Saturday morning dawned a little grey but there was no wind on the water making a picturesque start to the day and the race. The crews were blessed with an outgoing tide as they made their way up the harbour towards Compass Dolphin. The fastest crew to complete this leg was the ladies - Waitakere ROC in a time of 19 minutes.

The crews headed towards Waiheke Island, coming in close to Bean Rock, then out to Browns Island, the Taniwha Grizzlies seem to have this leg in the bag, although Goodyear may have been playing a tactical game by not showing their hand too early, although they had gained the race lead by this time. The next leg took the waka from Browns Island around the back of Motuihe Island, then across the channel to Rakino Island. Goodyear were well and truly in front by this stage with Team Te Awa Haku, from the South Island, in hot pursuit.

With all the action in the front of the field, it is easy to forget about the battles happening within the various divisions. Taniwha Grizzlies were taking a strangle hold of the Master Men's division but the Waitakere Gringos were doing their best to keep them honest. In the Open Womens section the Tauranga Moana crew, skippered by Corrina Cage had the jump on Waitakere ROC skippered by Bernie Murch. By Motiuhe Island, the girls from Tauranga had a 2 minute lead on the local girls.
The novice marathon crew from Aratika had a strong start, staying with the two women's teams but the conditions in the closing stages of the race took its toll on the crew, although they never gave up. In fact they were racing the ROC right up to the finish line.

One of the tougher sections of the race was the run across from Motuihe Island to Rakino Island. It was interesting to note however, that there was only a 15min gap from 1st to last by the time all crews had rounded the bottom end of Rakino.

The wind, which we had hoped would assist the crews on the long leg from Rakino to Rangitoto Lighthouse ended up being a cross wind, but once around the point, it was full on the back of the crews - a little bit of jet propulsion. By this stage the crews were well spread out with a 45min gap from 1st to last, although there were still strong battles going on within the field.
The final leg to home ended up being the toughest, as the wind had turned to the South West and was 15knots full on the nose.

Team Goodyear did not falter, nor crack under the pressure from Te Awa Haku, even when there was uncertainty as to the turn mark at Narrow Neck. Once clear of North Head, and the final crew change at the Masonic off Devonport, it was heads down and all go to the finish line - 36.5 mins of hard slog for team Goodyear. Team Mako, from Taniwha, did the fastest run from the Masonic to the finish line, in a time of 34.46.

A huge congratulation to all crews, and a thank you to those crews who traveled from out of town -6 out of 11 crews were visitors to the Auckland Region. A special acknowledgement to the two crews who paddled one paddler short the full duration of the Race - Team Mako, 3rd and the Hokianga Natives 4th in the Open Men's division.

A special thank you to the workers behind the scenes and the caterers who laid on such a wonderful meal under the marquee with the sounds of "Hot Property" band playing in the park beside us. Thank you to Jill Nerheny, Northcote Community Co-ordinator and Michelle Khan, Auckland City Celebrate Pasifika Co-ordinator, for working with the Hoe organising committee and bringing together the events in the park in conjunction with Hauraki Hoe. We hope to work together again in 2008.

Race results and split times are attached.