Gavin Searle announced last night that more than 300 paddlers have entered the Surf Ski World Cup race to be held in Durban next Sunday, 2 July.

The full list of entries as at 25 June may be seen here. 

Current forecast conditions are for light winds with 1.5m swell.  For the WindGuru forecast for Durban, click here. 

Just over a week until the South African Surf Ski World Cup in Durban...

Representatives of five overseas countries will be taking part in this years race: USA, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia and France.

(For a complete list of entries, see www.surfskiworldcup.com.)

And the teams are: 

Herman Chalupsky has been named captain of the South African team to take on the best surf ski paddlers in the World during the Surf Ski World Cup in Durban on 2 July, and he is confident that South Africa can dominate the competition.

The 41-year-old will lead a powerful squad, selected at the recent national trials, of two senior men's teams, a women's team, an under-21 team, and a Chairman's team.

The national side consists of Chalupsky, Hank McGregor, Darryl Bartho, and the new Molokai champion Clint Pretorius, with Jenna Worlock and Michelle Eder making up the SA women's team.

The organisers of the SA World Cup have issued an appeal to paddlers to complete their registration forms for the SA World Cup to be run in Durban, South Africa on 2 July 2006.

ENTRIES CLOSE ON 15 JUNE 2006...

Although teams have been entered from SA, USA, FRANCE, NZ, AUSTRALIA , HONG KONG , TAHITI, as at 1 June 2006, only fourteen paddlers have completed their registration forms!

Come on guys, pull finger, head on over to the registration website (see below) and book your place.

Race 2 of the Discovery Men's Health Series in Durban, April 30 2006... 

The waves at Dairy Beach were massive - 6ft according to eye witnesses...  Nevertheless, 280 paddlers made it to the backline to do the race, which by all accounts was fantastic fun for the paddlers and spectators alike.

Billy Harker, race organiser, sent us these photos of a couple of intrepid paddlers going out through the break.

Hawaii. 

From Maui to Moloka'i to O'ahu to Kaua'i.

That's the course paddlers have been taking over the past few weeks.

Tomorrow's stop is Kaua'i for the Expedia.com Kaua'i World Challenge, which has become one of the favorite events for paddlers because of the rewards.

"Out of all the races we do, this is the one that caters to the paddlers more than any other," Maui's Kai Bartlett said. "There's prize money, you get a pasta dinner the night before, there's a party after the race ... it's really first class."

More than 200 paddlers are expected to participate in tomorrow's race, which features one-person canoes and surfskis, but follows a relay format.

The strong South Westerly wind made for tough conditions in the mid section of the six kilometer leg on Durban harbour, where the driving side wind created difficult swells that bounced off the harbour walls. Once out of the harbour mouth, the gusts made for excellent downwind racing conditions to the turn off Durban North, before grinding into the wind to the finish off Marine Surf Lifesaving Club.

 Four paddlers led the race out of the harbour mouth, with defending champ McGregor racing with Darryl Bartho, Clint Pretorius, and Barry Lewin. The four opted for a direct route to the turning buoy off Durban North.