Another year, another regatta! As we’ve been doing for the vast majority of my life – and all of Amelie’s – we spent the Saturday of Auckland Anniversary weekend at the Mahurangi Regatta.
We woke up to drizzle at ours and my mother reported that it was raining at theirs (they’re about an hour north of us), but my brother (who is about an hour south of us) said it was sunny down there, and sure enough when we looked to the south we saw clearing skies. So we all headed to the regatta as planned, and sure enough, when we arrived…
Sun, glorious sun! Once again, the ‘it’s always sunny on regatta day’ rule held true.
You may recognise our location from last year…yes, we always sit in the same place. I don’t know how it works out year after year that this spot is always available for us, but I know we’re very lucky that it does! It’s lovely to sit under the pōhutukawa and chat to our family friends who drop by or join us (another benefit of always sitting in the same place is that they always know where we can be found!).
We made it in time to watch the boat parade (as we always try to do) then spent some time on the water in various kayaks, rowboats and small sailing dinghies – and swimming of course! – before lunch. Amelie was still full of beans by the early afternoon so we took her along to the running race. She’d been talking about it for weeks and had even made herself a number to wear. She’s spent so much time around Hayden’s cycling races and my running events that she knows what’s up, and she was firm that she needed a number to pin on her outfit if she was going to race. She decided at the last minute not to wear it though (rather sadly, it was enormous and had butterfly wings and was altogether a total masterpiece) but she was still incredibly excited to race!
Until they shouted go, that is, and all the other children took off and started racing. Part of the charm of the regatta is that it is totally shambolic, but it can be rather overwhelming for a small child when they’re vague on how the running races will be held, and instead of a group of four year olds they’re surrounded by this many children of all different sizes! Amelie didn’t start running with anyone else, and she got very upset when she realised. I felt really bad for her (and sure, a little amused also) but there’s always next year…you know we’ll be back! And in the meantime, she’s been quite happily staging running races with all her friends and nurturing her competitive spirit (that’s my girl 😂).
Until next year!
The Judd Crew 