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US Surf Ski Champs 2007 - Update
A fascinating contest looks to be played out between some of the best surf ski paddlers in the world at the US Surf Ski Championships in San Francisco this weekend.
South African Contingent
Fresh from wins in Ireland (where he
won the Liffey Descent) and the Caribbean, Barry Lewin will be looking to
improve his previous result in the US Champs - and there's only one way to do
that: he came second behind Dawid Mocke last year. "I'm feeling
pretty good at the moment," he said, "the Soualiga Challenge was a
perfect warm-up for San Fran."
 Barry Lewin - winner of the Soualiga Challenge last weekend
Oscar Chalupsky is taking part in
the race for the first time. "San Francisco is magnificent," he
said. "It's a very technical course - and shows that you can have a
relatively short race that requires real skill." He's spent some time
on the course over the last few days. "There
are bumps everywhere," he said, "runs into the wind; runs with the wind. I can't understand it!" But Oscar loves bumps - and if the predicted
15-20kt winds blow on Saturday he'll revel in the conditions.
 Oscar Chalupsky winning the ARB Surf Ski World Cup in Durban, South Africa, 1 July 2007 (Photo: Gameplan Media)
Bevan Manson, will also be competitive. His plans include paddling in all
the Surfski.info World Rankings races this season. His last major race
was the Scottburgh to Brighton Classic in Durban in July where, paddling Oscar
Chalupsky's 8kg V10E, he beat Dawid Mocke - current US Championship title
holder.
 Bevan Manson winning the 2007 Scottburgh to Brighton 46km marathon - July 2007 (Photo: Mike Tippet)
Daryl Bartho will also be in with
a fighting chance. Daryl also intends to compete in as many international
races as possible this year - and has a point to prove against Oscar
Chalupsky. Last year Daryl was favorite to win the Perth World Cup having
beaten Oscar in all the lead up races in South Africa - but Oscar beat Daryl in
both the Perth races, on flat water. (Oscar's stated preference is for
downwind conditions).
 Seen that photo before? Daryl Bartho during the ARB Surf Ski World Cup 2007 (Photo: Gameplan Media)
Sadly Dawid Mocke is not in San
Francisco to defend his title. Following a two week layoff after the
grueling 2006/2007 season he injured his back and was prevented from training
adequately for the race.
US Challenge
Greg Barton, Oscar's partner and
CEO of Epic Kayaks, has the advantage of local knowledge. "Greg is
going very fast," Oscar commented. Greg is 48 years old though which
must count against him. However - Greg won the Blackburn Challenge in
July paddling a sea kayak in a field of surf skis. "With proper
training," Oscar added, "Greg is as fast as anyone in the world - downwind as
well." Like Oscar, Greg has been
travelling a lot and has not been able to paddle as much as he'd like.
 Greg Barton during the 2005 US Champs
Zsolt Szadovszki has been making
waves (so to speak) around the world. A relative newcomer to surf
ski, Zsolt has achieved some very respectable results at last year's US Champs,
the Dubai Shamaal and this year's Molokai. (Zsolt missed making the
Hungarian Olympic team in K2 by inches in 2000 - and the team that beat them
went on to take Gold.) "Between the 2005 & 2006 US Champs I improved 30%," said Zsolt. "I
feel that improved another 30% this year - so we'll see how far it gets
me!"
Local knowledge is key in this race where tides
and currents play a major role and Zsolt has that knowledge in spades - to the
extent that he has been coaching paddlers on the course for the last couple of
weeks. "I believe being a local paddler helps," he agreed, "but I also believe that whoever is paying attention can read the ocean...".
Robert Clegg (actually South
African but now resident in the US) just returned from Europe where he came 7th
in the World K1 Marathon Championships. He's come second in the US Champs
before too.
30 year old two time Olympian Rami
Zur also recently returned from the Sprint Championships in Europe where he
came 5th in the K1 1500m.
Canada
In June, Ian McKenzie achieved 3rd
place in the 32.9km World Cup Marathon race in Denmark and just came 6th
in the World Marathon Championships. Distance, fitness and strength is
clearly no problem - but lack of local knowledge and the rough seas of the bay
may well count against Ian and the other flat water specialists
 Ian McKenzie - 2005 US Champs (Photo: Mike Martinez, Wave Chaser)
Tahiti
2007 Molokai Champion Lewis Laughlin
is back to challenge for the title too. Lewis has a history of biding his
time for the first half of a race and then making a strong move to blow his
opposition away - but is usually more successful on flatter water.
 Lewis Laughlin - winner of 2007 Molokai (Photo: DeAnne Hemmens)
Women's Race
Kathleen Petereit (Canada), 3rd
in 2006 and 2nd in 2005, is back to challenge the likes of DeAnne
Hemmens and 2007 Molokai Women's Champion, Megan Quayle (HI). DeAnne
Hemmens won the women's race in 2005.
Course, Tides & Currents
The current will peak about 40
minutes after the start of the race - at 3-4kts in places. The current will be at its worst at Point Diablo
and under the Golden Gate Bridge. Local
paddler and race organizer Dave Jensen put together the image below as a guide
to the course.
 Route map (Dave Jensen)
For a larger version of this image, click here.
Tactics
Because of the tides and
currents, this will be a highly tactical race. Last year Dawid Mocke was
very careful to keep an eye on the line that the locals were taking - get too
far ahead and your opposition might jump onto a counter current 100m away.
Apart from that, the Fenn
Hotspot throws an extra twist into the race: the $1000 hotspot prize goes to
the first person under the Golden Gate Bridge. Do you sprint for the
hotspot, or do you conserve energy for the overall win?
 Paddling at the Golden Gate (Photo: Oscar Chalupsky)
Sunday's Doubles Race
The doubles race should see some
fierce competition too with the likes of Oscar Chalupsky/Greg Barton, Lewis
Laughlin/Barry Lewin, Bevan Manson/Daryl Bartho and Robert Clegg/Zsolt
Szadovszki. Chalupsky and Barton will be
paddling a "Comet" double ski.
This ski was a project by Don Kiesling in Seattle - only two were ever
built before the project was shelved.
Live Coverage
www.surfski.info will be covering the event
live with commentary coming from observers on the escort boats. Coverage
will begin at 11h00 California time (8pm South Africa time!).
For more info, go to: http://www.ussurfski.com/
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