28 Nov 2015

Sport: Weather gods prove a challenge for Vaka Eiva organisers

3:25 pm on 28 November 2015

One of the choppier Vaka Eiva canoeing festivals in recent memory comes to a close today in Rarotonga.

The week-long event has been running for 12 years and has attracted another strong turnout of 550 paddlers.

Chrissy Thomas was one of those paddlers for the past eight years but was grounded this year in her new role as event manager.

"I'm very sad, I feel very weird not being in the water. When I call the races off the start I'm looking out there and I'm thinking 'oh my goodness where would I rather be - on shore or in that water? The water has been our biggest challenge because the weather has been not as great as we would have hoped for it to be. We had the most amazing weather leading right up to the start of Vaka Eiva and then the wind came up and the seas out there have been quite rough so we've had to change some of the courses on the ocean races."

The festival concludes this morning with the men's Pacific Cup and women's Pacific Paddle 36 kilometre Round Raro Relay races.

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Photo: 123RF