Gray lives life on the edge Cut likely to salmon limit bag
Samantha Gray revels in the adrenalin from the mud, gravel and speed of car rallying.
With South Canterbury hosting the third round of New Zealand Rally Championship on June 19, many local eyes will be on the Timaru-born co-driver who is aiming to continue a dream run in the championship.
Co-driver Gray and driver Ari Pettigrew, competing in a BMW 318Ti, lead the two-wheel-drive and its co-driver sections of the championship with 72 points. In the overall championship, which is led by Geraldine-raised Hayden Paddon, the pair are sixth equal, with Gray the leading 2WD co-driver and sixth overall.
Gray lives life on the edge as she braves mud, gravel, heat and speed to find her inner calling towards rallying.
Gray attributes her parents Steve and Sonya Gray, who met through rallying for kindling an interest in her early days.
“My parents use to take part in rallying and I use to watch them as a spectator and gradually developed interest towards it. That is how rallying happened to me.’’
She began her professional journey as a navigator about six years ago and has never looked back in making a meteoric rise from local events to winning national and international rallies.
Gray, with about 45 professional rallies under her belt, says it is strong organisational skills, accurate time keeping and resolute determination that makes a top co-driver.
“When I’m in the car my main role is calling out pace notes to the driver and giving him all the necessary details. A day prior to the event, the driver and I assess the track and maybe do a couple of passes and I document all the descriptions.”
Gray also invests time in doing her homework at nights as she translates the shorthand and organises pace notes based on the descriptions given by the driver.
With time being an integral factor, with every minute and second being accounted for, Gray’s role also involves time management.
“I do the timing on time cards. Even if we are a minute late, we are heavily penalised. I keep a track of every minute.
‘‘I also have to ensure that the driver is where he needs to be at a particular point of time during a rally”.
“We try to give them all the information and monitor time and read out pace notes and descriptions, so the driver can entirely focus on driving.”
Catering to the intensity of the sport, Gray emphasises the importance of a co-driver being fit as it involves working on the car, changing tyres etc.
“Fitness is a huge thing in car rallying. This sport involves high temperature environment and wearing three-layer woollen gear. So it is important to be fit and train for coping up with that sort of heat. Generally drivers have good arm strength and are fit.”
Apart from general fitness, Gray also focuses on core and back strength as she normally has her head and neck facing downwards during the twists, bumps and turns as she is engrossed reading descriptions to the driver.
“Core, back and hip strength is key to survive crashes, so that I hold up and do not get injured.’’
Gray’s preparations for an event can start as early as a month prior to race day.
“Once the race information is out, the planning process begins. My driver and I send in entry forms, work on the car and also plan travel dates and book accommodation and flights. A co-driver has to go back and refer any notes, if they have done some stages of the rally previously and organise the pace notes for the upcoming rally.”
With several awards to her name, Gray’s journey as a rally co-driver hit top-notch when she won the category 4 historic 2WD co-driver championship in 2018.
“It is very difficult to pick a particular favourite moment from my career. Every rally has been memorable in some or the other way. But winning the co-driver championship in 2018, competing in a couple of overseas rallies in Australia are some of my special moments.”
Gray intends to make it big in her career but for now has her eyes set on NZ 2WD championship.
Gray was keen to take part in a couple of rallies overseas, but with Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns, she had to be content with the national rallies.
A season bag limit for ‘‘two to three’’ sea-run salmon when fishing in Canterbury is almost certain to happen this coming season.
The limit, which was first proposed at Fish & Game’s ‘‘salmon symposium’’ in 2017, is in response to growing concerns from anglers about the state of the salmon fishery.
Since 2019, the daily bag limit for sea-run salmon in Canterbury has been one, but Central South Island Fish & Game chief executive Jay Graybill said a seasonal bag limit was determined to be ‘‘the best tool’’ for improving conservation of the fishery.
‘‘The goal is to get more salmon spawning in the headwaters.
‘‘We see the limit setting as a conservation measure.’’
Graybill said while it was still working through the numbers for a seasonal limit, it would likely be ‘‘two to three’’ per season.
‘‘We believe these changes will not have a major impact on most anglers. We know that only 6 per cent of anglers catch more than three salmon in a season.’’
In the past few months, CSI Fish & Game councillors Matthew Hall and Alan Brooks have given separate presentations to the other councillors expressing concern for the health of the salmon fishery in the region.
Graybill said it would make its application with the acting Minister for Conservation Ayesha Verrall by July through an anglers’ notice, meaning it should be ready in time for the next fishing season.
The salmon run begins around December, and Graybill said it was ‘‘hopeful’’ Verrall would approve their request before that happens.
‘‘If everything goes to plan, then the season bag limit will begin from the next season.’’
Graybill said it was still going through the process, which would mean setting an exact season bag limit, as well as the potential penalties for anglers not complying.
However, he was confident the process would lead to a better quality fishery.
‘‘This limit relates to sea-run salmon and not lake fish. The goal is to preserve the spawning.’’