Mauritius - stunning race images

Although the race didn't have the expected fabulous downwind conditions (a cyclone south of the island disrupted the usually reliable trade winds), there was plenty of drama as the paddlers negotiated the reefs during the 28km Island Shamaal Mauritius Ocean Classic!

Images - just a taster!

"The front group has cut the corner really tight," said Dean Gardiner.  "There's a set coming in that just might clean up a couple of them...!"

It didn't - but as the photo above shows, it came close...  

To cut a long story short (I'm sitting in Johannesburg airport on the verge of being called to my flight) Dawid Mocke, Jeremy Cotter, Matt Bouman and Hank McGregor formed the front bunch, dicing hard until about half way through the race.  By then Mocke had dropped back, Cotter and Bouman were neck and neck and McGregor was ahead of Mocke but 150m back from the leaders.

Cotter said afterwards, "Hank was incredible - he just put in a 20 minute burn and came straight past us."  In that time, McGregor made up the 150m deficit and powered 100m into the lead.

Le Morne

The channel through the reef at Le Morne has become the iconic rite of passage in this race.  This year, in a repeat of the 2009 race, huge swells roared through channel, creating mountains of breaking water.  The paddlers had varying experiences, some arriving during a lull; others with sets of waves that made the channel a heaving tumult of white water.

Here's a couple of sequences showing 1) Hayden Holmes deciding that he'd better scoot quickly to the side of a 10ft feathering swell and 2) Aussie/UAE paddler Hayden Smith catching a superb run through the channel.

The pics were taken by Barbara Yendell: www.BarbaraYendell.com

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More reports, pics and the official results to come...

Results

Position	Boat no.	Name	Time	Comment
1	1	McGregor - Hank	01:55.46	SA
2	5	Cotter - Jeremy	01:56.26	Aus
3	3	Bouman - Matt	01:58.17	SA
4	2	Mocke - Dawid	01:59.16	SA
5	8	Chalupsky - Herman	02:00.20	SA
6	4	Schilperoort - Tom	02:02.42	SA
7	6	Smith - Hayden	02:02.43	UAE
8	9	Anderson - Mark	02:07.46	Aus
9	12	Barton - Greg	02:08.25	US
10	11	Chalupsky - Oscar	02:09.20	SA
11	13	Rice - Brendan	02:13.49	Aus
12	15	Holmes - Hayden	02:14.22	UAE
13	57	Topfer - Danny	02:16.22	Aus
14	24	De Speville - Simon	02:16.48	First Mauritiun. Also the first junior
15	48	Brown - Gordon	02:19.25	Mau
16	14	Berruyer - Pierre	02:20.23	Reunion
17	30	Appel-Rene	02:21.16	Hong Kong
18	18	Zlatarev-Boyan	02:21.45	Bulgaria
19	28	Eadie - Richard	02:22.07	Aus
20	19	Rice-Shaun	02:22.48	Aus
21	16	Mocke - Nikki	02:22.50	SA - First lady
22	32	King - Tony	02:23.14	Aus
23	20	Rossbotham - Leon	02:25.47	Hong Kong
24	46	Dabhi - Malek	02:28.28	Reunion
25	80	De Speville/Leclezio	02:32.02	Mau - Double
26	26	Dickinson - Gavin	32:02.00	UAE
27	35	Sands - Craig	02:32.46	Aus
28	22	Hales - Boris	02:36.22	SA
29	17	Highman - Ruth	02:37.06	Aus - 2nd Lady
30	38	Brain - Gael	02:37.37	Reunion
31	41	Leleuch Eric	02:37.38	Reunion
32	36	Wiland - Lindsay	02:37.52	Aus
33	33	De Speville-Jean Baptiste	02:38.04	Mau
34	27	Swart - Ben	02:38.11	UAE
35	40	Harvey - Nigel	02:39.12	UAE
36	59	McKenzie - Craig	02:44.41	Mau
37	25	Geevers - Mark	02:45.48	SA
38	10	Topnel- Andy	02:47.32	Aus
39	29	Brand - Charles	02:48.42	SA
40	64	Gilmer - Dave	02:48.43	SA
41	49	Hanns - Nathan	02:50.09	Aus
42	62	De Carmejane - Camille	02:50.11	3rd lady Hong Kong
43	52	Sauzier - John	02:50.49	Mau
44	43	Parks - Kim	02:53.10	SA
45	51	Barnes - Nick	02:59.50	Aus
46	56	Manzewski - Boris	03:21.30	Hong Kong
47	54	Quirk - Chris	03:41.08	Aus
48	44	Goussaire -Olivier	03:42.47	Reunion
49	45	Hardy - Jean Marc	03:43.36	Reunion
50	72	Audibert - Xavier	03:51.06	Mau
	23	Randal - Wayne		DNF
	34	Hann- Rebeeca		DNF

Live Commentary Transcript