bianca beavitt

“I knew a few of the paddlers had done the course earlier in the week and… my goal was to sort of sit with them and see where their line was,” said newly crowned World Champion Danielle McKenzie. “I had no idea where I was going. As far as race plans go, I had absolutely nothing… Just go pretty hard from the start. Yeah, bloody awesome!”

Cape Town: Following their double ski wins on Saturday at the Freedom Paddle, Durban-based surfski stars Hank McGregor and Hayley Nixon won the men’s and women’s singles titles respectively at the Strand on Sunday.

A challenging 29km surfski race in front one of the most beautiful cities in the world, around one of the most iconic islands in the world, on a holiday dedicated to the liberation of South Africa...  What a way to celebrate!  

Kenny Rice and Stuart MacLaren dominated the Western Cape Double Surfski Championships in False Bay on Sunday, in perfect downwind conditions… Bianca Beavitt and Angie Austin won the Women's title.

As he followed Jasper Mocke inside the rocks at Cape Point, 22-year-old Kenny Rice glanced back, looking for race favourite and defending champion Hank McGregor.  He was nowhere to be seen.  “Game on!” Rice thought to himself.  “Hurt the guys NOW!”

Two days out from the race, the weather forecast seems to have settled on a moderate southeaster for Saturday morning, which is good news for the paddlers!

The 2013 Port Elizabeth to East London Challenge is already the stuff of legend: after carnage at the finish of day 1 at Woody Cape, nly two paddlers made it out through the surf at the start of day 2, the rest opting to trek up to 20km up the beach to find kinder launch sites!  And the race is only half done!