Yep, it’s that time of year again when all eyes turn to the long range forecast for the Kaiwi Channel.  Will it be the raging open ocean downwind mayhem that made this race famous, or a hot, oily-calm killer?  It’s a massive challenge either way.

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.

To the relief of the paddlers, a 10-15kt breeze kicked up some small whitehorses and 1-1.5m swell to provide some downwind conditions for the third Island Shamaal Mauritius Ocean Classic.

Durban - A number of top international surfski racing stars are listed amongst the early entries for the Dunlop Surfski World Cup on 26 June, including Australian surfski legend Dean Gardiner.

Last weekend's Doctor race in Perth ended with one of the tightest finishes ever as Tim Jacobs and Bruce Taylor charged the finish; TJ did the business as the two men ran up the beach to claim his first victory in the race.

Tim Jacobs and Bruce Taylor hit the beach together in one of the closest finishes of any surfski race - phenomenal when you consider they'd just raced for 27km and an hour and forty minutes!  Here are some great images of the finish from Malcolm Peacock - and a video clip from Rambo!

Bruce Taylor lead for almost the entire race today – but Tim Jacobs pulled alongside and the two men took the same wave into the beach and it came down to the run up the beach...

The Gold Coast has for many years been a heartland for Surf Life Saving. In recent years ocean ski racing has begun to emerge with more and more paddlers making the leap to long course style of paddling.