A carnival atmosphere under calm and sunny conditions greeted the many families, friends and supporters who gathered to celebrate Wanaka’s Watersports Facility’s first birthday on the Roys Bay foreshore yesterday (November 29).

Parents and children were queuing up to take out kayaks and paddleboards generously provided by Paddle Wanaka; the Wanaka Rowing Club had its boats on display and some members were raising funds on the erg set up inside the facility; the Wanaka Swim Club was running a sausage sizzle; and Santa Claus was on the beach encouraging relay teams to fill buckets with lake water carried in gumboots.

Wanaka Watersports Facility (WWSF) Charitable Trust chair Michael Sidey said it was like a “festival on the beach” and there was a great sense of pride, joy and accomplishment at reaching the milestone of the first year of operation.

“We’re thrilled,” he said. “It’s making money and covering its costs and we’re about to start our first marketing campaign to all of Wanaka to let them know this amazing facility is available to them.”

Santa was on hand to organise a gumboot relay race to fill baskets with lake water.

There are 200 users of the facility, he said, with anchor tenants the Wanaka Rowing Club and the Wanaka Lake Swimmers Club comprising the majority, but also good support from casual users, such as TriWanaka.

Four members of the Wanaka Rowing Club, Rob Taylor, Mike Toepfer, Shane Gibson and Jaime Hutter, made the most of the day’s attraction by tackling a 45km marathon row - the length of Lake Wānaka - on an erg (indoor rowing machine) to raise funds for local charities Search and Rescue LandSAR Wanaka, the Upper Clutha Children’s Medical Trust, Wanaka Foodbank (Community Networks) as well as the rowing club.

The Wanaka Rowing Club had its big boats on display.

Jaime said he started at 11:00am: they reached the 20km mark before 1:00pm and were on track to achieve their goal. Anyone wishing to donate to the cause should go to the Givealittle page here.

Also enjoying the magic weather conditions was Paddle Wanaka whose paddle boards and kayaks were in hot demand.

“It’s cool to see so many local youngsters giving it a go and having a play and enjoying the day,” Paddle Wanaka staff member Abby Palmer said. “The wind has kept away for us which is so good.”

She said Paddle Wanaka often supported community based events, and supporting like-minded community activities such as the watersports clubs “was a no brainer”.

There was a carnival atmosphere to the birthday celebrations.

The 420m2 facility, which is owned by the WWSF Charitable Trust, provides a lake shore base for non-motorised watersports activities and is available to all local residents and visitors to Wanaka for their recreational use. 

The largest portion of the facility provides the rowing club, with storage space to stack 35 boats of various sizes, as well as another 25 to 30 kayaks and storage for paddle boards.

The facility also includes internal changing, shower and toilet facilities, a small kitchen, and meeting room/gym room with ergs as well as storage for the various users. 

The facility cost $2M and the award winning design, which was officially opened on November 23 2019, was completed on time and budget - “and we could not be happier with this building,” Michael said.

PHOTOS: Wanaka App