Who are the top dozen surf ski paddlers in South Africa? In Durban you have Oscar and Herman Chalupsky, Hank McGregor, Daryl Bartho, Clint Pretorious and Barry Lewin (with a nod to a healthy Matthew Bouman and Bevan Manson).

Pete Cole - 2007 (Seaforth race, Cape Town 2007) (Pic: Owen Middleton)

A couple of weeks ago, in the latter stages of a Millers Run, I was beginning to relax as I approached the entrance to Fish Hoek bay when a shape appeared from behind in a burst of spray - I took violent avoiding action as Alexa Lombard came storming down the face of a wave, almost taking off the nose of my ski.  Galvanized into action, I managed to stick with her, wave for wave... for about two minutes.  But the slim blond figure finally took a wave that I missed and she disappeared rapidly a couple of hundred metres ahead.

Alexa - 2008

At 25, Barry Lewin is one of the younger surf ski paddlers on the circuit.  He's had a pretty good season - 4th in San Francisco; 9th in Dubai; 8th in Perth; and 3rd in Plett behind Dawid Mocke and Hank McGregor.  It's a fair bet then that he'll be in the top ten at Molokai - and he's hungry for more.

Barry at the Dubai Shamaal 2007 (Pic: Wouter Kingma)

How do you define the qualities that make Dean Gardiner arguably the greatest downwind paddler that's ever donned a Speedo?

Dean doing what he loves best - Perth World Cup 2007 (Pic: Greg Kitto)