Surf Ski . Info - King of the Harbour Live Coverage

King of the Harbour Live Coverage - Transcript

Written by Administrator

Saturday, 29 March 2008

Here is the transcript of our live coverage of the King of the Harbour race in Auckland, New Zealand. Detailed results and photos will follow as soon as we get them.

Note: we discovered after the race that the paddler identified as Ian Gray in the commentary was actually Australian Nick Holt. Also, we discovered on checking the times on the photos that it looks as though Caine Eckstein came second while Jeremy Cotter came third... Apologies for the errors.

robin.mousl (21h04) : So that's it guys - thanks for coming & watching... over and out from the team in Cape Town (where it's 3h05am right now!)
robin.mousl (21h04) : We'll also be talking to Hank McGregor about the Plett race and about his preparations for Molo.
robin.mousl (21h03) : And we've got some great info on Dawid Mocke's training progress.
robin.mousl (21h03) : We'll have an update on Molokai (we have details of prize money, etc) up on the site this weekend...
robin.mousl (21h01) : But well done to Kirsty - sounds as though the organisation was top notch and the guys had a great race.
robin.mousl (21h01) : We'll get the results and photos up as soon as possible.
robin.mousl (21h00) : Apologies for not being able to get Ian Gray's position and Katie's - you can be sure though that unless something catastrophic happened, Katie will have won easily -she was well ahead of the rest of the women when last sighted.
robin.mousl (20h59) : Tim Jacobs is going really well, clearly followed his game plan for the race and dumped the rest of the guys at the moment he chose and won the race convincingly
robin.mousl (20h58) : So - the Aussies dominated, looks as though we're going to have some competition for the South Africans at Molokai!
robin.mousl (20h58) : We're going to be getting photos from Steve Knowles of www.sportzhub.com after the race.
robin.mousl (20h57) : Well, I think that's it - we can't get an audible line to a phone on the beach there so we'll try to get them on skype later tonight their time and put some reports together
robin.mousl (20h54) : The line is really bad - it seems that the cell reception on the beach is not great
robin.mousl (20h53) : Mike Walker's commenting on the race - apparently the water was very shallow around the back of Rangitoto
robin.mousl (20h51) : Simon is the first over 40 paddler over the line
robin.mousl (20h48) : Next in is Simon McLarin...
robin.mousl (20h47) : 800-900m back to the next group.
robin.mousl (20h47) : Where is Ian Gray?
robin.mousl (20h47) : So it's: Tim Jacobs, Jeremy Cotter, Caine Eckstein, Mike Walker, Nick Holt, Lewis Laughlin has come through
robin.mousl (20h46) : Oops that wasn't Ian Gray, it was Nick Holt
robin.mousl (20h45) : The race is on between Mike and Ian who are on different lines
robin.mousl (20h45) : about 40-50m on Ian Gray who's coming in 5th
robin.mousl (20h45) : Mike Walker's come back into 4th place
robin.mousl (20h45) : 100m back to Jeremy Cotter
robin.mousl (20h44) : 50m behind
robin.mousl (20h44) : Caine Eckstein 200m behind
robin.mousl (20h44) : won
robin.mousl (20h44) : Tim Jacobs just running up the ramp - he's wo
robin.mousl (20h43) : So he has the big downwind credentials
robin.mousl (20h43) : Tim came 5th in Durban last year - in huge conditions, 2 places behind Dean Gardiner
robin.mousl (20h40) : Tim's made his move - clearly riding the runs really well. This bodes well for Molokai (although conditions there of course will be - hopefully - much bigger)
robin.mousl (20h37) : They're about ten minutes from the finish...
robin.mousl (20h36) : Tim Jacobs is well ahead now
robin.mousl (20h34) : Perfect surfing conditions - almost identical to last year according to Darcy Price on the beach...
robin.mousl (20h33) : The waves are picking up too, about a metre of swell
robin.mousl (20h33) : 15-18kts, swung back to the northeast directly behind the skis
robin.mousl (20h32) : The wind has picked up a bit...
robin.mousl (20h31) : Escort boat moving again
robin.mousl (20h30) : Ian Gray is making a move - but the gap is too big
robin.mousl (20h30) : the wind is blowing 15-20kts, the runs are building as they enter the open water between the island and the finish
robin.mousl (20h29) : Less than 20min to the finish
robin.mousl (20h29) : Tim is blasting ahead, opened a gap of 100m on Jeremy Cotter, blasting for the finish
robin.mousl (20h28) : Jacobs, Cotter, 200m to Caine Eckstein, 600m to Ian Gray who's making up ground on Caine
robin.mousl (20h25) : The sea right now is considerably rougher than in that photo.
