 Durban - The ARB Surf Ski World Cup produced drama
galore, as the howling South Westerly wind played havoc with the field and a
controversy surrounding the legality of the race leaders crossing the mouth of
Durban harbour kept the big crowd on tenterhooks for several hours.
Defending champ
Hank McGregor was leading the race as he approached the southern pier of the
Durban harbour mouth, at the same time as a colossal container ship was about
to enter the port.
Oscar Chalupsky, who had opted to take a deeper line out to sea, arrived
seconds later. Both were then under the control of the safety officials, who
had the final say over whether it was safe to cross the harbour mouth.
 Oscar and Hank take off in front of the container ship (Photo: Gameplan Media)
Chalupsky led the
break across the harbour mouth in front of the approaching ship, and took a well
researched oblique line, while McGregor opted to follow Chalupsky, but on a
straighter and shorter route across the harbour mouth. "I did my homework on
the last kilometer," said Chalupsky afterwards. "No one took the line that I
found, and look at the difference it made."
 Oscar wins - Hank in the background (Photo: Gameplan Media)
Chalupsky's tactics paid off, and he coasted into the windswept Vetchie's beach
at Durban's Point well ahead of McGregor, who immediately made his displeasure
known.
 Hank protests at the finish (Photo: Gameplan Media)
The race jury,
under chair John Parton, considered the evidence of all the officials on duty
at the harbour mouth and decided that there had been no breach of the race
rules, and overturned McGregor's objection.
"We considered video evidence, as well as oral evidence from officials on the
two boats at the harbour mouth, and the official on duty in the Millennium
tower who saw the whole incident, and we have agreed that the race results
should stand, and the objection is overruled."
Chalupsky's race
time was adjusted by seven seconds to allow for the delay imposed on McGregor
by officials at the harbour mouth. Chalupsky's well thought-out line across the
harbour to finish however earned him a margin of almost a minute over McGregor.
Seasoned Aussie
Dean Gardiner finished third, underscoring how well the experienced veterans were
able to fare in the big swell conditions. Durbanite Matt Bouman was just behind
him, with pre-race favourite Tim Jacobs in fifth place.
 The old bulls - Dean Gardiner (3rd) & Oscar. Sponsor Alan Burke of ARB to the right (Photo: Rob Mousley)
The women's title went to plucky Capetonian Alexa Lombard, who's late entry
caught a lot of the top paddlers by surprise.
Still nursing a
sore shoulder that goes back to an accident during January's Dusi, she mastered
the difficult big swells better than any of the other women, to take the top
honours.
An understandably delighted Lombard said that she has no idea where she was in
the race, as the big waves and demanding swells meant that she didn't have a
glimpse of where she was relative to the other women. "I might as well have
been fifth!" she said. "It was huge out there, and very tricky."
The former world marathon championships silver medallist was so concerned about
her safety in the strong South-Wester that she tied herself to her ski with a
roof-rack strap anchoring her ski to a knot tied around her waist.
The challenge from top Kiwi sprinter Katie Pocock never materialised after she
damaged her rudder on the shark nets going out at the start at
Amanzimtoti. Top local female ski racer Belinda Carbutt's day ended when she
fell out and was separated from her ski while passing the Bluff.
Michelle Eder was second in the women's race, with Tiffany Kruger third, with
Zululand teenager Shaun Austin taking the junior honours, paddling into the top
fifty, an finishing just behind visiting international Franck Fifils, from St
Martin in the Caribbean.
Andrew and Simon
Blackburn were the first double ski home, in 13th place overall, and
Clive Mundon and Jenny Cullinan took the mixed doubles title.
The strong wind and fierce swells accounted for twenty percent of the field. Of
the 250 odd craft that left the race start at Amanzimtoti, only 196 made it to
the finish at the Vetchies beach at Durban's Point.
Lifesavers and the NSRI spent a frantic afternoon rescuing paddlers that had
become separated from their skis. While all the paddlers eventually accounted
for, scores of abandoned skis were washed up onto beaches south of the city.
Australian team captain Dave Kissane was one of the casualties. He was
pitchpoled high into the air, after his ski nosedived down a particularly step
swell, when he was right on the tail, of Oscar Chalupsky.
"I heard the boat crack as it went under. The water pressure whacked a huge
crack into it. I managed to get back onto the ski, but in less than a minute I
could feel that it was filling up with water, and I realised that it would be a
struggle just to get to the finish."
The visiting French team was also hammered by the testing conditions.
Consisting largely of youngsters with little surf experienced youngsters, had
to be rescued from the surf.
SUMMARY OF RESULTS
ARB SURF SKI WORLD CUP
Men (RSA unless stated)
1.Oscar Chalupsky 1:39.56
2.Hank McGregor 1:40.46
3.Dean Gardiner (Aus) 1:40.56
4.Matt Bouman 1:41.00
5.Tim Jacobs (Aus) 1:41.12
6.Dawid Mocke 1:41.14
7.Herman Chalupsky 1:41.24
8.Barry Lewin 1:41.45
9.Daryl Bartho 1:42.11
10.Steve
Woods 1:42.39
Women
1.Alexa Lombard 2:01.17
2.Michelle Eder 2:02.02
3.Tiffany Kruger 2:06.17
4.Danica Vorster 2:15.55
All the race information can be found at www.surfskiworldcup.com
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