Dunstan Arms Rowing Club head coach and club captain Simon Smith was shocked to find holes in the club’s $60,000 eight and $15,000 single boats made by a high-powered slug gun when he arrived at Lake Ruataniwha, Twizel, for the 2025 Otago Championships on Thursday.
The boats were in need of urgent repair after being shot when they were parked outside the rowing club in Fruitgrowers Rd.
Mr Smith said the boats were meant to be used for eight different races this weekend. Racing starts at 7am today.
"Both expensive boats are crucial to our squad.
"[The damage] would have affected quite a few people which wouldn’t have been good.
"The fact that we’ve had someone shoot holes in our boats is pretty disappointing."
"We’re lucky enough that we can race, which we didn’t think we were going to be able to."
Mr Smith said he left the rest of the matter with police.
"Someone has come forward and the police are dealing with the person."
He said the incident must have happened on Wednesday night after the boats were loaded on to a trailer to be transported to the regatta.
However, Mr Smith did not want to speculate as to whether the damage was malicious or accidental.
"I’ll let the police sort that out and we just want to carry on and have a good weekend racing and hope that this sort of thing doesn’t happen again."
Club members found the holes when they were rigging the boats for the races.
It was gutting for them to find the holes because the club had worked hard to fundraise for the boats.
"It takes a lot of time and effort because we’re a non-profit club."
