|
 For me Sunday's race was one of the wildest, most exhilarating downwind runs I have ever experienced. In Cape Town we think we have pretty exciting downwind runs, but I finally have to admit that a "proper downwind" in Durban is something different.
Here are some more photos, some of which give a good idea of what the conditions were like on the water.
The Start
As we waited on the beach at Amanzimtoti we could see the surf building by the minute. But, by Durban standards, the break off the beach was very small... Some of us avoided the crush in the beach break, starting some ten or twenty seconds after the front bunch had fought their way out.
 The scene at the start: Amanzimtoti Beach
The Waves
I found the seas quite different to those that we usually experience in Cape Town waters. I tend to think that I'm pretty good at downwind paddling(!) but this was quite an eye-opener. I knew the theory - there would be wind generated waves heading at an angle off shore while the big deep sea swells would be coming from the right hand side at a diagonal towards the beach. Catch the wind swell, the theory goes, then when you've got speed up, turn down the sea swells...
Well, theory held up in practice, but I wasn't prepared for just how big the sea swells were - nor just how steep. The other advice that I'd been given was "don't look back"... Most of the time I didn't - even when the roar of the breaking wave seemed to be just behind me.
I had a ball - at times I literally found myself laughing out loud with the exhilaration of it all.
These next photos show graphically what it was like.
 Darryl Bartho rocketing down a wave (Photo: Gameplan Media)
 Hank on a wave (Photo: Gameplan Media)
The Internationals
Some of the Aussies had bad luck - Murray Stewart fell sick the day before the race and wasn't feeling great on the day - he said he enjoyed it but wasn't on form. "I was just glad to be able to start," he said afterwards.
Dave Kissane was having a good race until he dropped into a hole and nose-dived into the wave. He said he heard a horrible cracking sound and he knew that the ski was badly damaged. The hull was split and although he was able to nurse the ski to the finish, by the time he got there, the ski was filled with so much water that he couldn't lift it and had to drag it across the line, losing several places to paddlers sprinting up the beach around him. (You had to cross the line 50m up the beach with your ski.)
 Tim Jacobs (Photo: Gameplan Media)
The Final Sprint
The last 1 1/2 km of the race was directly into the wind which was blowing 30-35kts, lifting spray off the surface of the water. It was an extremely difficult grind. I caught up and passed Tiffany Kruger but was in turn passed by another paddler who was much stronger into the wind than me.
The group of paddlers behind Hank McGregor and Oscar Chalupsky had to stop at the harbour entrance to allow a huge container ship to pass across the race course. It was incredibly bad luck that it happened - but we'd all been briefed twice (or three times) on the procedure that would be followed should this happen. The paddlers' times were taken and they waited while the ship passed. They were then released to sprint to the finish, with the elapsed times being taken into account for the final results.
This made for an exciting finish and as can be seen in the photo below the paddlers arrived in a tight group, lead by Tim Jacobs. Dean Gardiner came third after elapsed times were taken into account.
 Tight finish - Tim Jacobs beats Dean Gardiner to the beach (Dean however beat Tim Jacobs on elapsed time) (Photo: Gameplan Media)
We'll be writing more stories with feedback from other paddlers who took part in this extraordinary race.
(I'm writing this from a hotel in Johannesburg where I'm stuck on business - welcome to real world...!)
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
