B.O.E Private Clients Dolphin Coast Challenge 2009 (South Africa)
"Aged", "old ballie", "experienced"," oud", "madala", "Been-around-a-while!"
These are all words that describe the majority of the top ten finishers of the 10th Dolphin Coast Challenge. The average age is over 40 years young. Tony Scott (63), the oldest paddler to participate, teamed up with Colin Simpkins and finished a credible 9th overall.
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The race was won by Clint ‘Lightie' Pretorius and Scotty Rutherfoord, they took line honours on both days. ‘Lightie' was one of the odd ones out being one of the only 3 in the top 10 under 30 years of age.
Day 1
The 1st day from Zinkwazi to Salt Rock threw out a serious challenge at the start where the singles encountered a strong middle break on the bank. Matt Bouman, the singles winner, showed his lifesaving skills by rolling in front of one that stood up on him. He surfaced after the wave, remounted and dashed out, just managing to clear the next wall of water.
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Butch Murray, who completed his 10th this year, had a torrid time, taking all of 45 minutes to get out. A lesser man would have thrown in the towel long before.
The light and variable winds made for tough racing conditions with only the swell left over from Friday's big east, providing some assistance.
The 1st day finish at Salt Rock main beach provided some spectacular sights with solid top to bottom waves out back. Some of the tiring paddlers were nearly caught out as they crossed Tiffany's Reef where sneak sets tend to stand up without warning. Richard ‘Gadget' Philps and Gary ‘Clarkie' Clarke were seen scuttling for the horizon, just clearing asix footer over the shoulder.
The top 4 boats were separated by a mere 8 minutes.
Some participants were treated to the special joys of the Dolphin Coast, sighting a large Humpback Whale and her calf off Blythedale Beach, a large school of Bottlenose Dolphins as well as a Manta Ray amongst other wildlife such as bait fish, small sharks, birds and even turtles.
Day 2
The swell dropped slightly for day two and with the wind predicted to blow from the south west, the 2nd day got underway from Battery Beach at 08H00. The old saying of "You always get wet at Pirates" held true with a real tester of a shore-break challenging the field.
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This time it was the experienced combination of Tony Scott and Colin Simpkins who came off second best when a double ski broadsided in front of them in the shore-break. Scotty has facial battle scars to prove it. Nevertheless, the battle-weary competitors shouldered on making up enough time to complete Day 2 in 11th spot.
Most of the field opted for the deep line, passing close to the ships off Umhlanga Rocks. The runs were generally good but patchy at times except for the last stretch from about 10H00 onwards, where the wind really picked up providing for wonderful roller coaster rides past the Ballito Point.
The first boat in after ‘Lightie' and Scotty was Oscar Chalupsky and Bevan Manson, leaving us wondering what would have happened had the wind been stronger for both days. Never write off Oscar in a following sea.
This time the top 4 boats were all within 4 minutes of each other.
Coming into the finish was somewhat easier than the day before but still fairly challenging. Even the ‘German' and the ‘Schwein' managed a ‘goof'.
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Prizegiving
Prizegiving took place around the pool at the Salt Rock Hotel, a fitting venue for the race, where a total prize purse of R9,000 was handed out to the sharp end of the field.
The lucky draw ski, kindly donated by Gary Clarke of ‘Eric's Canoe Shoppe', was won by the Vet champion for this year, Derek ‘Pocket Rocket' Hauptfleisch.
A massive thank you must go out to Brett Lambert of B.o.E. PRIVATE CLIENTS who sponsored the race, signing up at the 11th hour.
