out of that, some shrewd former rowers dreamed of creating the “finest rowing course in the world”, which led to the opening of Lake Ruataniwha in 1982.
By the time the fast-track legislation had revived the possibility of the Ruataniwha Dam, Hugh had also found something else to occupy his busy mind. Rowing.
He and wife have three daughters, eldest Hannah and twins Megan and Sarah. They’ve all come through Iona College and the twins will compete in the Under 17 and 18 Double at Maadi Regatta on Lake Karapiro this month.
Just a couple of years ago Hugh decided he wanted to take up the rowing challenge himself so joined the Masters programme at Hawkes Bay RC.
The Ritchie clan out on the Whanganui River for the winter series. Hugh, in the bow, only took up rowing a few years ago. Now he wants to build a 2000m course in the Central Hawke's Bay.
So here he is, on one side of 50 and giving the sport a go. Then one thing led to another, in no particular order.
He got chatting to longtime HBRC member Ross Webb. Ross is chair of the assets committee at Karapiro Rowing Inc.
They got to talking about the growth of rowing and how to ensure Karapiro can manage the sheer volume of racing at big regattas.
For a while Karapiro Inc has been considering alleviating the congestion by running a second course down past the pylons at Waipuke Park to run in conjunction with the main course.
Hugh stored that away in his busy brain as well.
Part of the infrastructure development of the Rutaniwha Dam project could well include building a 15-20km canal between the Tukituki and Waipawa Rivers to further improve irrigation and water storage.
Light-bulb moment.
Just like Ruataniwha in the south, why not use the opportunity to build a 2km watersports course.
Hugh reckons the ideal place would be on the western side of State Highway 50 somewhere in the vicinity of the small town of Ongaonga.
It would benefit the region and beyond.
“You look at Wellington,” says Hugh. “There’s just nowhere for them to train or row really well. With a bit of serious contemplation, this idea’s got a few opportunities going for it.”
Next thing Hugh’s watching the Boys in the Boat movie and he sees the special trains that carried thousands of spectators alongside the big Varsity Eight showdowns a century ago.
Hugh got to wondering, heck, with Hawke’s Bay’s Art Deco weekends, why not recreate some of that alongside the race course.
And then there was Cyclone Gabrielle and the devastation caused by the flooding across the province.
If anything brought home to him the need to create flood protection and increase water storage capacity it was the sight of his daughter Hannah rowing her single across fields of crops submerged in metres of floodwater.
Originally, five landowners picked up the consents for that $100k outlay. Only two, including Hugh, remain but they’ve gained a significant support base.
“What we're setting up at the moment is a community trust to hold the IP and the consents...50 per cent of the trustees will be from District Council [and] from the previous owners...the other 50 per cent is from iwi, so it is genuinely being tried to be set up as a true partnership of how to run this and manage it.”
Hugh remains optimistic the “hundreds of millions” idea will get the go-ahead with public and private investment. It would benefit the entire region.
“The figures out of the old scheme in trying to put it in understandable terms was effectively two more complete wine industries for the Hawke's Bay.
“It's a significant regional project and hence why the government was interested in it. And it won't be going into dairy cows and ruminant production - the water is too expensive for that – it'll be permanent horticulture, specialist seed growing and probably a whole lot of stuff we haven't even thought about yet.”
The long-lost club on a near-forgotten lake
Regatta day at Lake Hatuma 1985. Two Central Hawke's Bay crews in their distinctive green and white singlet. Hosting outside the boat shed with a BBQ. Hawke's Bay RC made the drive down with a full trailer of boats for some flat-water racing.
Just south of Waipukurau lies one of the country’s least-known regatta venues.
Lake Hatuma (Whatuma) is just 2km long and was once the home of the Central Hawke’s Bay Rowing Club.
It’s a shallow lake fed by a weir at one end, and has over the years slowly dried up as sediment from surrounding farmland clogged it up. The conversion of wetland to farmland also sped up degradation of the whenua.
But a restoration project is under way, administered by the Whatuma Management Board.
The board wants to restore the wildlife and native flora to the 100-hectare site, which it projects will take 100 years to complete.
Hugh Ritchie believes the dam and canal project could help.
“It is quite weedy and degraded and everything else. So part of the plan is to get water to flow in at a reasonable rate, and then it could flow out through the backside of Waipukurau and round back into the Tukituki River, so it could be enhanced quite drastically by a decent supply of water.”
Engineer Jeremy Coxon rowed at Central Hawke’s Bay for a season in 1985. He started rowing at school for St John’s in Hastings and when he moved to Waipukurau for work, bought himself a single and joined up.
The club had around 10 members back then. More of a social rowing organisation than anything.
He remembers the odd regatta there with Hawkes Bay coming down from town to race for the Hatuma 1000 trophy. It’s still around, these days at Hawkes Bay RC.
Memories are getting vague on rowing life on Lake Hatuma, although one thing has stayed present for Jeremy. The enjoyment of just being out on the water.
“You get that feeling from rowing don’t you. You get away from the world and you’re in your own world.”
Paul Hales was the last club captain, when CHB wound up in the late 80s. Some of the boats got shipped up to HBRC.
The rest? Legend has it, hanging in the rafters of the aerodrome at Waipukurau.
Andy Hay
Andy Hay is a freelance producer, writer and rowing coach. He was cox of the world champion New Zealand eight of 1982 and '83. He is NZ Olympian #446.
