FISA New Zealand Tour
The FISA Tour of New Zealand starts Tuesday, 9 April 2019 at Picton and finishes the following Monday at Mapua in Tasman Bay. The tour will spend three days on Queen Charlotte Sound; Friday's schedule includes a row out to Havelock from Portage on Kenepuru Sound (26 kms), Sunday will be spent on Lake Rotoiti in the Nelson Lakes District and the tour will conclude on Monday with a row from Nelson to Mapua followed by lunch at the Jellyfish Café.
The tour is being hosted by the Nelson Rowing Club with assistance from other members of the Nelson/Marlborough rowing community. The rowing will be in eight coxed coastal quads, allowing for 40 people being on the water at any one time.
FISA Tours are held at least once a year somewhere in the world and have proven to be highly popular. This year's tour is only the second time that there has been a FISA Tour in the southern hemisphere, and the first for New Zealand. Such was the attraction of rowing in this beautiful part of the world that the tour was oversubscribed within two weeks of being advertised. The 42 rowing participants are from 10 countries: Australia (15), Austria (2), Canada (5), Denmark (7), Ireland (2), The Netherlands (1), New Zealand (1), Norway (3), Switzerland (2) and USA (4).
Four of the coastal quads are brand new and are part of a consignment of new coastal rowing boats (four coastal coxed quads and four coastal singles) that will be shipped to American Samoa after the tour to kick-start a rowing programme in that country and eventually in Samoa all as part of FISA’s Pacific Rowing Development Programme. Funds generated by the FISA Tour and related interests have made a generous contribution to the cost of providing the boats to American Samoa and Samoa.