robin.mousl (20h24) : The escort boat is moving back to the lighthouse - there it is!
robin.mousl (20h24) : But it's Australia dominating this race, no doubt about it
Alain Jaque (20h24) :
robin.mousl (20h24) : They've got about 25min to go
robin.mousl (20h23) : 800m back to Ian Gray and Mike Walker has dropped back behind Ian
robin.mousl (20h23) : 400m in front of Caine Eckstein
robin.mousl (20h22) : Jeremy Cotter with Tim Jacobs, neck & neck
robin.mousl (20h22) : Back in contact again
robin.mousl (20h21) : Trying the escorts again...
robin.mousl (20h21) : OK, confirmed, Dean Gardiner WILL be at Molokai, paddling a Fenn Mako Elite.
robin.mousl (20h18) : (Of course this was one of the reasons we had this shoutbox developed - to reduce the load on the server!)
robin.mousl (20h17) : We're going to turn down the rate of refresh of the commentary box which should help to sort that out.
robin.mousl (20h17) : And... we just received a warning from our ISP - apparently we're using too much in the way of system resources on the server - means there are lots of people watching... that's great!
robin.mousl (20h16) : They're definitely in a deadzone at the moment...
robin.mousl (20h14) : So they're on the way back, coming downwind with the waves...
robin.mousl (20h14) : The front pack is around the small islands at the back of Rangitoto
robin.mousl (20h14) : Radios have poor contact too at the moment!
robin.mousl (20h13) : Talking to the shore crew - they're in contact with the escort boat via radio
robin.mousl (20h09) : Trying some of the other numbers of people on the escort boat - clearly they're out of range. Frustrating!
robin.mousl (20h06) : Katie Pocock will be paddling a 7.9kg V10 Super Elite ski in Molokai!
robin.mousl (20h04) : Herman Chalupsky will be at Molo; as will Alexa Lombard who is going downwind really well at the moment and will give Katie Pocock a run for her money
robin.mousl (20h03) : They've been going 1:30 now, must be within 15-20 min of the finish
robin.mousl (20h02) : Ian Gray is on Fenn M6; Oscar says that mike Walker was also on M6 last year
robin.mousl (20h02) : And... Barry Lewin says that neither Daryl Bartho nor Clint Pretorius are coming to Molo
robin.mousl (20h00) : Mark also told us that he's heard that Dean Gardiner IS coming to Molo.
robin.mousl (19h58) : Ok, as you may have gathered, we're having real problems getting through to the escort boat, but hopefully they should be coming back into cell phone range shortly
robin.mousl (19h56) : Mike Walker was paddlling Fenn Millennium last time I saw a photo of him.
robin.mousl (19h55) : Tim Jacobs is on V10 of course as part of the Epic team
robin.mousl (19h54) : Ian Gray is on Fenn I think
robin.mousl (19h54) : Nick Holt paddles both Fenn & Robberg Express, not sure what he's on today
robin.mousl (19h54) : Caine Eckstein and Jeremy Cotter are sponsored (I believe) by Dean Gardiner and are Fenn Mako6s
robin.mousl (19h53) : Mark Buck just asked what skis the guys are on...
robin.mousl (19h51) : Aha - a South African watching this... Hello Barry Lewin!
robin.mousl (19h50) : The escort boat is off to go find out who's in front!
robin.mousl (19h50) : The last of the back markers is coming through the channel; the leaders are about to turn around the windward mark.
robin.mousl (19h48) : ok, back in contact with Ian
robin.mousl (19h44) : Caine & Jeremy train together.
robin.mousl (19h44) : Tim Jacobs, Caine & Jeremy are flying
robin.mousl (19h44) : they're navigating past those little islands (rocks really) towards the buoy at the top end of the course
robin.mousl (19h43) : Photo taken from the peak of Rangitoto, looking north to where the paddlers are right now
Alain Jaque (19h42) :
robin.mousl (19h42) : Reception is obviously really bad where the boat is - battling to get through
robin.mousl (19h42) : Not kidding!
robin.mousl (19h41) : You can take it apart and fly with it in your luggage...
