Rob Mousley

Forecast (on Buoyweather.com): "Gale Warning. Very windy conditions with rough seas

Small craft advisory: Large long period swell

Winds: SE 27 to 35kts

Seas: SW 14ft at 13sec"

Translation: "Yee haa!"

On Saturday, 17 Feb 2007,  a cryptic comment appeared on Surfski.info: "SWIM TRAINING: WOULD LOVE OSCARS COMMENTS ON SWIM TRAINING AFTER HIS EPIC TRAINING PADDLE ON FRIDAY". 

Here's the story behind the comment.

Sunday 3^rd December, 18h00, 4km west of Steenbras Point, False Bay, South Africa

The big Oryx helicopter hovered over Casper Kruger as he lay semi-conscious on his surf ski.  "It was flying only about two ski-lengths above the water, about twelve metres." he said, "It flew past about 200 metres.  Then I saw it turn and I knew I had another chance at life."

By the time he was found, Casper had been in the water for nearly seven hours.

Tyrell Impson sent us a scary photo taken by Martin Sundberg of two surf skis in front of a fast moving ship.  The incident happened during the 2006 US Championships in San Fransisco Bay.

Greg Barton and Adam van Koeverden were focussed on negotiating the rough water when suddenly Adam realised that they weren't alone...

Greg tells the story:

2^nd July 2006 dawned a beautiful day - for the beach!  Not for what was supposed to be a 30km downwind run for the Surf Ski World Cup...  There was very little swell, and no wind at all.

The race was run from Westbrook Beach to a buoy off the Umhlanga Rocks lighthouse and then across the bay to the Bay of Plenty Beach on the Durban beachfront.  The distance as measured by my GPS was 31.4km.

The Paddler

Christmas night 2005 - Alan Witherden lay awake listening to the howling wind.  The southeaster had been blowing hard for several days and thoughts of the resulting rough seas were preying on Alan's mind.  In Cape Town on holiday, he had arranged to join his friend John Rhynes for an early morning paddle the next day.  They were to do the famous "Millers Run" from Millers Point near Simonstown, across the bay to Fish Hoek.

A black southeaster hit Cape Town this weekend and the 30kt wind on Saturday afternoon was perfect for a downwind.  

Two unidentified paddlers were spotted leaving Milnerton beach, clearly for a Milnerton to Big Bay run...  Elsa Lourens took the photos.

...happy, sunny harbinger of fun - the summer southeaster

“Very windy with large seas. Small craft advisory. Large long period swell. Winds: SE 21 to 28 knots Seas: SW 14 feet at 14 sec.”

Interpretation:

“Millers Run calling all surf skis. Awesome run predicted.”

Sunday 6th February 2006: Gordon's Bay, Cape Town, South Africa
(by Rob Mousley)

...the nose sheered off...

The pair had come prepared: lifejackets, body leashes, flares and a fair bit of experience: Daantjie, a 45 year-old from Strand, has just done the 2005 Men's Health Cape Point Challenge, a 56km paddle known as the toughest ski race in the world, finishing third in the Veterans category. Clifford (also 45) from Stellenbosch, has done several Cape Points and with Matthew van Heerden won the 2004 Discovery Men's Health Doubles Series. These are strong, experienced paddlers.

They arrived on the beach at Gordon's Bay at about 10h00. The bay itself was flat but the wind was so strong it was lifting spray off the water and the sea was covered with a smoky haze. Further out, False Bay was a maelstrom of white water, the tops of the 3 to 4m swells being blown off in streamers of spume.

The "surf ski rocketing down huge wave" photo posted earlier on surfski.info sparked plenty of interest. Here's the story behind the shot.

It was taken in 2004 on a Big Day at Dungeons outside Hout Bay here in Cape Town. Someone at SA Paddler magazine thought it might be interesting to take some photos of surf skis catching runs at Dungeons, and looked around for some truly insane paddlers to take up the challenge. Four intrepid surf skiers answered the call: Greg Bertish, Richard Kohler, Richard Sutton and Johann van Blerck.

Oh, and the photographer was in a little 15ft aluminum "tinny" with a 15hp outboard... No rubber duck or jetski; just a fast ski boat as a makeshift rescue craft.