Car crash destroys world champ’s boat
Canoeing world champion Caitlin Ryan is up the creek without a boat.
Following ‘‘a run of bad luck’’, the athlete has found herself approaching race season without a canoe to race in.
Her problems began in early February, when her custom-built K1 boat arrived from Portugal.
After nine months of waiting for the boat to be built and shipped to New Zealand, its arrival was bittersweet, as it had been damaged during freight.
With time of the essence, the $7000 boat was sent to Warkworth to repairs – at a further cost of $350.
On February 16, after it was all patched up and ready to race, disaster struck. Ryan’s coach was towing the boat home when a driver crossed the centreline and
crashed into the trailer.
The accident left three people injured, and closed SH1 north of Puhoi. While Ryan’s coach escaped injury, her boat did not.
‘‘It’s completely written off – it will be unable to be fixed to a race
standard,’’ Ryan said.
‘‘I’m so gutted, it was the one boat that I really loved.’’
A short love, though, as Ryan only got to try out her boat once.
With racing season looming, Ryan is trying to get back on the water as soon as possible – but it won’t be cheap.
Insurance is still up in the air ‘‘with the high potential of none to minimal payout’’, and Ryan – in order to be able to race – is prepared to foot the bill.
She has ordered a new boat from Portugal, but fast freight will set her back an additional $2500, making for an expensive exercise.
With a big plans for 2018, it’s a setback Ryan doesn’t need, and she is hoping to find a business that may be interested in sponsoring her new boat, with the option of business branding.
Ryan won gold with partner Lisa Carrington in the 2017 world championship K2 500, and a bronze in the K4 500.