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 The top paddlers have to be feeling some
nerves tonight as they prepare for tomorrow's 28km ARB Surf Ski World Cup -
they'll be racing for the largest purse in paddling history - R80,000 (around
US$11,500)...
And the weather looks perfect for a
cracking downwind race.
Weather
Forecast
Both windguru and buoyweather are
predicting smallish swell (around 6ft) with a SW wind of somewhere between 18
and 27kts tomorrow. This means that the
competitors shouldn't have too much difficulty in getting out through the surf
at Amanzimtoti, but the conditions will be ideal for a fantastic downwind run
to Durban.
 28.5km downwind course - perfect!
Murray Stewart
The star Australian paddler Murray Stewart
unfortunately woke up today with some kind of stomach bug and wasn't able to
participate in the relay race this morning.
Latest word has it that he's recovering fast, but even so, the edge must
be taken off his performance. What a disappointment. (And the worst thing is that
should they lose, the Aussies can then do the "but he would have won had he not
been sick" thing...!)
ARB Surf Ski Grand Prix Relay Event
26 teams participated
in the relay event, which was held in spectacular conditions - clear skies and
warm, calm water. Each team comprised
four paddlers and one swimmer. The
paddle route was a 3km course around the bay - each paddler did one lap, the
swimmer then had to complete a 500m course before the paddlers each did a
second lap.
 The perfect day for the Grand Prix Relay (Photo: Rob Mousley)
Team South Africa,
comprising Hank McGregor, Dawid Mocke, Matt Boumann, Barry Lewin and National
Lifesaving Team captain Gareth Fowler took the honours. With the big race tomorrow, I doubt any of
the top paddlers were going full out, but Barry Lewin said afterwards that
they'd had to paddler harder than they thought to stay in front. Team Australia of Dave Kissane, Tim
Jacobs, Tommy Woodriff and Ash Nesbit with swimmer Springbok lifesaver Blaine
Woods came second.
The top teams began
lapping the slower paddlers during their second lap - so, do the maths, in
those conditions it's highly unlikely that a paddler could be doing less than
10km/h. The top guys therefore must have
been traveling 50% faster i.e. sustaining around 15km/h. Awesome.
International Ladies
The International
Ladies team started well with Katie Pocock's lead being maintained by
Australian Lauren Mckie, but their third and fourth team members were battling
against severe handicaps - missed flights had resulted in them arriving a day
late and they were faced with paddling unfamiliar craft in a totally new environment
- Julie Raeckelboom and Amélie Bouillet had not paddled on the sea before...
 International Ladies Team (L to R) Julie Raeckelboom (Fr), Amélie Bouillet (Fr), Katie Pocock (NZ), Lauren Mckie (Aus) (Photo: Rob Mousley)
However, they managed to stay on the skis and
to finish in second place behind Team Whasp, comprising Danica Vorster, Natalie
Veckgranges, Nicci Irvin and Belinda Carbutt. I feel for them faced with going out through
real (if small) surf at Amanzimtoti tomorrow.
According to the team manager they came to learn - but I'm sure they
were hoping for a little more of an introduction before tackling the big
race. Good luck to them.
Third time lucky?
On a more personal
note, I can't wait for the race tomorrow.
My previous experiences with KwaZulu Natal surf have not been great
(injured shoulder in 2005, broken ski in 2006) but this morning we played in
some small surf and I practiced bouncing over foamies, getting back into the
ski, punching through some small waves and I didn't injure myself or the ski -
I'm cooking!
Fascinating Race
It's going to be
fascinating to watch the race at the front tomorrow. The best paddlers in the world are here and
we have the added spice of the South African/Aussie rivalry. Will Oscar pull it out of the bag? Will Dean show his downwind magic? Could a one-two victory from the Mocke
brothers actually happen? Ash Nesbit
loves a downwind - and the Aussies keep saying that Tim Jacobs is equally at
home in downwind as on the flat. And
what is going to happen with Matt (4l) Boumann, Hank McGregor and Barry Lewin?
Impossible to call.
Trivia
-
Dean Gardiner doesn't use sports drinks apart from perhaps a little
Gatorade. He'll probably have a banana
sandwich with a couple of eggs for breakfast.
- Barry Lewin finds it
difficult to eat before a big race - he'll be using about 1l of juice, a
concoction of USN carboloading and electrolyte drinks.
- Dawid Mocke eats steak
with two glasses of red wine the night before a big race. Nikki Mocke is bleak that she's not in Durban
for this race.
Good luck to all the
competitors from Surfski.info - have a ball!
And catch the live commentary on www.surfski.info tomorrow!
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