Touch down in US of A

It was a wet and cold morning in Christchurch on Thursday 31st August. We spent the morning going to Auckland and the afternoon looking for shorts for the team (oh and getting a two dollar massage from a strange chair - see above).

Then we hit the Auckland international airport for goodbyes and last minute money exchanging.
Then a 12 hour 15 minutes to San Fran. The flight was forgettable instantly and went on about 11 hours too long.

After clearing customs and picking the luggage we had some confusion with the coach pick ups. we got sorted, thanks Silverado coaches. Then a short drive of 4 hours ! to the hotels. So we are checked in, checked out the shopping malls, grabbed some food and now we are looking forward to some sleep !

First training tomorrow for TAH boys, some of the contingent have a had a few days on the water already. More tomorrow with more pictures, might even get a bit of a video together.

Love to all our family and friends back home and our thoughts are with you.

Two More Sleeps

Two more sleeps and we are leaving NZ for the USA. The email and phone have gone quite, this can only mean that the majority have left already. We leave on Thursday 31st. Thanks to the various emails and phone calls of support and well wishers, come back and see how we get on.

later...

Still Running

Paddlers and admin are starting to leave the shores of New Zealand. This is the last week to get through the last minute stuff. The administration has organised paddler packs, code of conducts, waiver forms, doping forms, uniforms, I tell yah, it's all on. Getting lots of hits based on friends and family of the New Zealand teams wanting to know more and have up to the minute results. So for those wanting more and more, we can only commit to updates once a day in the evening (Folsom time !). We are sure the official site will post some sort of result ?

So this week is all about tapering down and focusing on the two weeks ahead, all those cold and dark evenings thrashing about and getting wet, and then there is the paddling as well.

so signing off as there is paid work deadlines to do yet.....

Off and running

Sacramento, outrigging, administration. What is this site about ? Well the World Waka Ama / Outrigging / Vaa sprint championships is being held at Lake Natoma, Folsom, Sacramento, USA from 5th August to 9th August.

This blogger and other contributers will be keeping the folks back home up to date, with preparation, racing, results, photo's and after party (maybe).

It's been a productive 2 weeks up till today with lots of administration and paper work. Some of the paddlers and administrators are leaving this weekend as advanced parties.

Want more links ?

www.wakaama.co.nz home of NZ waka ama

www.ivf2008usa.info for the host event site

So come back in the coming weeks for the build up and photo's etc. signing off, admin.