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The last two events have seen freakish performances by
Dawid Mocke. (Hence the name of this report) He has walked away with $26k US
from the last two races and if he continues his good form will have well over
30k US to add to his wife's Olympic campaign after this weeks Perth event. He is the man to beat at the
moment and many will be throwing everything they have at him in this final
major event of the year.
 Dawid takes the Dragon Run Hotspot (Pic: Graham Uden)
Over the last couple of weeks I have been fortunate to have been
able to take part in a couple of new events on the paddling calendar. While
Australia, SA, NZ, Tahiti and Hawaii have been the traditional hotspots for
ocean paddling, Dubai and Hong Kong have left an indelible mark on the psyche
of paddlers that took part in these events.
As I enter the twilight years of my ocean paddling lifespan
I am in a fortunate position. I get to witness the expansion of the sport and
get to take part in events where I am not right at the pointy end of the field,
but not too far from it.
It is from this perspective that I get to see some of the
great races unfold. While I would still like to think of myself as competitive,
realistically I am making up the top 5-10 numbers and may if conditions suit
pull off a big one that gets me on the dais.
These last two events have been fantastic for our sport both
for competitors and anyone with the slightest interest in surf ski paddling.
The coverage from this website has lifted the sport and given exposure at a
global level never before seen by the people that have helped grow the sport
over the last 20 years or so, for that many of us are extremely grateful.
While I could talk all day about these new exciting times it
is the last two events that I would like to talk about from someone that gets
to see the races from a place many others don't. That is almost at the front.
Hong Kong
The first of the two was held in Hong
Kong. For those that have never been to HK before it is an
amazing place. For Lewis Laughlin it is especially amazing as you can imagine
coming from his island paradise to the lights, sounds, smells and people that
make up this place.
What many people don't know is that HK and surrounds have
some beautiful beaches and bays that are paddled and explored by quite a large
contingent of surf ski paddlers.
One of these was Clearwater
Bay which was the start
point for our race over there. Only a short drive from the center of bustling Kowloon (which is the
geographical start of the Chinese mainland) this little bay is surrounded by steep
mountains with very little development making you feel like you are more than
just a few kilometers from the masses of humanity just over the hill.
 Dawid Mocke leading the 2007 Dragon Run (Pic: Graham Uden)
The race started offshore with Australia's Kenny Wallace taking an
early lead. Oscar, Bevan, Michael "Gollum" Baker and I were in a group to
the right with Dawid on Kenny's tail. As the Fenn Hotspot drew near Dawid put
on a burst to overtake Kenny and put a nice 1k US into his back pocket.
Downwind
After turning the buoy we were heading downwind/swell which
was great but what made it better was the other movement from backwash of the
cliffs and wash from the large amount of boat traffic on the course.
The course took us from the Kowloon side heading south across the
entrance to HK Harbour then around the bottom of HK island.
 Michael Baker dicing with Lewis Laughlin (Pic: Graham Uden)
With all that swell and movement is was a very pleasurable
event. Dawid was holding his lead throughout the race although I had drawn up
level on his inside; Oscar and Lewis were slightly behind with Kenny, Bevan
Manson and Michael "Gollum" Baker a little further back.
As we drew into the lee of HK the swell and chop suddenly
disintegrated. At this point Dawid took off and put about a 200 meters into the
rest of us. Without boring you too much about the rest of the race Dawid hung
on to win comfortably, Lewis took over 2nd and Oscar 3rd.
I managed to hold off a fast finishing Kenny Wallace for 4th.
Dawid had paddled a great race and in the end I think he was
pretty comfortable.
Well organized event
The event was well organized and I think with a little adjustment
(remove the flat section) will become one of the great events on the calendar.
Most of the course is first class with enough ocean movement and some small
technical sections of downwind paddling.
The local contingent has some great paddlers amongst them
with potential for more good ones as the sport grows in this region. The
hospitality from the local crew was fantastic. I have always had a blast when I
go to HK and paddle with these guys and recommend that you add this race to
your overseas trips next year
Dubai
Onto Dubai.
Having never been to Dubai
before I did not know to expect. I had read a fair bit of banter on this site
from the Dubai
crew and kind of liked the enthusiasm that their comments exuded
It is pretty obvious to the readers that this bunch had gone
to great lengths to make this race work. The promotion of the event was the
"loudest" out of any event to date and of course the prize money was the most
that we have seen so far in the sport.
