Drowned canoeist training for high seas

JM Corella and Emma Kyle with their diamond engagement ring, which was mysteriously left in a...
JM Corella and Emma Kyle with their diamond engagement ring, which was mysteriously left in a brown envelope at a Dunedin police station this week after it was stolen last month. Photo by Craig Baxter.
The outrigger canoeist who drowned in heavy seas at Mt Maunganui during the weekend had participated in white-water rafting and kayaking world championships and was training for a race across one of the most treacherous stretches of water in the world.

James Moore (33) saw the 7m swells battering the east coast on Saturday as a rare chance to train for the Molokai Hoe, a 66km outrigger canoe race between the Hawaiian islands of Molokai and Oahu, his best friend said yesterday.

Lance Roozendaal, one of his team-mates in the October event and his friend for 14 years, said Mr Moore had taken the opportunity because it was unusual to get the type of swells seen in the Kaiwi Channel between Molokai and Oahu in New Zealand.

"If we can practise in some sort of high seas, you have to go out and practise, otherwise you're just not going to be able to compete against what they have in Hawaii," he said.

"[The Kaiwi Channel] is regarded as one of the most treacherous channels in the world."

Mr Roozendaal was at work on Saturday and so did not join Mr Moore's ill-fated trip from Maketu to Mt Maunganui.

But three other canoeists did, one turning back after he cracked his hull crossing the Maketu Bar.

Mr Moore was 500m off the Mount beach when he got into difficulties, and police said the swells were so big and the winds so fierce that a professional pilot boat captain and experienced surf lifesavers feared for their lives when they attempted a search.

Since the discovery of Mr Moore's body on Matakana Island on Sunday, the outdoors community in Rotorua, where he lived, has been in mourning.

Mr Moore began his career as a rafting guide in 1994 and was captain of the national rafting team in 1999 and 2000, developing interests in kayaking and waka ama (outrigger canoeing) through the sport.

Mr Moore was a member of outrigger canoeing teams that came second and third in the 2006 and 2004 world championships, respectively.

Mr Moore was also a photographer and leaves a partner of eight years, Amanda Sutton, and a brother and sister in Rotorua.

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