robin.mousl (19h41) : Tim's paddling an 11kg 3-piece V10 today...
robin.mousl (19h41) : There's Tim Jacobs... stock photo
Alain Jaque (19h41) :
robin.mousl (19h40) : Lewis Laughlin has just come through about 300m behind the leaders.
robin.mousl (19h40) : So it's all Australia at the front - about half way around the course
robin.mousl (19h40) : Mike Walker is 20m back then Ian Gray about 150m further back
robin.mousl (19h39) : then Jeremy Cotter, then Caine Eckstein
robin.mousl (19h39) : Tim Jacobs is leading
robin.mousl (19h39) : The line is really bad but...
robin.mousl (19h35) : ok, let's try the escort boat again
robin.mousl (19h35) : So it's going to go down to the wire with Molokai and Durban being the last two 4-star races in the calendar
robin.mousl (19h34) : (that's the top 5 actually!)
robin.mousl (19h33) : The top four are still Oscar, Dawid, Lewis and Daryl Bartho and Bevan Manson
robin.mousl (19h32) : The biggest movement, unsurprisingly, was that of Ian Gray who won the 3-star Culebra Challenge, and on the strength of the 150 points, moved up to 7th spot.
robin.mousl (19h31) : We've run the numbers on the World Rankings - we'll put them up as soon as this race is done.
robin.mousl (19h29) : We'd like to hear suggestions/criticisms from the readers - is the live coverage worthwhile; do you think the GPS tracking works (if you've seen it)? What should we do different for Molokai?
robin.mousl (19h28) : No reply, they must still be on the move.
robin.mousl (19h27) : Calling the boat...
robin.mousl (19h25) : Who has the edge going downwind?
robin.mousl (19h24) : Another couple of minutes to go before we can call the escort boat again.
robin.mousl (19h23) : Katie is the newest member of Team Epic...
robin.mousl (19h23) : Tim Jacobs will be there, paddling for team Epic; Dawid, Hank & Daryl paddle for Fenn.
robin.mousl (19h23) : Oscar, Dawid, Hank McGregor, Daryl Bartho, Ian Gray, Steve Woods, Barry Lewin will be there to take on the Aussies
robin.mousl (19h22) : Dean won't be at Molokai this year I believe, rumour has it that his family is about to expand...
robin.mousl (19h21) : Nick Holt was doing a SLS race at the time - "the soft option" according to Dean Gardiner!
robin.mousl (19h20) : Tim Jacobs was beaten by Caine Eckstein and Jeremy Cotter at the Sydney Bridge to Beach a couple of weekends ago...
robin.mousl (19h19) : Can't wait to see who's in front when they come out the other side - Mike Walker is very strong at the moment - but so are the Aussie lads
robin.mousl (19h19) : This time last year, Dawid Mocke, Oscar Chalupsky and Mike Walker were battling it out at the front of the race as they went across the shallow water behind Rangitoto
robin.mousl (19h18) : I've been doing non-stop downwind runs over the last couple of months...
robin.mousl (19h17) : Personally, I can't wait - it's going to be my first Molokai this year, courtesy of the organisers and it's going to be a blast.
robin.mousl (19h16) : She said: "I lost my support boat for 90 minutes, went for four swims, lost a drink system and two hats - it was a very traumatic 4 and half hours "
robin.mousl (19h16) : Katie is travelling to Hawaii to race in the Molokai Challenge - she said that the 2005 race was an eye-opener for her.
robin.mousl (19h14) : What's that photo? It's a shot of the world's shortest "trans-oceanic" bridge! And the paddlers are about to go underneath it!
robin.mousl (19h13) : The escort boat is racing around the west side of Rangitoto right now in order to meet the skis as they come through the channel
robin.mousl (19h12) : Katie Pocock is having a great race - she's leading the women comfortably and is moving up a few places amoung the men...
Alain Jaque (19h12) :
robin.mousl (19h11) : Can't get through to Ian...
robin.mousl (19h11) : In the future we'll have another shout box and you'll be able to comment directly on the page.
robin.mousl (19h10) : I'm getting emails from around the world - best way to send us comments or questions at the moment
robin.mousl (19h09) : We'll lose the fleet in any case as they go through the channel at the east of the island. The race really starts when they hit the waves going downwind!
robin.mousl (19h09) : Not getting through to Ian at the moment - either they're out of range or they're busy moving the escort boat...
robin.mousl (19h07) : Where's Katie?
robin.mousl (19h07) : Mike Walker - from last year's race.
