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Never underestimate Mother Nature! She decided to show us what a real "Shamaal" wind is today, and caused havoc at the Dubai Shamaal race HQ...
 Saving the race sign from being blown away!
It was clear something was going to happen - the horizon was blotted out by an angry black wall of cloud - and it was moving rapidly towards us. Quick action saved most of the skis that were laid out on the lawn - but in minutes the raging wind arrived - and blew down part of the presentation area, crushing Oscar Chalupsky's race ski beneath it...
The wind disappeared again almost as rapidly as it had arrived - but left a bemused and impressed crowd. Don't mess with the Shamaal!
 The Shamaal wind strikes
But what a crowd!
Sit at the surfski club for a couple of hours and you'll see the cream of surfski paddling pass by. Aussies Tim Jacobs and Mark Anderson were checking out the updated course and celebrating the fact that it's less that 30km (for some reason the 30km mark seems to be an issue for Aussies!); inside the clubhouse a group of South Africans including Matt Beauman, Barry Lewin, Hank McGregor were discussing... politics... Top female seed, Hawaiian Lauren Bartlett was listening, looking bemused. (Who'd discuss politics at the biggest, most important paddling event in the history of surfski???)
But it's the less familiar faces who made me stop and think... when last did you hear of a surfski race that has... the top four Olympic K1 1000m paddlers from Beijing; a 9-time World Marathon Champion and a 6-timeWorld Marathon champion? Those are, in case you hadn't guessed:
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Tim Brabants (UK) - Gold Medal K1 1000m
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Eirik Veraas Larson (Norway) - Silver
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Ken Wallace (Aus) - Bronze
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Ben Fouhy (NZ) - 4th
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Manuel Busto Fernandez (Spain) - 9 x World Marathon Winner (last time in 2007)
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Ivan Lawler (UK) - 6 x World Marathon Winner
And that's just a selection - I met paddlers today from all over Europe, and they were all talking about how rapidly surfski is expanding as sport (and they almost always used the word "fun" when talking about it!).
 Spanish TV interviewing Manuel Busto Fernandez and Oscar Chalupsky
Anchorman Dominic Henry
The 2008 Dubai Shamaal Anchorman, Mauritian Dominic Henry, was there too - drinking in the scene and celebrating his win by seeing how many ways he could pick up his 8kg V10 Super Elite!
 Anchorman Dominic Henry!
Weather Forecast and final course
The Windguru forecast is not quite as bullish as it was earlier in the week - but it's still looking great for Tuesday, with 11-13kt of WNW wind.
 Forcast as at 19h00, 29 Nov 2008
Race Referee Ali Maynard showed me the final course (barring any unforeseen weather changes), which now runs from the top of the Palm to optimise the downwind leg back to the Dubai International Marine Club.
 Dubai Shamaal 2008 race course
Navigation Notes are shown below.
 Course Notes
Surfski.lnfo on site!
The surfski.info crew are running on adrenalin right now, but stay tuned for updates tomorrow and Monday...
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