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The first day of the North Sea Outrigger Canoe and Surfski Championships saw perfect conditions for the 20km, 2-lap course, which was won by South African Herman Chalupsky.
 Two lap course
Perfect Weather Conditions
"It was great," said Oscar Chalupsky after the race. "A good 15-20kt westerly against the current made for hard work going upwind. The waves were jacking up and we were probably only going about 6kph through the water - but throw in the current and we were doing 12kph over the ground."
Watching on the Championchip Spectator site, we could see an impressive bunch heading upwind at the start of the race comprising Benoit Le Roux (FR), Oscar and Herman Chalupsky (SA),Boyan Zlatarev (BU), Mentec Le (FR), Yannick Laousse (FR) and Vincent Naert (BE) not far behind.
 Positions, downwind, lap 1
 The upwind grind - start of lap 2
Downwind Specialists
When the fleet turned downwind however, the experienced South Africans took the lead - with Oscar and Herman Chalupsky moving to the front of the pack. They soon opened up a substantial lead - but Benoit Le Roux maintained contact with Boyan Zlatarev and David Szlachta (FR) not far behind.
French Challenge
"I was very impressed with the way Benoit paddled downwind," said Oscar. "I asked him what he was doing up there with us!"
As they started the long grind back upwind, the Frenchman caught up with the Chalupsky brothers and the three paddlers made a tight group at the front as Boyan Zlatarev, David Szlachta and Jaka Jazbec (IT) fell further back.
Benoit Le Roux maintained the challenge almost all the way back downwind, but finally fell back some 500m from the leeward mark.
Chalupsky Dice
The final section up to the finish saw Oscar and Herman dicing with each other all the way to the finish where (from the photos) Herman appeared to pip Oscar to the beach.
Full Results
|
Name
|
Nationality
|
Time
|
Ski
|
|
*Chalupsky Herman
|
South Africa
|
1:39
|
V10 Value
|
|
*Chalupsky Oscar
|
South Africa
|
1:39
|
V10L Ultra
|
|
Le Roux Benoit
|
FR
|
1:41
|
Custom mde
|
|
Jazbec Jaka
|
IT
|
1:45
|
Iron
|
|
Szlachta David
|
FR
|
1:46
|
Fenn Mell
|
|
Laousse Yannick
|
FR
|
1:47
|
Red 7
|
|
Boyan Zlatarev
|
BULGARIA
|
1:47
|
V10L Ultra
|
|
Fi Fils Franck
|
FR
|
1:49
|
V10L Performance
|
|
Sene Gaetan
|
FR
|
1:49
|
Mako 6
|
|
Le Mentec
|
FR
|
1:50
|
Fenn Elite
|
|
Zalhert Thomas
|
DE
|
1:51
|
Fenn Elite
|
|
Naert Vincent
|
BE
|
1:54
|
Epic V10 Per
|
|
Dierckx Kurt
|
BE
|
1:57
|
V10L Ultra
|
|
*Verduyckt Eric
|
BE
|
1:59
|
V10L Ultra
|
|
Dierckx Steven
|
BE
|
2:02
|
V10L Ultra
|
|
Le Roux Jean-Louis
|
FR
|
2:04
|
Custom mde
|
|
Duchatelet Sven
|
BE
|
2:05
|
V10L Performance
|
|
Andrieux François
|
FR
|
2:18
|
Fenn 6
|
|
Soelens Jonas
|
BE
|
2:21
|
Spec Ski
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|
Dierckx Kristof
|
BE
|
2:28
|
Spec Ski
|
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Van Assche Ruben
|
BE
|
2:39
|
Spec Ski
|
|
Goerke Niklas
|
DE
|
2:48
|
Fenn Mell
|
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