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 The 2007
New Balance Men’s Health Peninsula Challenge was held in Cape Town, South Africa
on the weekend of 24th/25th February.
The race,
now its 4th year provides a fitting climax to the end of the Sunday
racing season. The format is simple – a two
day doubles race totaling some 50km with the courses decided on the day to take
advantage of the prevailing weather conditions. Although the race is aimed at the doubles teams, singles are welcome to take part.
Day 1
 Route - Day 1
With little
wind predicted and the possibility of fog in Table Bay, race organiser Billy
Harker set a 20km course in False Bay beginning
and ending at Fish Hoek Sailing Club.
From the
beach the 25 doubles and 20 single skis headed straight out to the Roman Rock
lighthouse, groups of skis settling quickly into formation to ride each other’s
wakes.
From Roman
Rock, the course lead directly south to Noah’s Ark rock.
There were small runs on the way for particularly skilful crews and the Lippstreu/Mousley
combo dropped their group by about 200m…
Then it was
along the Simonstown Navy Base harbour wall sharp left and through the yacht
marina before turning at the Navy
Diving School
towards Glen Cairn where the competitors were obliged to go around a flag set
in the surf. The theory of turning a
double in the surf was articulated by Billy Harker at the start: “Go in past
the flag,” he said, “then the back guy jumps out and turns the boat.” Easier said than done.
 Alain Jaques & Brett Steyn brace hard (Photo: Hazel McQueen)
 Peter Jones saying "Oh dear" or similar (Photo: Hazel McQueen)
The Lippstreu/Mousley
combo (along with a number of others it must be said) did their valiant best to
follow the instructions but achieved nothing more than being solidly dumped.
 Lippstreu/Mousley upset by massive surf (Photo: Hazel McQueen)
From Glen
Cairn it was off to the north end of Fish Hoek bay, around a flag, back to a
buoy off the sailing club, around another flag followed by another lap of the
bay, and a further opportunity for falling out of the ski. Lippstreu/Mousley cocked up at every
opportunity.
Showing how
to do it, Stuart Rew & Justin Maddock actually made up about five places by
their efficient turns around the flags.
 Whoops... (Photo: Hazel McQueen)
An unfortunate
crew from Johannesburg
thought they’d got through to the backline, turned right just in time to be
taken out by the next wave and T-boned on the bow of the next ski coming
out. End of campaign. Sorry guys.
Anthony
Pearce and Gill Anderson proved a point about ski maintenance when their rudder
cable snapped but they managed to limp home in 17th place.
PE2EL
Challenge winner Paul Marais teamed up with K4 Olympic sprint campaigner Graeme
Solomon to take the day from veterans Daanjtie “My Bra” Malan and Gary Cromie.
In the
singles race, the unheard of happened and a girl applied serious hurt to the
guys when Donia Kamstra beat Billy Harker over the line…
Day 2
 Route: Day 2
A light
south-wester combined with a 2m/11sec SW swell made day 2’s course a
no-brainer. The paddle from Hout Bay to Granger Bay, a distance of 26.5km, is one of the
most fun, and picturesque routes in the world.
24 doubles
and 22 singles took part. There wasn’t
much help from wind and the fast swell was difficult to catch. When you did catch a wave though, it was as
though the ski had a rocket up its hawse pipe…
awesome…
Billy Harker restored some battered male pride by beating Donia Kamstra. To put Billy in his place however, Dawid Mocke joined the race for day two and led the singles home by eighteen minutes.
Paul Marais and Graeme Solomon were unchallenged in the doubles race and beat the vets home by over two minutes.
But it was
a tired group of paddlers that assembled at the Oceana Power Boat Club in Granger Bay for the prize giving.
Results
Doubles:
1 PAUL MARAIS, GRAEME SOLOMON 03:29:47
2 DAANTJIE MALAN, GARY CROMIE 03:32:24
3 LUKE VANEES, AARON VANSCHAIK 03:34:37
4 CRAIG TILSLEY, HERBERT CONRADIE 03:34:56
5 JOE KEARNEY, EDGAR(JNR) BOEHM 03:37:38
Singles:
1 BILLY HARKER 04:02:46
2 DONIA KAMSTRA 04:05:56
3 PETER JONES 04:09:29
4 CHRISTO SMIT 04:13:42
5 MICHAEL MARTIN 04:22:39
Full results on www.surfski.co.za
Underrated Race
In my estimation this race
is highly underrated - part of the problem perhaps being the tendency in the past of the organisers
to market it as a downwind event. The fact
is that Cape Town’s
weather in February is very variable and the likelihood of achieving two days
of consistent wind is minimal.
By abandoning
the “downwind” restriction, the organisers can set challenging, highly
enjoyable courses whatever the weather conditions and so it proved in 2007.
Thanks to
Billy Harker who ran the races on the day – and to all the hard work put in by
race founder Richard Kohler who has planned and organised the race since
inception. This year he did most of the
work from the America’s Cup
camp in Valencia, Spain where he’s
cranking winches on the South African contender, Shosholoza.
Shot guys!
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