Summer Weekends

9:00 Sail GP update

Yesterday afternoon thousands of spectators turned out to watch racing in the second round of the Sail GP out on Auckland's Waitematā Harbour.

Sail GP is touted as the most exciting racing on water - the boats have a top speed of over 100 kilometres an hour.

Susana's joined by Annie Dundas from Tātaki Auckland Unlimited to discuss yesterday's event to hear about the conditions sailors can expect for races today.

 

9:05 Ruby Tui checks in from pre-season training

Olympian and Rugby World Cup-winning Black Fern Ruby Tui is currently preparing for the new season.

She was able to spare a few minutes for a chat with Susana. 

 

 

9:30 TapeFace comes home

TapeFace, a.k.a The Boy With Tape on his Face, a.k.a Sam Wilis, burst into the international limelight when he made his way to the finals of America's Got Talent in 2016.

But he'd been wowing audiences long before that -  juggling and doing magic tricks as a child in Timaru, and delighting audiences as a street performer in Christchurch, and at international festivals.

Sam, who is a prop comic and mime artist, has his own show in Las Vegas, but is back in Christchurch next week - head-lining at the World Busker's Festival

 

10:05 Novelist Jenny Pattrick on her pivot to theatre writing 

Novelist Jenny Pattrick is best known for her historical fiction, and before her writing, for her jewellery. 

Now she's turned her hand to the theatre and has written a play.

Jenny dropped by the Wellington studio for a chat.  

 

10:35 Wayne Benton: living a more purposeful life 

Attitude Check is a book about living a more purposeful life - with practical steps to turn negative thinking into positive - and living the life you want to live.  

Author Wayne Benton has also written 'Real World Ready', a guide for equipping young people with 10 strategies for life's challenges which is now being adapted into teaching modules in schools.

As well as a writer Wayne is also a teacher and mentor. 

 

11:05 Kahren Thompson​ from Slightly Foxed Books

Each Sunday morning on Summer Weekends we're speaking with bookshop keepers around the motu. 

Today we go to the historical precinct in Oamaru to Slightly Foxed books and chat to owner Kahren Thompson.

 

11:30  Gravel Maggot wriggles into the spotlight

Voting has opened for New Zealand's Bug of the year!

There are 21 contenders in the popularity contest - organised by the Entomological Society of NZ.

Last year's winner was the elegant and beautiful Kahukura/ Red Admiral butterfly.

But ecologist Jamie McCaulay is lobbying for something a little less glam this year.

 

11:40 Celebrating 10 years of dancefloor magic with Flamingo Pier

Flamingo Pier festival - the tenth edition no less! - takes place on Saturday February 8th on Waiheke Island. 

The festival is organised by the dance and disco collective of the same name, whose own sound is inspired by dance music legends Masters At Work, Ron Trent and psych-rock trio Khruangbin. 

For the day-night festival, the group has invited some of their favourite dancefloor-filling artists from around the world. 

To preview the party, Flamingo Pier's Luke Walker, Dom Jones and Brad Craig join Susana in the Auckland studio.