With Kristyl Smith and Kirsty Holmes busy with the surf IronWoman races, and last year’s winner Michele Eray looking into her crystal ball and foreseeing a headwind, this year was perfectly set up for local Ruth Highman to take her first ‘Doctor’ title.

Perth, Australia: Freshwater's Tim Jacobs today became the first man to win back-to-back Doctor ocean ski events in hot, flat, unforgiving conditions in Perth [Editor: actually the second: Oscar Chalupsky won in 2005 and 2006!].

The weather wasn’t what the doctor ordered –but it was a fascinating, gruelling race between some of the best surfski paddlers in the world...

Perth, Australia: Tomorrow's Rottnest Island to Sorrento Doctor Ocean Ski race could well favour Western Australia's  prodigal son Ben Allen.

Perth, Australia: Five-time Olympian and Australia’s most celebrated surf lifesaver Clint Robinson will take a diversion from his London Olympic campaign to go for The Doctor in Perth this weekend.

Jeremy Cotter knows there will be no time to slacken off if he wants to add his name to the coveted list of champions who have won Australia’s premier ocean ski paddling race – “The Doctor” in Perth this Saturday.

You wouldn’t blame Gold Coast-based ski paddler Bruce Taylor if he still had nightmares of Tim Jacobs coming from the clouds to claim victory in last year’s dramatic finish to “The Doctor “– Australia’s biggest and most successful ocean ski paddling event.

South African Dawid Mocke has named IronMan superstars Zane Holmes and the Eckstein brothers, Shannon and Caine, as his biggest challengers when he lines up to defend his title in The Doctor Surf Ski World Cup, Australia’s richest ocean paddling race on January 22.

The big news for those competing in The Doctor is that Nelo have come on boards as the Naming Sponsor for the Teams Challenge (NTC).  This means that the biggest name in flatwater now joins the biggest name in ocean racing (Fenn) as the major craft sponsors of this years event.

There are many factors that influence the success or failure of an event.  We have control over most of these but the weather is the one thing that will always be a thorn in the side of the organizers and has the potential to completely destroy what the particular event and its managers had set out to achieve.

Skis on the ferry (Pic: Mark Donaldson)