“I could not believe it; finally I was competing against the best in the world.” Danny Sanchez Villoria – on paddling in the front group at the US Surfski Champs two weekends ago (he finished a highly creditable 5th). And now here’s Rambo’s presentation of the race… Enjoy!
The perks of paddler on tour are many: meeting new people; catching up with friends from all corners of the globe... All after the same thrill of a crack downwind run, a hard dice and (my favourite) paddling in unique places.
Hey! Welcome to the Bay Area! Come in; don’t mind the piles of wet boating gear. Sure you can crash on the couch!
Rested? Good. Helen and I have assembled a brief resource guide of a few things to do. You’ve probably got all of 43.7 hours before your departure flight and have to fit it ALL in, so no time to waste.
In the late1960’s San Francisco played host to the Summer of Love, a historic celebration of creative expression and social experimentation for thousands of hippies from around the world.
I'm totally blown away by San Francisco... In the first 36
hours I had done two 20km downwind paddles, I'd played in the currents under
the Golden Gate bridge - and man, the hospitality of these people has to be
experienced to be believed...
The U.S. Surfski Championships are set for August 22 & 23. This year's venue includes a new course that will be 80% downwind. This newly designed course will take paddlers out the Golden Gate and around the infamous Point Bonita Buoy where the course then turns downwind for a 13 mile run to Berkeley. The run from Point Bonita to Berkeley is one of the best downwinds in Northern California.
Durban – Team Best 4 Kayak Centre captain Hank McGregor reclaimed his customary place at the top of the pile when he cruised to victory in the Stellar Kayaks surfski race, race two of the Discovery Best 4 Surfski Series, on Sunday morning.
A week of great paddling awaits those going to the fourth edition of the Mauritius Ocean Classic. Starting on Sunday, 24 June 2012 with ski issue and then into training sessions with Dawid Mocke and Barry Lewin. Everyday there will be scheduled downwind paddles, allowing all to get familiar with the conditions and ready for the races.
In another all-out heart-bursting sprint finish, Simon van Gysen managed to boost his ski's nose a few cm past Sean Rice to take the second EuroChallenge race along with the overall title.
“Van Gysen is pulling ahead of McGregor… it’s his race to lose. No! He’s heading for the harbor instead of the buoy… He’s realized; he’s turned. McGregor’s right up with him! He’s around, they’re sprinting for the finish…”
It’s only a few weeks until the 11th King of the Harbour Ocean ski race and excitement is building in the surf ski community. It’s a close-knit group and all agree that our race here in Auckland is unique in the world and one of the best.
Transcribe the accumulated wisdom of two of the best surfski paddlers in the world, add some truly stunning photographs, and in case that’s not enough, make things even more clear with beautifully executed diagrams. That’s SURFSKI with the Pros in a nutshell.
When Mario Graziani called to say that there was an Allwave CX surfski in Cape Town and would I like to try it, I leapt at the chance. At the same time I was a little apprehensive – what could Italians possibly know about making surfskis?!
“Ok, let’s sprint to the other side of the harbor,” I said. Issuing a challenge like that to my training partner Dale Lippstreu always results in a ball-bursting, neck and neck, 110% redline effort. This time though he just disappeared (behind me) and 200m later I looked back to see him paddling backwards. “I thought I had something on the rudder,” he said. Nah. We did it again and the same thing happened. I was on an Carbonology Sport Atom – and on flat water it made me look like a paddling super-hero.
Let’s start by clarifying that this is an independent product review. Secondly, I have won numerous national kayak titles in both sprint and marathon, and was selected to represent Australia at the World Cup and other International Events. I have also competed in surfski events at state and national levels in surf lifesaving. Summary – independent and qualified advice on craft.
A year ago, Kayakpro released an updated version of their Speedstroke kayak ergometer. In an effort to be on the leading edge of the indoor paddling world, I made the switch from their older model, the Speedstroke which was introduced in 2001, to their newer model, the GYM, one year ago. KayakPro is owned and operated by British ex-Olympian and World Champion Grayson Bourne.
Richard Kohler, attempting to circumnavigate the SA coastline for charity, has been hammered for the third time by the unforgiving KwaZulu-Natal conditions.
The email was brief: “Newsflash - Richard was attacked by a shark. He is safe, but his surfski is seriously damaged (entire rudder system trashed).” Later came an update: “Richard is safe, though he had to stop 3 times on his paddle today to empty his boat. “
A solo Cape Town paddler is braving the entire South African coastline on a kayak, a first-ever attempt, to raise awareness and funds for children born with cleft lips and palates.
Imagine taking ten days out of your life to paddle with (and be coached by) two of the best surfski exponents ever… In 2012, you have three opportunities to take a spectacular trip to some of the most remote and beautiful parts of the Western Australian coast with Dean Gardiner and Oscar Chalupsky.
Here’s a debate that pops up quite often: what length is optimum for surfskis? Ralph Baker, a student at the Newcastle University School of Marine Science and Technology (phew what a mouthful!) recently completed an eight month long project looking at this precise question.
[Editor: When Jean Mars Tavignot tried out his new Red7 Surf 70 Pro in downwind conditions, he was not pleased; his 10 year old Fenn Millenium handled the short steep Mediterranean waves better! Nothing daunted, he took out his toolbox…]
I have always wanted to fit an elliptical rudder to a Fenn, particularly a Mako 6 as it is my favourite ski. I can paddle an Elite but I prefer the 6 for all round stability and performance particularly in chop. Its main weakness is that the shark fin loses bite because of the ski's rocker and the fin's proximity to the tail causes the odd broach particularly in big swells.
"Life's too short to learn from our own experience, instead, learn from others and save the expense..."
I recently hurt my back and was forced to stop training in my kayak and ski for six weeks. In the process of repair I found some amazing things I’ve been doing wrong for at least eighteen months, and thought surfski.info readers might benefit from my mistakes.
Rudders are a critical part of any boat’s design – and in my opinion many of the rudders on surfskis are sub-optimal, to put it mildly. But at last a manufacturer has got off their butt to offer a wide range of rudders for different conditions.
