Ed Said: It’s all smooth sailing

Our greatest hopes and worst fears have been realised on and off the water over the last few weeks. The March 5 tsunami warning saw Mangawhai residents heading for the hills as Civil Defence sirens blared a frantic warning. Motorbiking Focus journo Julia Wade zapped around the various vantage points and was able to capture pictures and video as events unfolded. Eerie post-apocalyptic scenes of a completely deserted Mangawhai village hadn’t been seen since, well, Level 4 lockdown almost 12 months ago. This time it was Mother Nature’s turn to throw a spanner in the works.

Government and Civil defence agencies were alerted well before the general public and started to activate emergency planning. Jacinda’s response to the tsunami danger (hard on the heels of more lockdowns) when she was woken at 2.30am? “Bugger it.”

While the monster wave never arrived, the whole experience left many locals asking a lot of questions. It was a very timely reminder to everyone affected by the danger that we were actually not very prepared at all, and this first evacuation, although ultimately unnecessary, served as the perfect trial run for both emergency services and the general public. Civil Defence has been able to refine its systems, and the community knows to be prepared, what the plan is, knows where to evacuate to, and how to get there. Julia Wade looks at these and other issues on page 13

Down the coast there’s been a giant wave of support rolling through the Waitamata Harbour. Say what you will about the audacious and frivolous money-hole that is the America’s Cup, when it gets down to the business end we just can’t help being sucked into the spectacle out on the water.

It was perhaps a surprise that Luna Rossa disposed of Team Ineos so easily in the challenger final, considering the extra speed the UK boat found after the Christmas break. Through the challenger series, when they couldn’t race, Team NZ spent time developing their boat Te Rehutai (Maori for ‘sea spray’) and the word was we had a whole lot of speed. But at 3-3 against the Italians after the first three days of the America’s Cup finals series, more than a few Kiwi’s wondered if the speculation about our speed was just that - speculation. And the racing was dreary. The first boat off the line won the race.

My theory? After a couple of months racing, Luna Rossa was about as quick as it could get. Having not raced for a few months Team NZ needed those first few races to get into race mode and, once they did, the potential of the boat became glaringly obvious. In the end we sent the Italians packing, most likely into some very nice Louis Vuitton luggage.

We all get into the spirit of the boat racing, and latch on to our Kiwi team like barnacles, especially if we’re winning. But despite our success is sailing even close to being a part of our national sporting psyche? Or do we only care about it every few years, like rowing or cycling, or professional flyfishing, or woodchopping?

Radio Hauraki’s Matt and Jerry Show discussed this very thing after we retained the Auld Mug, in an attempt to name the Four Pillars of NZ Sport. While the nation is still drunk with the euphoria of the sailing win, would it feature in the top four? Controversially yes! Rugby, netball, cricket and yachting won the voting, with binge drinking coming a close fifth.

Disappointingly shearing, women’s beach volleyball, the pokies, and beer pong also missed out. More importantly, the 36th America’s Cup is still New Zealand’s cup, and that’s all that counts, right?