Alain Jaque (19h06) : Mike Walker
robin.mousl (19h06) : That's a stock photo of Jeremy Cotter
robin.mousl (19h06) : Some of them are coming across to Molokai, and I'm sure Lewis will be there again too.
Alain Jaque (19h06) : Jeremy Cotter
robin.mousl (19h05) : The front runners are going extremely fast on the flat water - perfect conditions for the sprinters.
robin.mousl (19h05) : Lewis was actually behind Ian Gray at the moment; Ian was 75m from the leaders; Lewis another 25m back.
robin.mousl (19h04) : (That's the lava island...)
robin.mousl (19h04) : Three kiwis in the top ten, one South African, dominated by the Aussies and Mike Walker
Alain Jaque (19h04) :
robin.mousl (19h03) : They're round in the lee of the island on very flat water right now
robin.mousl (19h03) : Lewis Laughlin is in 5th at the moment; Ian Gray just behind Lewis, about 75m behind the leader
robin.mousl (19h02) : The Aussies are pushing the pace with Mike Walker
robin.mousl (19h02) : Back about 3m, Nick Holt
robin.mousl (19h02) : Caine Eckstein in 3rd, Tim Jacobs next
robin.mousl (19h01) : Jeremy Cotter going neck and neck with Mike Walker
robin.mousl (19h00) : Calling the escort boat..
robin.mousl (19h00) : We're looking at photos of Rangitoto Island - it's an extinct volcano - comprises black lava as looks like an inverted cone...
robin.mousl (18h58) : They're moving to a better spot in front of the mob - we'll get an update in about two minutes
robin.mousl (18h57) : Escort boat has moved
robin.mousl (18h55) : I wish we had the GPS tracker units out there!
robin.mousl (18h55) : The skis are surging back and forth in the group as they tackle the sidewind and chop
robin.mousl (18h55) : So - front pack includes Caine Eckstein, Nick Holt, Mike Walker, Ian Gray, Tim Jacobs, Lewis Laughlin, Paul Wilford, Simon McLarin)
robin.mousl (18h54) : Escort boat is moving again. (Oscar Chalupsky just skyped - he's watching the race from Hangzhou, china! Talk about a global audience!)
robin.mousl (18h53) : Katie Pocock just past - way in front
robin.mousl (18h53) : The front group is about 50m ahead already
robin.mousl (18h52) : That's a photo from last year - but the conditions are similar
robin.mousl (18h52) : Paul Wilford and Simon McLarin still there
Alain Jaque (18h52) : This was last year's start
robin.mousl (18h51) : Ian Gray is in 6th pos at the moment with Lewis Laughlin close behind
robin.mousl (18h51) : Jeremy Cotter 1st, Mike second at the moment
robin.mousl (18h51) : Mike Walker dropped back for a moment but is back in front again
robin.mousl (18h50) : Conditions are quite tricky with a cross wind & chop
robin.mousl (18h50) : The escort boat has gone out in front - they'll see who's in the front bunch shortly.
robin.mousl (18h49) : Tim Jacobs also in the front bunch
robin.mousl (18h49) : Mike Walker out in front
robin.mousl (18h48) : OK, they're off - the front bunch includes, as expected, Caine E, Nick Holt, Mike Walker, Paul Wilford and Simon McLarin
robin.mousl (18h48) : Hmm.. slight glitch there, hope this is going to work
robin.mousl (18h44) : I can here Ian talking to the fleet "30 seconds to go"
robin.mousl (18h43) : The skis are lining up - about 50 seconds from the start. There's a good cross-wind across to Rangitoto
robin.mousl (18h42) : They're about 2 minutes away
robin.mousl (18h42) : OK, they're lined up and...
robin.mousl (18h41) : (Welcome to the Glicker watching in NY; John Taylor in San Diego and all the others around the world! Thanks for coming!)
robin.mousl (18h38) : Then when the guys come ashore at the end of the race, they'll run over a timing mat placed on the ramp and the times will be taken automatically
robin.mousl (18h37) : The way the timing is going to work is as follows: the start is between two cans, on the water. The Championchip team will manually start the timer from the starting gun.
robin.mousl (18h36) : The race is 5 minutes from starting
robin.mousl (18h35) : There's another great view of the island!
