Oscar Chalupsky had a hat-trick of victories controversially taken away from him in the Perth World Cup surfski race on Saturday, but he can still take pleasure from the fact he holds his number one spot in the Surfski.info World Series rankings.

Oscar Chalupsky - loving the conditions (Pic: Greg Kitto)

Fellow South African Clint Pretorius was a shock winner of the Rottnest Island to Sorrento Bay race, but his victory only came about when Chalupsky was relegated to third position after crossing the line first. 

After a close race, Pretorius finished 16 seconds behind Chalupsky.

They were followed home by Darryl Bartho and pre-race favourite, Dawid Mocke, with Herman Chalupsky rounding out a South African cleansweep in fifth.

Drama 

But there was drama as Oscar Chalupsky, aiming for a hat-trick of wins in the event, approached the beach. 

The 44-year-old Durban businessman, using all his years of experience took a slightly different line to the finish and managed to eke out a narrow lead. As they headed toward the beach he thought the lead boat told him to go right of the final buoy. Chalupsky followed what he thought was the race boat's orders and raced the final 500m to the finish at Sorrento Beach and, such was his lead, was able to walk up the beach to complete the victory.

Oscar's GPS Track showing his approach to the beach

"...right of the groyne" 

A video taken from the lead boat and used as evidence in the hearing after the race clearly showed the race official shouting to Chalupsky.

The exact words spoken to him as the boats approached Sorrento Beach were: "Oscar, there's a boat on the buoy. It's to the right of the groyne."

With the noise from the boat, wind, and his own paddling, Chalupsky misheard the shout as an instruction from the race officials to go right of the buoy. 

It was clear the error was a genuine misunderstanding, and Chalupsky, who was leading, was certain to win, and gained no race-changing advantage, was given a 30-second time penalty that relegated him to third overall.

The race was summed up by third-placed Bartho: "Oscar would have won if he'd gone around the buoy," he told Surfski.info soon after the finish. 

Philosophical 

Chalupsky was philosophical about the race and the decision.

"What can you do?" he said in an interview from Perth. "I know I won and I know on the day I was the best paddler. 

"The wind was blowing, I was 20 metres away with spray flying so it is hard to hear what is being said. The guy says 'go right' as I approach the buoy ... of course I am going to think he is talking about the buoy and so I followed his instructions.

"Even when I first heard the video I thought he said go right of the 'buoy'." 

The photos below were taken by Greg Kitto of  www.x-dream.co.za

12h45 Rottnest Island 12h45 Rottnest Island

13h58 Barry Lewin dicing Tim Jacobs 13h58 Barry Lewin dicing Tim Jacobs

14h03 Barry Lewin riding runs 14h03 Barry Lewin riding runs

14h08 Dean Beament 14h08 Dean Beament

14h09 Dean Gardiner 14h09 Dean Gardiner

14h15 Clint dicing Oscar 14h15 Clint dicing Oscar

14h26 Howzit Oscar! 14h26 Howzit Oscar!

14h45 Dave Kissane 14h45 Dave Kissane

14h53 Dawid in 4th with 10km to go 14h53 Dawid in 4th with 10km to go

14h54 Dawid Mocke 14h54 Dawid Mocke

14h57 Oscar doing what he does best 14h57 Oscar doing what he does best

15h00 Clint takes 2nd Fenn Hotspot 15h00 Clint takes 2nd Fenn Hotspot

15h06 Oscar asks who's leading 15h06 Oscar asks who's leading

15h08 Clint Pretorius 15h08 Clint Pretorius

15h08 Clint Pretorius 15h08 Clint Pretorius

15h15 Dean Gardiner 15h15 Dean Gardiner

15h16 Barry Lewin finishes 15h16 Barry Lewin finishes

15h17 Lewis Laughlin finishes 15h17 Lewis Laughlin finishes

15h19 Jasper Mocke 15h19 Jasper Mocke

15h37 Barry Lewin and Tim Jacobs 15h37 Barry Lewin and Tim Jacobs

17h57 Clint declared the winner 17h57 Clint declared the winner

World Rankings 

Despite his third place, Chalupsky retains top spot in the World Rankings.

Going into the event Chalupsky held a narrow lead over Lewis Laughlin, who ended 10th in Perth. His third position means Chalupsky increases his lead  to 35 points, while Mocke, who has done one race less, moves into third spot, 80 points behind Chalupsky.

