Anton Fouche, organiser of the Men's Health Dolphin Coast Challenge confirmed that Herman Chalupsky broke the Salt Rock to Durban record by five minutes - a feat all the more remarkable in the relatively benign conditions.

The two day, 74km downwind race was held on the weekend of 28/29 October 2006.

Day 1: Salt Rock to Pirates 

Day 1 saw the competitors paddle from Salt Rock to Durban - some 42km - in small seas and a 25kt NE wind.  The relatively small surf saw little damage caused to skis although several paddlers took inadvertent swims (including Anton himself).  (Zinkwazi Beach is notorious for difficult surf the race has seen numerous casualties with smashed skis in the past.)

Dolphin Coast Route Day 1 - Salt Rock to Pirates

The organisers knew from the weather forecast that the wind was going to be stronger on Saturday so they discarded the usual rule about finishing at Salt Rock and instead set the course from there to Pirates - the right call.

 "Everyone finished day 1," said Anton, "but several felt so beaten that they didn't turn up on Sunday!"

Day 2: Zinkwazi to Salt Rock

Clint Pretorius won day 2 but Herman's lead from day 1 was more than enough to clinch victory.

Dolphin Coast Route Day 2 - Zinkwazi to Salt Rock

The day 2 route was run from Zinkwazi to Salt Rock, a distance of some 33km.  The heat and flat conditions told on the competitors and speeds were not as high as on day 1.

Oscar Chalupsky came 4^th on both days and sent his GPS tracks which may be seen on motionbase.com here:

Day 1: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.mb?episodePk.pkValue=1563736

Day 2: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.mb?episodePk.pkValue=1570242

Some interesting things to note about Oscar's performance:

• average speed on day 1 of 18km/h with a maximum of 23.3km/h
• average speed on day 2 of 15km/h with a maximum of 22.5km/h

Apart from the first three paddlers breaking the record for day 1, several other notable achievements were:

• An awesome performance from Danica Vorster, the ONLY woman in the singles race.
• Tony Scott's first place in the Masters category at age 60, paddling with flat blades!

Winners and Skis

We're always asked who was on what ski.  The first five were:

Herman Chalupsky: Epic V10 Ultra

Clinton Pretorius: Fenn Mako 6

Darryl Bartho: Fenn Mako 6

Oscar Chalupsky: Epic V10

Scott Rutherford: Fenn Millennium 

Full results below.