Durban World Cup - Race Day Commentary

Race day dawns - with a brisk 12-13kt SW wind...  Perfect conditions!  

And, true to expectations - the race was... a cracker... 

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Race Summary 

It turned out to be the correct decision when race director Billy Harker chose to run the Dunlop Surfski World Cup on Sunday...  The wind had been forecast to come through and it did - 15-20kt worth at the 11h30 start...
 
The pack immediately split - Dawid Mocke and Matt Bouman took a line closer inshore; Oscar and Herman Chalupsky went out to sea looking for the big swells and Clint Lightee Pretorius went on a moderate line up the middle...
 
For a long while Dawid was at the front of the race - but eventually proved to be too close inshore.  Clint was on the perfect line to race in to the finish with the swell and wind directly behind him, while Dawid was eventually fighting the waves almost side on...
 
Matt Bouman realised that Dawid was too close to the shore and eased out to sea - only to see Clint Pretorius already well ahead. 
 
Oscar Chalupsky had been on a deep line and came swooping in to dice with Matt to the finish...
 
And in a surprise result, Brett Bartho finished in front of Dawid Mocke...
 
Unofficial Results:
 
Clint Pretorius 1:55:38,
Matt Bouman 1:57:22,
Oscar Chalupsky 1:58.13
Brett Bartho
Dawid Mocke
 
Women
 
Michele Eray
Michelle Eder
Tiffany Kruger 

Live Commentary

Here's the transcript of the live commentary:

GPS Tracking

The GPS Tracking had its moments.... the server was apparently swamped by viewers and had to be restarted... From about half way through the race, we had consistent viewing.

SportsTrack were in the middle of setting up a new server in the UK - but had not tested it and we were hosted on their old platform which simply couldn't take the load. 

However, we will have the GPS tracks for the boats shortly - which will provide interesting viewing...

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Pics

Pics and a longer race report will be up later tonight...