Rob Mousley

“You’ve got 200m on Lewis (Laughlin)!” shouts race-organiser-extraordinaire Sebastien Mosole to Dean Gardiner, as the course doglegs north from the Turiroa lighthouse. The 20 knot tailwinds and 3m swell conditions that Dean revels in have served him well for the last 31km’s, but the race is his to lose as paddlers battle against this same wind for the final 8km’s entering the only ‘pass’ through Bora-Bora’s otherwise impassable reef.

It's always a treat when dolphins come to play - but I've never seen them behaving like this...  "Hyprian" aka Ian Foo went out for a paddle after work near Kaiwi Point on Hawaii Island, Hawaii.  Dolphins came out to play - and stayed with him for 30 minutes...

The video feed was just clear enough that we could make out two white-clad figures paddling two white boats - the Mocke brothers, hammering it out in front of the 138-strong fleet of surfskis...

Later today some of the top surfski paddlers in the world will line up for the 10km Nelo Summer Challenge downwind race, among them world ranked #1 Dawid Mocke, his brother Jasper (currently ranked #3), and fellow South African Sean Rice (ranked #9). Last year's winner Australian Kenny Wallace is there, his compatriots Jacob Clear and David Smith, along with a host of top sprint paddlers including 1000m K1 Olympic gold medalist Eirik Larsen (Norway).

Race 12 of the 2012 Ocean Paddler World Series kicks off in just under 2 weeks time. Named after the southeasterly trade-wind that blows persistently over July/Aug/Sept dry season, the Mara’amu is a downwind course, designed to maximize the open ocean swell of the Pacific. This Mara’amu is promised to blast (or at any rate, blow) paddlers from the sheltered reefs of Tahaa island 38.1 km’s to the finish on Bora-Bora, easily the most famous and supposedly the most photographed island in the world.

Two videos this week - one from Sean Smith, the (in)famous Fat Paddler in Manly and the other from Adam Fahey in Mandurah, WA...  Both showing the paddlers having fun in waves.  

Despite the un-video-friendly conditions (low light/foggy), Rambo did a great job of this one.  Look out for the flying ski in the surf at the start...!  

Trees blown down on powerlines, roofs ripped off buildings, yachts blown ashore...  Downwind time in Sydney, Australia!

Two more races down - the Norweigen ASKR race and the US Surfski Champs...  Jasper Mocke beat Sean Rice to take the ASKR event, while Dawid Mocke dominated in San Francisco.

As they raced under the Golden Gate Bridge, Dawid Mocke and Simon van Gysen were neck and neck, charging towards the Fenn Hotspot and its $1,000 reward.  The last time they’d raced, in Spain, van Gysen had pulled away and won.