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a happy team from Whangarei...see why below.

Greetings to all from “Whangarainy”.

I normally say the "Winterless North" and although we are not cold, boy has it been wet. A devastating flood here July 17 saw many homes and businesses totally flooded and it was heart- breaking driving around the weekend after and seeing carpet on many people’s lawns. I was lucky as my home was spared. However, my workplace was totally flooded and everything was lost. Fireplaces, BBQ’s, smokers right down to all our filing cabinets, desks and chairs all need replacing. The building also needs walls removed and dryers brought in. On the plus side, working from home over lockdown prepared me for packing up and doing it again, at least until insurance sorts new office furniture. Whangarei is the only place I know who can have a massive flood one day and be on water restrictions the next. Flood damage to the water treatment plant apparently.

However, this is not Bridge news and here in the North we have hit the ground running.

The Whangarei club didn’t return to Bridge until July and it was heartening to see, on the first night back, one of the biggest turn outs I have seen on a Thursday night. Thrown in at the deep end on the first weekend was the Kerikeri/BOI New World 5A tournament. New World are fabulous sponsors of Far North Bridge even though no one from the company plays .So, if you are ever visiting please support them when buying your necessities.

 It was easy to tell who had been playing online over the lock down and who hadn’t with the eventual winners being visiting burglars from Auckland who I know for a fact played a fair bit while stuck at home. Congratulations Matt Brown and Andi Boughey-Brown 1^st with more out of area players, Ant Hopkins and Gary Foidl taking out 2^nd. Patsy Walters and Lee Walters were 3^rd with the prize for top Intermediate/Junior pair going to Sue Skarupsky and Sue Hunt who finished a credible 10^th out of 26 pairs.

 
Andi and Matt took first place, followed by:    Anthony Hopkins and Gary Foidl      a good day, too, for Sue Skarupsky
                                                                                                                                 and Sue Hunt

A few hearty souls, including myself, travelled to Pukekohe for the Northland/Auckland Regional Pairs and Teams while the rain poured up North. A huge congratulations to Paul Carson and Bill Humphrey who took out the Pairs. Although Paul has recently moved from Kerikeri, he is still classed as one of ours so YAY Northland. They didn’t just win either.  62.50% ,56.10%, and 69.33% results saw them a long way ahead of the rest of the field.

Consistently Good                                   Whangarei win

     
Paul Carson and Bill Humphrey                Janice Johnson, representing Whangarei
                                                                  holds the Towai Cup, pictured with KeriKeri's
                                                                  Anna Chappell

July 25^th saw the Towai Cup played between Whangarei and Kerikeri. This is an Interclub competition with 2 teams from each club at each of the 3 levels. While Whangarei got off to a slow start, they managed to pick it up with all levels winning their section and giving Whangarei the win. Yay again.

The beginning of August saw a representation of Junior, Intermediate and Open players travel to Auckland for the Regional Teams and, as you can see by the photo, were more than happy with a 3^rd finish overall out of the 8 clubs in attendance.

 a happy Whangarei team who finished 3rd in the Regional Teams event

The following weekend was the Northland Centre Teams. A Junior, Intermediate and Open team from Dargaville, Paihia, Kerikeri and Whangarei got together to battle it out for Club supremacy. A 16 board match with each team saw Whangarei emerge triumphant, winning all three sections and holding onto the trophy for another year. Not only was there a trophy to be won for each section but also an engraved wine glass which I know will have been filled by more than just myself after the event.

Whangarei winners in Northland Centre Teams

Last, but certainly not least, Whangarei’s committee has been extremely busy and our rooms have now been re painted and re carpeted. Gone the old green patterned monstrosity and in with the fresh, bright new look. A huge amount of work has gone on behind the scenes to make this happen and we are extremely grateful to all those hard working people who don’t often get the recognition their contribution to clubs deserve.

a new carpet for Whangarei

And, of course, no round up is complete without “The hand”. This is a pretty basic hand which turned into a game changer in our section due to the interference.

 

At the table I was East and opened 1. South decided (for some pesky reason that his hearts were good enough for a mention) 1 (why not 1 or even a bid to show 2 x 5 card majors?), West doubled and North bid 2. East then went 3 (asking for a hold). 3NT by West and there it played. Sure enough the heart was led and it was all “over rover”.

At the other table, the bidding went the same until North jumped to 3 over South's 1 leaving East with no way to ask for a hold. It was played in 5 at this table going 1 off. The swing might have been avoided had East doubled 3leaving West to make an inspired choice of 3NT.

 

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