 Dawid shows Ken Wallance where the bung goes (Pic: Wouter Kingma)
With the combination of the above, one of the best fields
ever assembled had made the trip and a great race was on the cards.
Leading into the event there were a few that have stood out
and were definitely starting as favorites. The obvious ones were Hank, Dawid
and Tim Jacobs who had dominated races around Sydney over the last couple of months
Also looking good were the usuals, Lewis, Oscar, Herman,
Barry and Daryl Bartho. The unknowns were Clint Pretorius who was recovering
from a busted arm and Bevan Manson who has been clocking up some good results
over the last few months.
Prior to the event we had been promised a downwinder.
Unfortunately some of the local constabulary weren't too keen on having us
barged out to sea, so an out-and-back course was devised to try and capture as
much downwind as possible. Not happy Jan
We did get the awesome downwinder; problem was we had to
complete a very nasty 8k upwind to get to the point to do the 12 k downwind.
Three "Fenn Hotspots" made the going out even tougher as those fast
little buggers upfront would surge ahead leaving the rest of us in their wake.
Hank McGregor took out the 3 Fenn Hotspots picking up
a cool 3k US for his efforts. One might argue that this cost him the race but I
would argue differently.
Best on ground
At the start of the race I was watching Dawid Mocke helping
out Kenny Wallace with the bung in his boat. I turned to Greg Barton who was
next to me and suggested that Dawid should probably
turn his boat around. Problem was, while helping Kenny out Dawid was facing the
wrong way and drifting back into the field. The 5 minute gun didn't really mean
5 minutes and the next gun that went shortly after was the actual start.
So Dawid was in a bit of a dilemma you might say. Pointing
backwards drifting away from the course having to wait for the entire field to
pass before being able to turn his boat around and try and catch the front
runners.
 Dawid Mocke catching up (Pic: Wouter Kingma)
Meanwhile sitting comfortable around the 10s I was trying to
find every little bit of assistance I could. I sat on Kenny for a while but he
was too fast. I sat on Bevan for a while but he was too fast, I watched Dawid
go past and didn't even try to sit on him.
I sat on Gollum for a while but he was too fast and I fell
off, literally. I sat on Brett B for a while but he was too fast. After
contemplating an earlier than expected retirement from the race (and the sport)
local Bulgarian Boyan Zlaterov came up to me and I sat on him till the buoy.
Through the week I had given what I hope was helpful advice to Boyan on how to
ride runs. Because of this I think he was paddling a little bit slower to allow
me to hang on.
With 200 meters till the turn I watched the first of the
inbounds slide down a run and starting heading back to shore Dawid had caught the
leaders and was dicing with Hank and Tim with the two Chalupskys and Daryl B
hot on their tail. "Should catch them," thought the part of brain that still
thinks I'm pretty good.
"Yeah right!" said the part of my brain that knows.
Turning the can I did peg a couple back but not as many as
Clint Pretorius who flew past me like I was standing still. That part of brain
said "He can't do that" and I battled him for a while. The real part of my
brain said "Mate he's done it, give it a rest you old fat fool"
So in summary the outbound part of the race gave me little
pleasure, the inbound was a whole load of fun. In fact I am prepared to say
that had we been able to race the entire course downwind it would have gone
down as one of the all time races. The runs were fat and juicy with
plenty of different angles. For me it seemed the water was moving against the
faces of the runs making them even steeper..
Dawid - standout
Dawid took it a step up over the last couple of weeks by
grabbing these events and making them his. He is the standout at the moment
which was proven by giving a class field such a big start and coming back and
taking the win. It was great to see some of the younger guys starting to take
charge in the runs and what was especially good to see was the huge local crew
take on conditions well out of their normal comfort zone.
 Dawid wins the 2007 Dubai Shamaal (Pic: Alain Jaques)
Well done to Katie Pocock who once again proved her
dominance of Surf Ski paddling in the ladies division. (I think I just pipped
her)
The organization of the event lived up to its hype which all
fares well for the future. Who would have thought when I first started doing
these races that I would get travel to such places to partake in such awesome
events.
We head to Perth
this week and judging by hourly glances at windguru it looks set to be a
bit of a cracker. At this stage 17-20 knots, 3 meter swell and with the
exception of Hank the whole top 14 from Dubai plus a host of Aussie guys.
 Dean Gardiner (Pic: Alain Jaques)
Check out the updates on this site.
Once again to all those that helped out the foreign contingents
in both HK and Dubai a big thanks from all of us you guys are awesome and
really help to make these events as special as they are..
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