Tairua Pipemasters set to be another great one
Friday 16th February 2007

The pipes have been built, film crew are in town and riders have gathered for the Tairua Pipemasters which kicks off this weekend.

Half a dozen obstacles are in the water at the entrance to Tairua on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula, and riders are loving the chance to get together and hit the big step up and flat bar rails in preparation for the big night.

Current world champion Jeff Weatherall schooled the rails on his first night in town and spent today with Andrea Fountain visiting Tairua School students to sign autographs and tell them all about their lives as pro wakeboarders.

When asked where was the best place that he’d visited in his travels, Jeff told the stoked primary school kids that it was New Zealand: “You might not get to appreciate that until you’ve done a lot of travelling like I have.”

Jeff is reigning Pipe Master, he’ll be up against some competition from Brad Smale, Ant Collings and Josh O’Connell for this year’s title and coveted pipe trophy.

Today was about course adjustments to cater for the female riders who’ve entered into this year’s first-ever Princess of the Pipes division. Contesting the division will be six times national champ and former world title holder Andrea Fountain, Jen Langton, Liz Coon, Sunni Ann Ball from Canada and Barett Perlman from the US.

There was a bit of winching going on around Tairua with Ben and Nick from the winch of death on-hand to give people a ride.

Keep an eye out for the Tairua Pipemasters on the evening news TV3 and TVOne or better still – make a day trip to Tairua 2hrs from Hamilton, Auckland or Tauranga for more close-up action.