Sunday August 12th dawned to a blustery and overcast day but for 30 plus Pacific Dragons it was going to be a special day. Most arrived at Clontarf Reserve in cars, but a few took the opportunity to have a wild fun filled single craft ride across the harbour.
The reason for the gathering was the blessing of our 2 race canoes the “Mirrabooka” and the “Pirrama”, a special ceremony carried out by Reverend Uru from the Cook Islands Christian Church.
Rigging of our new canoe the Mirrabooka was fast and efficient once John Hamilton had applied the name and our club decals. Congratulations must go to Geoff Eldridge who won the naming competition of the canoe.
Once the ceremony started the clouds parted and the sun shone and although the wind did not let up, no one seemed to mind. Nuku, our Outrigging coach told us a story about the origins of canoes in Polynesian culture, Reverend Uru then blessed the canoes and a number of club members also took the opportunity to have their OC1’s blessed at the same time.
We capped off the morning with refreshments in the time honoured fashion of bacon and egg rolls, cooked on the BBQ by Mouse and assisted by Tim.
We all look forward to a great season with the new addition to our PD family.
