Oscar Chalupsky reports from Hawaii:

Seven teams took part in the surfski section of the race.  South Africans featured in the first team home (Clint Pretorius/Eric Abbott) and the team that came second (Oscar Chalupsky/Ken Collins). 

(Clint's team mate, Eric Abbott is a 19 year old Hawaiian who paddles K1 and also is in the USA sprint team.)  

Ken Collins took the first leg and lead at the first change-over ahead of Eric Abbott and Joe Glickman...

Steve Kelly paddled past the change-over point and had to turn around and go back.  After the second change-over Oscar still had the lead but Mark Sandvold had caught up and overtaken Rene Appel from Hong Kong.  On the third leg, Eric had overtaken Ken who had blown, and Oscar started the final leg a minute behind Clint.

Oscar had been sick the day before and knew he didn't have much of a chance of catching Clint - the gap between the two paddlers stayed the same.  Mark Sandvold, unable to catch Oscar, came in third.

"The race was fun," said Oscar, "and blew the cobwebs out of my system!"  

"All the guys were on V10s," he added.

The race was held on the island of Kaua'i, which is the western-most island in the Hawaii group.  The course comprised two seven kilometre and then two fourteen kilometre legs.  Conditions were good, with strong trade winds blowing.

The top three teams were:

1. Clint Pretorius/Eric Abbott

2. Oscar Chalupsky/Ken Collins

3. Steve Kelley/ Mark Sandvold

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