5 APRIL 2025
Celebrating the 10th A Taste of Matarangi Festival
Te Kai Whakarongo 25 March 2025 | Proudly locally owned and operated Issue 1150 Circulation 9000
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CONNECTING COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE COROMANDEL PENINSULA
BASKER ROAST NIGHT Every Wednesday night from 5pm Pork, lamb, chicken or beef Buffet salad and sauce bar Bookings recommended
3A Reweti Drive (opposite Mobil) www.basker.co.nz info@basker.co.nz Phone: 07 866 0645 Hours 8.00am to late
SPEEDING IN PARADISE
N
ew Zealand Offshore Powerboat Racing roared through its final round for the 2025 season and Espresso Engineers (pictured above), powering through the waters of Mercury Bay, was technically declared the overall winner across all six rounds of the Superboat Class for 2025. “Our powerboat racing organisation loves coming to Whitianga”, said John Redwood, Race Officer for the day. “It is such a good circuit, large areas of calm but also some big
holes in the swells. The racing is not just about speed but also about boat handling skills. This is a very good circuit and with the stunning geographical location, we have a clear view of all our boats.” The other aspect which was mentioned by the participants and organisers was their appreciation of the way the Thames Coromandel District Council facilitated the event “There are a lot of health and safety checks and regulations to attend to for such a sport,”
says John. “The Council has guided us through these. In addition, we have a paramedic and a diver on a boat stationed out near the race course and there are six patrol boats out on the water to assist any of the boats. We are encouraged by the support we receive and the community shows a lot of interest.” It was easy to see how convenient the Buffalo Beach Reserve is for parking boats and cars. There were about 14 boats racing on Sunday as a few
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withdrew on Saturday due to technical difficulties. The visually favourite “Rainbow” had to pull out during the Sunday race. There are five different classes of boats participating in the season’s competition and the classes compete amongst themselves. All the boats start and finish in the same racing route but are competing within their class. Each race is exactly half an hour, so is not based on distance laps. John explained the race technology
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“Each boat has its own GPS sensor which beams the information up to the satellite. This is all collected by a person in the South Island and a minute after the races finish, we have all the timing information from every boat.” The classes competing over this last weekend were Sports 80km/hr class, (Equal first Superstitious and Fury); 140 class (Winner – Goldship); 200 class (Winner – Blue Pill); 300 class (Winner – Equaliser), and the Superboat class.
50% off on ALL NZ made beds
SPF Furniture Thames 513 Pollen Street, Thames 3500 07 2116954 SPF Bed Shop 543 Pollen Street, Thames 3500 07 2119307 SPF Furniture Whitianga 33 Albert Street, Whitianga 3510 07 2800367 www.superpricefurniture.co.nz
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The Coromandel Informer – 25 March 2025 | 1