Coastguard Mana provided both their rescue vessels in support of the Mana Super 6 Ocean Challenge that saw eight 6-man waka ama vessels (48 competitors in total) paddle 38km from Mana, around Mana Island and then to Kapiti Boating Club in Paraparaumu.
Conditions on the day ended up being a 15kt south easterly rising to 20kt towards the end of the race. CRV Trust Porirua Rescue [2] was acting as "tail end charlie" and ended up having to tow one crew the last 5 nautical miles due to fatigue and the ingress of large amounts of water from the large waves. With the race taking over 3 hours to complete with a reasonably strong tail wind this was a tough ask of any waka ama paddler.
Locations
Race Start
41° 5' 55.446" S, 174° 51' 51.1308" E
Race Finish
40° 53' 25.9872" S, 174° 58' 44.4612" E