Cape Downwind Series starts with a blast...

... well, not quite a blast. The conditions actually couldn’t have been better  with enough of a breeze to kick up some white horses and keep the pros entertained but gentle enough that paddlers of almost all skill levels could have a go.

Ahhhh – Millers Run

In 2010, for the first time in living memory, there was no weekend surfski racing series planned for the second half of the season.  Catastrophe!  In stepped Gary Kroucamp, intrepid ENT specialist and fearless Millers Run campaigner:   “Why don’t we do a downwind series?”

The series is now in its second year.  The format is simple: six downwind races around the Cape Peninsular (can’t go too wrong at this time of year with the southeaster pumping as I write this); race on Saturday unless there’s no wind when we paddle on Sunday instead.  If Sunday is windless, two spare weekends are scheduled at the end of the series to make up races.  “No wind, no paddle!”

The first race of this series, run by the Paddling Centre aka Dawid & Nikki Mocke, took place on my favourite route: the infamous Millers Run.

Conditions

15kt SE, white horses in the bay – but not too hectic for the start at Millers Point.  Perfect.

The Race

Visiting K1 UK Marathon star Ben Brown (current world marathon champ) was first around Bakoven Rock, with Dawid Mocke and 90 other skis in hot pursuit.

The race started in Rumbly Bay at Millers Point

Turning downwind, the paddlers were faced with challenging seas – challenging that is in that they were small, messy and difficult to ride.  You had to accept that everyone would be finding it frustrating and tricky, and not tire yourself out paddling frantically into the chop.

As usual though, two kilometres in the waves started to clean up and jack up a little and after that it was just sheer pleasure – run after run after run...

Dawid Mocke took the win seconds ahead of in-form Simon van Gysen (who, sadly, is leaving us to return to his deep sea diving job for the next couple of months).

Dawid Mocke and Simon van Gysen dice into the finish

Gary Cromie and Pieter Kruger paddled the first double across the line

1st mixed doubles: Traut & Broccoli (IanTrautman and Natasca Bracale)

International Entries

Ben Brown, showing his rapidly improving downwind skills (watch out UK paddlers) came in fifth in the singles.  Brown said afterwards that his “training camp has turned into a training holiday, it’s been such good fun.

“I’m supposed to go home next week, but I may extend for another two weeks!”

World marathon champ Ben Brown (UK) styling into 5th place in the singles

Spanish paddler Albert Corominas (K2 Marathon), also currently training in Cape Town, came tenth in the singles, a few places behind Nikki Mocke(!)

Prize Giving

With sponsorship from Hammer Nutrition and the Paddling Centre, all the prizes were handed out as lucky draws...

Complex machinations resulted in pseudo-random prize allocations (I didn't win)

An awesome start to an awesome series...

The next race will be on Saturday, 22 January – Milnerton to Melkbos, 20km of more fabulous downwind.  Registration is at Lagoon Beach from 1pm.  Current wind predictions: 23kt SE!  Bring it on!

For more info on the series, check out the facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/CapeTownDownwindSeries

Results

Pos	Name(s)		Time
1	Dawid	Mocke	45:15
2	Simon	Van Guysen	45:18
3	Peter	Cole	46:58
4	Gary Cromie	Peter Kruger	47:48
5	Adam	Bothma	48:24
6	Rory Cole	Peter Unite	48:43
7	Rob Hart	Garth Watters	48:52
8	Ben	Brown	49:00
9	Ian Trautmann	Natasca Bracale	49:18
10	Ashley	Carstens	49:23
11	Nikki	Mocke	49:32
12	Craig	Flannagan	49:59
13	Ettienne	Rawlilnson	50:09
14	Albert	Corriminus	50:47
15	Jamii	Hamlin	50:51
16	Kenny	Rice	51:00
17	Jono	Webb	51:09
18	Peter	Jones	51:19
19	Quinton	Miller	51:23
20	Beatle	Bailey	51:33
21	Gary Kroukamp	Guy Lundy	52:17
22	Daantjie	Malan	52:23
23	Luke	Van Ees	52:29
24	Stephan	DuToit	52:41
25	Mike	Schwan	52:51
26	Mark	Gevers	52:59
27	Andrew	Hardy	53:02
28	Rob	Mousley	53:06
29	Barry	Meiring	53:16
30	Paul	Lange	53:16
31	Kyle	Nell	53:51
32	Michael	Martin	53:38
33	Brendan	Currin	53:44
34	Shaun Butler	Dale Hunt	53:50
35	Craig	Butler	54:27
36	Francois Sisam	Gareth Pinkney	54:31
37	Chris	Grinton	54:36
38	Fred	Creswell	54:45
39	Daniel	Schilperoort	54:55
40	Dale	Lipstreu	55:01
41	Fouche	Whitehead	55:20
42	Mark	Beck	55:21
43	Mike	Baker	55:40
44	Kirsten Flannagan	Candice Murray	55:47
45	Nick	Rockey	55:52
46	Mark	Voges	55:58
47	Graham	Trautmann	56:09
48	Mike English	Helene Rabie	56:13
49	Alex	Topliss	56:21
50	Andre	Jooste	56:29
51	Gary	Pepler	56:38
52	Pierre	Bester	56:44
53	Trevor	Stander	56:44
54	Craig	Salomone	56:57
55	Sean	Todd	57:01
56	Andrew	Ross	57:28
57	Louis	Carstens	57:38
58	Brynde Jeffes	Jono George	58:07
59	Jason	Berry	58:20
60	Rob	Maclean	58:23
61	Shandor	Cylvan	58:38
62	Stephan	Du Toit	59:43
63	Johan	De Wett	59:00
64	Heinrich	Schloms	59:04
65	Jackie	Barnes	59:14
66	Herbert	Conradie	59:30
67	Nicholas	Notten	59:36
68	Deon	Joubert	60:00
69	Ian	Hooper	60:23
70	Alistair	Roberts	60:29
71	Kevin	Brunette	60:38
72	Wayne	Knutsen	60:45
73	Tim	Biggs	61:59
74	Shanti	Fred Wagen	62:25
75	Lorne	Farqhuarson	62:39
76	Sean	Cardinal	62:49
77	James	Moore	63:14
78	Tony	Godfrey	63:43
79	Roger	Venn	64:26
80	Brett	Kelley	64:30
81	Adriaan	Hoeben	64:45
82	Alexa	Cole	65:44
83	Ashley	Carstens	65:55
84	Dawid	De Waal	66:40
85	Tyrone	Smoulders	64:55
86	Daniel	Mc Arthur	68:58
87	Andrew	Torr	70:48
88	Jeremy	Barnes	71:12
89	Johan	Van Rooyen	73:16
90	Bernard	Haupt	78:28
91	Tim	Parsonson	85:00
92	Vic	Schabart	DNF