Clint Pretorius 

Pretorius was a dark horse who nobody gave much thought to as a potential winner before the race. He only recently returned to ski paddling after breaking his arm and went out hard in a pre-planned attempt to win the two Fenn hotspots worth $1 000 each.

"I just wound it off the starting blocks and took the first Fenn hotspot," Pretorius said after the race. "Then I thought I'd just hang in there, but about three kilometres from the second hotspot, Daw (Mocke), Daryl and Oscar and me pushed on and I caught a couple of runs on the left to take the second hotspot." 

Bartho was not surprised. "Clint flew off the start," he said. "I'm sharing a room with him and he said he was going to just go for the hotspots."

From the second hotspot it was a tense battle with the paddlers using their wave-riding ability to try and get an edge over their rivals. 

The experience of Chalupsky was the difference and his incredible ablity to use the tail wind and following waves in a downwind race came to the fore. He paddled a slightly different line to his rivals and was able to manufacture a narrow lead which should have given him victory ... if only he had not misheard the instructions from the race boat.

"I was waiting for Clint to burn out, but he's such a talent in the runs," said Bartho. "But towards the end of the race I realised, hey, he's going to win this thing! He was leading until close to the end, Oscar was off to the left somewhere then came across and moved slightly ahead." 

Dawid Mocke 

Surprisingly Mocke -- who was aiming for a hat-trick of his own following victories in Hong Kong and Dubai -- was never able to get ahead of his Durban rivals.

"We went hammer and tongs," said the Cape Town paddler after the finish. "I took a line slightly too far north so I had the runs coming in from the side as I came back over the last stretch. 

"Oscar and Clint were brilliant!"

Photos below courtesy of Rob Dougall

Scene at the Finish Scene at the Finish

Surf... Surf...

...and more surf ...and more surf

Katie Pocock wins Katie Pocock wins

Walter Chalupsky? Walter Chalupsky?

Katie Pocock Katie Pocock

Double finishes Double finishes

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Comments (9)

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World Rankings
written by Rob Mousley, December 09, 2007

...latest positions will be updated as soon as I receive a full set of results.

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Barry's ski...aerial?
written by Jeff Raymond, December 10, 2007

What's that on the back deck of Barry's ski, some sort of aerial?

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missing the point (perhaps)
written by Joe, December 10, 2007

All of the competitors made it abundantly clear that you were supposed to keep the buoy of your right. What makes this funky and open to debate is that Oscar went quite close on the other side BECAUSE he misintrepreted the instructions shouted to him by the lead boat. Had he been coming 2nd or 5th and no one said boo to him I assume he'd have followed the original instructions and passed as orginally instructed. So, yes, a rule is a rule and should be inforced but if an official tells you to do the opposite -- or you THINK that's what he said -- and you gain no advantage from their error, well, the prudent decision would have been to let the finishing order stick. Maybe the lesson learned from this is to 1. have 2 buoys so that competitors go in between 2. don't shout instructions to the guys in the $ in the howling wind.

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Aerial?
written by Rob Mousley, December 10, 2007

Two of the skis (can't remember who else) were carrying cameras. Apparently the video footage is exceptional.
Some of it will be made available on YouTube after the guys get home.
And a DVD will be made at some point (bearing in mind that the DVD of the ARB Surf ski world cup is still in production).

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Sprints?
written by Ian Hague, December 10, 2007

What happened in the sprint race(s) on the Sunday?

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Sprints
written by Rob Mousley, December 10, 2007

Um... I needed to paddle on Sunday, having missed a race on Saturday. Did a 31km qualifier for Cape Point so it was a bit late to call Aus, they were already partying.
I heard that the (hungover) guys had fun though with the sprints but I don't have a formal report yet. Probably be in the next day or so as the guys get home and I can talk to them.

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Full Credit to Oscar
written by Richard Hart, December 11, 2007

I met Oscar after the race and helped him move his ski from the beach.

Even with the race issue hanging over him, he was still smiling and greeting people, sometimes introducing them to the real Herman if they mistoke him!

Oscar is a great embassador for the sport - perhaps that's why he of often referred to as the "Big O"

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...
written by Ian, December 11, 2007

why was there even a buoy placed there ????? Its obvious from Oscar's GPS plot that the field had a straight shot at the beach finish !!!

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Whay was the Buoy there?
written by Richard Hart, December 17, 2007

The buoy protected the patrolled swimming section of the beach ensuring that swimmers and ski did not meet!

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