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Playing cards is one way sailors have been passing the time while they wait for the breeze to come in.

The Hansa's Have Landed

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Lake Ngaroto is a peat lake in Waipa District of New Zealand. Located 19 km south of Hamilton and 8 km north-west of Te Awamutu, it has a surface area of 108 ha, making it the largest of the Waipa peat lakes. It is also the home of the Ngaroto Sailing Club.

 I visited the lake on Saturday, 20 July to meet up with  members of the Ngaroto Sailing Club  and Te Awamutu Lions Club, Dave Allerton of the Waitara Boating Club and  and fellow members of  the Urenui and Districts Lions Club, and representatives of  organisations such as Parafed Waikato  and Enrich, as well as other interested individuals.

The reason we were all drawn to this wonderful venue was to discuss the possible formation of a new Sailability club to work alongside the Ngaroto Sailing Club.

As the last traces of frost on the ground disappeared, people and boats from Waitara had began to arrive and by the time set up was complete, there was pleasing signs of the ripple of wind on the water. This built through the day, allowing those who wanted to, the opportunity to try sailing the two Waitara Hansa 303s .

It was agreed that there would be the demand in the surrounding area for something like this, and by the end of the day, Robyn Klos had kindly agreed to arrange a meeting in about 2 weeks time, with the aim of setting up a trust. This would give the Ngaroto Sailing Club and the Te Awamutu Lions Club the opportunity to discuss the idea with their respective members first.