Island Shamaal 2011 - Dawid Mocke Dominates! ** results & pics **

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Saturday, 02 July 2011  |  Written by Rob Mousley

Dawid Mocke lead from the start... Credits: Jean-Jacques Fabien www.jjfabien-photos.com

Course Change

Given the (unusual) direction of the wind – northwest – race director Anton Erasmus made the call early in the week to move the course to the west of the island, starting at Flic en Flac and ending about 22.5km later at Les Pavillons resort at Le Morne.

Conditions

Although it wasn’t a raging downwind, the paddlers did have something to work with – the 1-1.5m swell was enough that once on a run, it was paddles-down for a few seconds, and although the wind eventually died to about 8kt, the swell persisted to the end.  Cloud cover meant that the temperatures were in the mid 20s centigrade, which also helped.

Mocke Machine

Dawid Mocke dropped the field virtually from the start.  “I wanted to get into the lead at the beginning,” he said, “and then keep going.  I looked at my GPS to see that I was paddling at around 16kph and I just stayed focused on trying to maintain that speed.

“I think I had a slight advantage,” he added, “having paddled that route last year when we had a downwind from Black River in similar conditions.

“But my training has been mainly for downwind conditions,” said Mocke, “so it was relief that we finally got some waves!”

Aussie favorite Jeremy Cotter seemed to take an inshore line early in the race.  The line clearly didn’t pay off and as he worked his way out to join the rest of the field he dropped back to about sixth position.

As Mocke extended his lead, the following bunch comprising Tom Schilperoort, Bruce Taylor, Clint Pretorius, and, finally, Jeremy Cotter, spread out with Pretorius and Taylor furthest out to sea and Schilperoort on Mocke’s line.

“As we came past Black River, Tom and Jeremy seemed to dip into the bay,” said Taylor at the finish.  “I stayed out and maintained my line and that seemed to pay off.”

Taylor came in second over two minutes behind Mocke.  Schilperoort and Clint Pretorius diced for third place with Schilperoort taking it through the reef pass.  Cotter ended up crossing the line in fifth with Dean Gardiner making sixth place.

“Yeah, it was fun,” said Gardiner.  “The runs were quite slow, a little like lake chop, but at least there was some movement out there.”

First junior home was South African sensation Dominic Notten while first Mauritian was Simon de Speville.

Women’s Race

Ruth Highman paddled on her own to 30^th spot overall.  “It was good!” she said.  “The runs were quite technical – a lot of cutting and running.  Just like at home in Perth.

“It’s the first international race I’ve travelled to where we’ve had some wind – I think my curse has finally been lifted!”

Camille de Carmajane (France/Hong Kong) and Lisa Spain (Aus) had a great dice for second and third (45^th and 47^th overall respectively).

Race Photos

Pics by Jean Jacques Fabien www.jjfabien-photos.com

• 
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• Chris Quirk Chris Quirk
• Shaun Rice Shaun Rice
• Richard Eadie Richard Eadie
• Bryan Allott Bryan Allott
• James Knowles James Knowles
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• 
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• Bruce Taylor Bruce Taylor
• Bruce Taylor Bruce Taylor
• Bruce Taylor Bruce Taylor
• Bruce Taylor Bruce Taylor
• Dice to the finish Dice to the finish
• Dice to the finish Dice to the finish
• Jeremy Cotter Jeremy Cotter
• Jeremy Cotter Jeremy Cotter
• Jeremy Cotter Jeremy Cotter
• First double First double
• Boris Hales Boris Hales
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• Matilde Leclezio Matilde Leclezio
• Briefing Briefing
• Briefing Briefing
• Dave Ferguson Dave Ferguson
•  

Results

Doubles

Live Commentary Transcript