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As I flipped my ski upright and clambered back on in a totally graceless deep-water remount, I watched the rest of the field disappear into the distance. With 14km still to go, I knew that my whole race would involve trying to claw my way, place by place, through the field in an attempt to get at least a decent placing.
 Bit of a shore break there (Pic: Alex Braid)
Can you do a ‘Dawid'?
It's experiences (ie: stuff-ups) like this that make you appreciate just how important the start is in a long-distance race, and how annoying it is when you mess it up. We've all had a bad start at some point, just look at Dawid Mocke in the Dubai Shamaal last year. [Editor: When the race started, Dawid was 200m from the start, facing the wrong way, jamming a gel packet into the bung hole on Ken Wallace's ski - Ken had forgotten to put the bung in. Dawid crossed the start last, pulled his way through one of the strongest surfski fields ever and beat Hank McGregor (and Tim Jacobs) across the line.]
As Dawid showed though, a bad start can also be an opportunity to see just how well you cope in a bad situation. If you can still pull out a good paddle, it makes a good race all the more sweet knowing that you came from behind. Unfortunately for me, I didn't ‘do a Dawid' and win the race, but I still managed to pull in a few places and enjoy myself along the way.
Double the Entries
Close to 180 paddlers lined up on Saturday in the first race of the Sydney Ocean Series. This was almost double last year's total number of starters, showing once again the growth in the sport here in Oz. Of course, growth can bring its own problems, and with no system yet determined for batching paddlers, the start of the Rocks to Reef Challenge involved an off-the-beach jump start that stretched almost as far as the eye could see. Some paddlers, including eventual winner Tim Jacobs, handled it remarkably well, managing to miss all the carnage and tap over the shorebreak without breaking a sweat. Others (such as the author) were slightly less co-ordinated and found themselves with a lot of ground to catch up.
 Start - Ocean Series Race 1, Sydney 2008 (Pic Alex Braid)
Tim Jacobs, supremely comfortable
Tim Jacobs, supremely comfortable on a lap course, led from the start, managing to fend off his main challenger, Peter Scott, and take the race out by 30m. Those who talk down the ability of short-distance paddlers to perform in a long-distance event would have been silenced this weekend with Scott's performance. Pete is an ex-Olympic kayak paddler and Australian life saving ski champion, best known for his consistent performances on the short distance round-the-cans ski paddling. Pete has only jumped on a long distance ski in the last few months, and has proved himself a force to be reckoned with. He and Tim diced the whole way around the first lap, with Tim managing to put a gap on Pete only in the last downwind leg. In third place was another ‘sprinter', Murray Stewart, the current world life saving ski champion and another Australian sprint kayaker.
 Tim Jacobs - winner (Pic: Alex Braid)
Race within a race
In a race within a race, the battle for fourth and fifth was fought out between two former ironmen who only had eyes for each other. Despite 10 years of competing against each other week in / week out on the Uncle Toby's Ironman Super Series, Brett Tyack and Matt Rees are still at it. After a ding dong battle right from the gun, Matty's superior race experience got him to the final buoy first and onto a nice wave to the finish. Watch out for some close competition between these two former ironman glamour boys over the summer.
About as good as you can get
For the rest of us, the race was about as good as you can ask for on a lap course. The weather was great (Sydney's hottest September day in 40 years). The upwind section, while a slog, was not completely heartbreaking. The 3ft northerly downwind runs were good fun for both long distance skis and for the large number of spec ski paddlers on the course. The trickiest part seemed to be the shore break, which picked up as the morning went on, and claimed quite a few victims on both the portage between the two laps, and at the finish.
Kelly Jury, women's champ.
The women's race was won by Kelly Jury, a consistent strong performer from Sydney's south. Kelly promises to be a contender for the overall Ocean Series women's title (the winner of which gets a trip to Molokai 2009). Kim Low of Sydney's northern beaches was second, with Bondi's Sophie Morgan in third. Also competing for trips to Molokai were the winners of the 40-49 years and 50-59 years age groups. The highly competitive 40-49 years age group was won by Ian Timbrell, with Dean Gardiner struggling at the start and ending up in second. The 50-59 year age group was won by Gary David, with Kevin Flood in second.
 Dean Gardiner struggled at the start (Pic: Alex Braid)
Sydney's first "Surfski Expo" a major success
 The surfski Expo was well attended (Pic: Alex Braid)
In addition to the race, Sydney's first ‘surfski expo' was a great success with all the major brands represented. It was great to see Nigel and the Racing Line team make the trip up from Wollongong and Lance and the Red7 team coming down from Byron Bay, to name a few.
Photos courtesy of Alex Braid
For more pics, click here.
Alex is also selling print-quality image files for $5 a piece - details on the oceanseries site: http://www.oceanseries.com.au/ .
Lion Island Challenge
Now that the cobwebs have been shaken off after a long winter, and Sydney's weather has definitely started to warm up, the stage is set for the rest of the Ocean Series over the next few months. The next race is the Lion Island Challenge, which promises to be a great hitout. With $1,000 on the line for first place, the race will be hotly contested with challengers promise to be coming from further afield, including the likes of Jeremy Cotter and Caine Eckstein from Queensland.
Race results for the Balmain Commercial Rocks to Reef Challenge:
- Tim Jacobs
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Pete Scott
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Murray Stewart
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Mat Rees
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Brett Tyack
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Kurt Tutt
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Mark Anderson
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Michael Locke
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Nick Holt
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Ian Gray (SA)
For full results and more info go to: www.oceanseries.com.au
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