We have been associated with this event (formerly Rally Of the North)
for well nigh 10 years.
This year we were to provide ONE finish crew, now that I am 'fully
retired' - yeah right - I have had to 'pull my head in' somewhat and
stop organising everyone!!.
So we had our crew, Jesy, Jamie, Fabian, Zane and myself, all organised.
Then a month or so beforehand Jesy had to pull out for family
commitments (a month before hand is fine - a day beforehand is not).
In chasing the organisers for stage allocations a few days before the
event though I learnt that they could not do them as yet as they were
still short of a finish crew. I have no doubt you can easily guess
what comes next!!!
Yep a LOT of people got leaned upon, Facebook friends, emails, phone
calls etc, etc,
My thanks to Darryl who came up from Rotorua, Johann, from Tairua,
Josh from Tuakau and Andy and Sean from Auckland.
This meant we could have one crew with me as Post Chief, and the
other with Jamie as post chief.
Darryl, Johann, Josh and myself arrived in Paihia 'before dark',on
Friday 20th and then collected all the gear etc. the others drove
up from Auckland after work so at our meeting later that night we
reallocated personnel with my crew consisting of Andy, Sean, Johann,
Josh and myself (yes 5) and Jamie had Fabian, Zane, Darryl and himself.
Both crews had a morning stage and an afternoon stage but thankfully
out the gate times of between 7 and 8 am were much better than 4am
starts which 'have been known'. However with our morning stages being
some 100km away, there was still some driving to do.
Jamie's car misbehaved on the way to their first stage and they
survived with one car (Darryl's thirsty Ford).
Meanwhile our crew with Josh, Johann and myself in trusty old Chalkie
- the Estima, with Andy and Sean in his car proceeded to Kaitaia
where Andy used his magic FF training skills then joined us at Finish
Control and did Road Cards. I should mention at this stage that
Ralllysafe are back to having a Surface Pro Tablet at the FC instead
of a silly little 3 line display. Although we still had our inverter
to allow charging between stages it is no longer necessary.
The battery life has improved dramatically. Rallysafe certainly
makes life a lot easier.
The rally did run a little late, caused partly by a taping problem
on SS2 and Jamie's crew being a bit late because of their vehicle
problems. Lunch break enabled some regrouping. For our part we
stopped at Kaitaia and had a few words with an old friend Brendon
Morrisey.
A pie etc whilst heading another 100 km for our afternoon stage SS8
(the final stage of the event) then arriving in plenty of time. There
was however a typo in the road closure time (1450 somehow became 1540).
Bugger.
Never mind, all went well eventually, that night (after returning
all the gear; Rallysafe etc) we had a small gathering in my room for the
9 of us, then Andy and Sean took Jamie, Fabian and Zane back to Auckland,
so Jamie could arrange to rescue his vehicle, the rest of us stayed Sat
night, headed home Sunday morning. I shouted Josh and Johann lunch at
Happy Days, took Josh home then Johann and I back home!!
Tired but happy again.
The Crews
Warwick's Crew Jamie's Crew
Warwick Post Chief Jamie Post Chief
Andy Cards Darryl
Josh Log Writer Zane
Johann Road Fabian
Sean Flying Finish
Our next event is Main Targa in about a months time. More then.
Thanks everyone.
Warwick (Wazza)