It was great to finally ‘go live’ on Friday and show our boat, christened Moana, meaning a large body of water, off to the sponsors and media.
It was a great opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to making our dream into a reality.
Firstly, thanks to Sir William Gallagher, Chief Executive Officer at Gallagher, Lady Judi Gallagher and Margaret Comer . Without your significant support as title sponsors, the campaign would not have got off the ground. We hope to make you all proud.
Thank you also to Localist for being wonderful content partners and for being so engaged and passionate about our adventure.
Milfos only joined our family of sponsors in the past few weeks but your support and visible enthusiasm is really appreciated by the whole team.
The reason we were all able to show up in team colours was due to Owen Rutter and Duthie Lidgard at Events Clothing. Great job fellas – the new kit is just fantastic.
Our heartfelt thanks goes to all our sponsors and suppliers who have made the campaign possible.
This is more than four guys in a boat – thank you all for becoming part of the team.
Personally, I want to acknowledge our team director Rob Hamill who organised the launch and continually works tirelessly on the campaign.
Rob is passionate about ocean rowing but also really driven to ensure everyone – including all our sponsors and partners – achieve their goals and has really created a team feel for everyone involved.
Finally, to my wife Julie and son Thomas. They couldn’t attend the launch but they’re as big a part of the team as anyone and I couldn’t do this without your unquestionable support. You are both amazing.
Check out coverage of the launch event at Hamilton Yacht Club:
- TV3 news - scan forward to 33m, 52 seconds
- Aim to make Tasman team row a race, Radio New Zealand
- Blake in team for transtasman rowing attempt, Otago Daily Times
- Tasman voyage in a month, oar else, Waikato Times
- Tough ask for boat launch, Waikato Times
- By Nigel