Off we went to Waikanae to play in the first round of Pennants but as we neared the town, we noticed that the trees lining the side of the road were moving, a sure sign that wind was in the area.
This proved to be so once we got started on the greens, after firstly making sure that we were well wrapped up. As the day moved on, the sun did appear for a time, giving us some warmth, but the real challenge on the day was coping with the wind. It was difficult to tell which way it was blowing; often one flag would indicate that it was a southerly, whereas the other flag showed a westerly. As well, the strong gusts made it difficult to decided on what green to take, let alone work out the puzzles of the green itself. A really challenging day.
The ladies teams played Paraparaumu Beach Club and Dianne Short (s), Hazel Rose, Susan Boxall and Coral Mills had a good day, winning both their games. After a good win in the morning, their afternoon game turned out to be quite a match; after being down 3-15, the team struck form and went on to win 19-15. Their opposition must have been wondering what was going on.
Margaret Griffin (s), Lodzia Wnek, Eileen Thorn and Gwen McLauchlan had a less successful day, losing both of their games.
The men played on the other artificial green, with Ian Wenham (s), Jack Willis, Barnaby Hamid, Omeka Feaunati winning their morning game against Kapiti, 20-10.
In the afternoon, we played the other Kapiti team which had won its morning game against our other team, Joe Wnek (s), Paul Gardner, Fred Adams, Martin Howse, and we lost that game 14 – 17.
Joe’s team lost both of their games; the morning result 9-18 and in the afternoon, 11-23.
In summary, an interesting but very challenging day of bowls. We look forward to summer finally arriving.Pennants