The weather was rough and the water tricky and lively but this did not deter the Columba College girls under-17 eight that advanced to the A final of the Maadi Cup on Lake Ruataniwha yesterday.
The national secondary schools championships were disrupted again yesterday by the strong northwest winds that swept over the Southern Alps and turned the lake into a rough sea.
The Columba College girls eight of Lizzy Wallace-Gibbs, Georgina Caley, Ellen Kirkwood, Georgia Manera, Kate Manera, Tilley Carroll, Sasha Roulston, Lauren Williams and cox Sacha Coghill weathered the storm and made the A final when they finished third in their repechage in 7min 58.42sec.
It was a brave effort by the crew in the difficult conditions and their effort was a credit to the coaching skills of Matt McGovern.
The Dunstan boys under-18 coxed four of Isaac Scherp, Mark Duncan, Matt Whittaker, Brett Harris and cox Alex Fisher also reached the final when finishing third in their repechage in 7min 55.42sec.
The St Hilda's under 16 double sculls finished fourth in their repechage in 9min 15.42sec to advance to the semifinals. The under-15 double sculls also advanced to the semifinals.
The blustery weather again played havoc with the busy racing programme, leaving organisers with a real challenge on their hands to get it completed.
Sunday is always kept vacant in case of poor weather interrupting proceedings but, even with the extra day, the race programme has been badly hit by changeable winds and the resulting ocean-like conditions at the start.
"Safety is always paramount and that's what the event organisers have to think about first and foremost," Rowing New Zealand's domestic manager Kevin Strickland said.
"Everyone is working hard to ensure that we complete the racing one way or another."
The rain has stayed away at Lake Ruataniwha, but a persistent northwest wind yesterday left dangerous conditions at the start.
The rough conditions were difficult for experienced elite crews, yet alone for novice youngsters.
When the regatta resumed around 5pm races were restricted to 1000m because it was still too rough at the 1000m start.
About two hours 30 minutes of racing took place yesterday morning, but another six hours of races would have been required to get back to the original Friday and Saturday finals schedule.
The organisers reduced the time between races from 20 minutes to 15 minutes yesterday and will do so again today.
Hamilton Boys High School is expected to win the Springbok Shield in the under-19 four but the eights field is a much bigger challenge and Hamilton will be challenged by Auckland Grammar, Westlake and Marlborough Boys for the prestige Maadi Cup.