Alain Jaque (18h33) :
robin.mousl (18h30) : Got through, but the line was poor. He's in the escort boat, ready to go. They're about ten minutes from the start.
robin.mousl (18h29) : Hmm... We're having a little difficulty in getting through to Ian Ferguson - hopefully that just means he's getting on to an escort boat and can't talk to us temporarily!
robin.mousl (18h27) : Katie has had an awesome year, winning the women's category in virtually every major race she's entered this year.
robin.mousl (18h27) : And Katie Pocock should have no trouble repeating last year's win.
robin.mousl (18h26) : Lewis Laughlin is another strong contender who'll be at the front of the pack; he's there with a group of other Tahitian paddlers...
robin.mousl (18h26) : There's a view of Rangitoto Island from roughly where the race starts
Alain Jaque (18h23) :
robin.mousl (18h15) : In the meantime we'll use some of the photos from last year to give you an idea of what it looks like - conditions are very similar.
robin.mousl (18h15) : But Steve Knowles of www.sportzhub.co.za will be sending us images directly after the race.
robin.mousl (18h14) : We tried to do our usual thing of getting images from camera phones but for some reason it seems that MMS doesn't work between NZ and South Africa...
robin.mousl (18h12) : Ian Gray has been following the World Series races around the world - he won the Culebra Challenge in Puerto Rico a few weeks ago, then travelled to Tahiti where he has been training before coming across to Auckland.
robin.mousl (18h10) : She's involved Championchip in the timing this year; so the timing should be spot on - as it needs to be for a race of this magnitude. Championchip use electronic RFID tags on the competitors that automatically trigger the timing devices - to minimise the possibility of error.
robin.mousl (18h09) : We heard that South African Ian Gray was raving about the organisation of the race; seems that director Kirsty Elmiger has done an outstanding job.
robin.mousl (18h08) : Last year the competitors followed the island around; this year they bear right to go around the turning mark to the north of Motutapu Island so that they get a longer downwind run back to Narrowneck Beach.
robin.mousl (18h07) : OK, there we go - so the guys head out from Narrowneck Beach to the right of Rangitoto Island. That section where they turn left to go through the channel is very shallow; in fact at low tide you'd have to portage the skis... Luckily the race was planned so the paddlers go through at high tide.
Alain Jaque (18h06) :
robin.mousl (18h04) : Let's try the map again...
robin.mousl (18h04) : We're sitting here in sunny, windy and cool South Africa... We're heading into autumn here but we're still getting strong SE winds that make downwind paddling so much fun...
robin.mousl (18h03) : To call the US costs 0.017 Euro per minute; NZ costs 0.25 per minute...!
robin.mousl (18h02) : We discovered to our interest that NZ is the most expensive place to call mobile phones using skype
robin.mousl (18h01) : The race is going to start in about half an hour - at 11h30 NZ time. As you can see we've still got a slight problem with the time on our shoutbox!
robin.mousl (18h00) : (You may want to refresh your page to get rid of that huge image! We're re-scaling it & will get it back up in a minute)
robin.mousl (17h58) : We've got a couple of hot Aussies on the water today too - Caine Eckstein, Nick Holt, Jeremy Cotter and of course, Tim Jacobs
robin.mousl (17h57) : Here comes the race route
robin.mousl (17h57) : Amoung others, Ian coaches Mike Walker who has to be a strong Contender for today's race - Mike has won the event twice before and lead for a lot of the 2007 race before Dawid Mocke overtook him to win it.
robin.mousl (17h54) : It sounds similar to last year - the paddlers will be going into the wind for the first third of the race, onto totally calm water as they go around the back of Rangitoto Island, then they'll face a bit of side wind before they get to the turning buoy. But they'll have a great tail wind and "runners all the way back" said Ian.
robin.mousl (17h53) : The weather in Auckland is fine: they've got 15kt ENE wind expected to strengthen to around 20kt later on.
robin.mousl (17h52) : So we've got a highly qualified guide to the goings-on today!
robin.mousl (17h51) : We've just been on the line to our commentator, Ian Ferguson. He's an ex-Olympian (4 golds and 1 silver) and today he coaches the NZ sprint teams.
robin.mousl (17h51) : OK, here goes, welcome to today's live coverage of the King of the Harbour race in Auckland, New Zealand!
Alain Jaque (16h59) : That is 18h00 New York time.
Alain Jaque (16h37) : Coming up live at just after midnight South Africa time.
Alain Jaque (16h35) :