To your rafts

This year’s Great Kiwi Can Raft Race will be contested on Whangaroa Harbour on Saturday, with crews paddling from the Clansman Wharf to the Whangaroa marina. Regular competitors Totara North, Hato Hohepa, Matauri Bay, Kaeo, Oruaiti, Mangonui and Kaingaroa schools will be there, along with new contenders Peria, Oromahoe and Taipa Area schools. Bay of Islands International Academy will defend the title it won last year, and Whangaroa College hopes to have a crew. The school rafts will sail at 10am, community groups and businesses at 11.