Well the Cape didn't beat the record for the most surf ski paddlers on the water - but it did beat its own record...  330-odd paddlers took part in the first Discovery Men's Health Series race in Cape Town for the 2006/7 summer season.

The sun was shining; the course was mostly protected from the pumping southeaster.  The mass start for this, the grading race for the series, was chaotic.  The rest of the races see more manageable batched starts, but it's clearly a challenge to get 250-odd skis off the line in an orderly fashion.

Two of Cape Town's top paddlers, husband and wife team, Dawid and Nikki Mocke are ready to defend their titles in the Discovery Men's Health Summer Surfski Series that gets underway at Granger Bay on Sunday morning.

For the past four years the Mockes have dominated the event by winning the men's and woman's sections respectively, and they are hoping to make it five in a row as they take to the water this weekend.

In this newsletter... 

1. Tuesday Series Registration Evening at Hout Bay Yacht Club on Friday 6 Oct. The galley will open for supper.
2. Cannon Race Report
3. NSRI Collection
4. The Cape Can

Surfski paddlers will be challenging the runners again on Heritage Day, 25^th September 2006, in Hout Bay. 

Paddlers will set off on an 8km course while runners will do approximately 10 km up Chapman's Peak and then back to the harbour.  Both paddlers and runners will cross the same finish line on the beach.

Where do the cannons fit into the proceedings?

Paddlers have fewer than 100 days to train for the single most challenging event in the Surfski calendar: the 244km Port Elizabeth to East London "Surfski Challenge".

Changes this year include the omission of Woody Cape on the first day, and the one-way running of the race.  In the past, organisers have run sections of the course "backwards" during bad weather to give paddlers a downwind leg.  Not this year.  In addition the Sunday is being reserved as a spare day in case any of the other days has to be cancelled due to inclement weather.

Surf ski event organizer extraordinaire, Billy Harker, is off next week to the Portuguese island of Madeira with girlfriend Tracey Smith to take part in the fifteenth annual Round Madeira Island Race.

What is the race and where the heck IS Madeira Island? 

A four-stage marathon which runs 244km along the coast between Port Elizabeth and East London, the PE2EL Surfski Challenge is held under guidance of professional sports company Sports World on behalf of Eastern Cape Lifesaving.

Michael Zoetmulder, head of the organising committee for the 2006 PE to EL Surf Ski Challenge, has announced the dates and some further details...

The race will be run from 13^th to 16^th December with 17^th December allocated as a reserve day.