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Results
Doubles
| OVERALL TIME | POS | CAT | Paddlers | DAY 1 | POS | DAY 2 | POS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04:36:23 | 1 | S | Clint Pretorius/Scott Rutherfoord | 02:05:00 | 1 | 02:31:23 | 1 |
| 04:44:24 | 2 | S | Herman Chalupsky/Andre Pohl | 02:09:57 | 2 | 02:34:27 | 3 |
| 04:45:21 | 3 | S | Darryl Bartho/Brett Bartho | 02:10:17 | 3 | 02:35:04 | 4 |
| 04:46:54 | 4 | S | Oscar Chalupsky/Bevan Manson | 02:13:29 | 4 | 02:33:25 | 2 |
| 05:16:26 | 5 | S | Gary Clarke/Richard Philps | 02:28:11 | 6 | 02:48:15 | 5 |
| 05:18:34 | 6 | V | Anton Fouche/Derek Hauptfleisch | 02:28:22 | 7 | 02:50:12 | 6 |
| 05:19:14 | 7 | S | Quinton Rutherford/Bryan Taylor | 02:26:22 | 5 | 02:52:52 | 7 |
| 05:30:11 | 8 | M | Mark Lewin/Linton Hope | 02:31:57 | 9 | 02:58:14 | 10 |
| 05:31:37 | 9 | M | Tony Scott/Colin Simpkins | 02:31:39 | 8 | 02:59:58 | 11 |
| 05:32:30 | 10 | V | Mike Stevens/Nigel Stevens | 02:36:41 | 11 | 02:55:49 | 9 |
| 05:33:38 | 11 | S | Nic Burden/Paul Rabinowitz | 02:38:46 | 12 | 02:54:52 | 8 |
| 05:36:03 | 12 | S | Sean Wisedale/Richard Lowe | 02:35:40 | 10 | 03:00:23 | 12 |
| 05:44:03 | 13 | V | Andre Botha/Ian Marais | 02:43:18 | 15 | 03:00:45 | 13 |
| 05:44:31 | 14 | S | Marc Stanton/Scott Stanton | 02:42:28 | 14 | 03:02:03 | 14 |
| 05:44:44 | 15 | V | Emilio Chiccaro/Bruce Pender-Smith | 02:41:32 | 13 | 03:03:12 | 15 |
| 05:54:24 | 16 | S | Jason Elstrand/Greg Worthington | 02:47:23 | 16 | 03:07:01 | 18 |
| 05:57:56 | 17 | M | Guy McCormack/Kelvin McCormack | 02:52:29 | 18 | 03:05:27 | 16 |
| 06:02:37 | 18 | M | Dave Gillmer/Peter O'Connor | 02:56:55 | 20 | 03:05:42 | 17 |
| 06:13:24 | 19 | S | Steven Atkinson/Claudio Manfron | 03:00:30 | 22 | 03:12:54 | 19 |
| 06:16:09 | 20 | S | Guy Collyer/Brett Frost | 03:00:30 | 21 | 03:15:39 | 21 |
| 06:16:54 | 21 | S | Mark Garden/Derek Hompes | 02:53:43 | 19 | 03:23:11 | 25 |
| 06:17:17 | 22 | S | Ant Rowan/Pete Rowan | 02:52:21 | 17 | 03:24:56 | 26 |
| 06:22:15 | 23 | V | Steve Evans/Nigel Oxenham | 03:03:09 | 23 | 03:19:06 | 23 |
| 06:31:25 | 24 | S | Brian Chedzey/Perry Cobbold | 03:11:08 | 25 | 03:20:17 | 24 |
| 06:40:08 | 25 | S | Dave Harker/Jonathon Hollinshead | 03:13:12 | 27 | 03:26:56 | 27 |
| 06:47:39 | 26 | V | Mark Johnson/Cliff Wills | 03:15:30 | 28 | 03:32:09 | 29 |
| 07:18:21 | 27 | S | Wynand Rossouw/Nic Roodt | 03:24:48 | 29 | 03:53:33 | 30 |
| 03:06:12 | S | Graham Piggott/Greg Philps | 03:06:12 | 24 | DNS | ||
| 03:11:56 | S | Gary O'Connor/Rory Taylor | 03:11:56 | 26 | DNS | ||
| 03:33:02 | S | Bruce Chelius/Jan Van der Putte | 03:33:02 | 30 | DNS | ||
| 03:33:45 | S | Charl Geyser/Tom Haines | 03:33:45 | 31 | DNS | ||
| 03:13:14 | V | Donald Borthwick/Steven Saunders | DNS | 03:13:14 | 20 | ||
| 03:17:00 | S | Martin Piggott/Jan Van der Putte | New combo | 03:17:00 | 22 | ||
| 03:27:31 | S | Steph De Robillard/Terry Henebrey | DNS | 03:27:31 | 28 | ||
| 00:00:00 | M | Richard Chizzari/Gordon Tripp | DNS | DNS | |||
| 00:00:00 | V | Bruce Glenday/Steve Pearson | DNS | DNS |
Singles
| OVERALL TIME | POS | CAT | DAY 1 | POS | DAY 2 | POS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 05:03:38 | 1 | S | Matthew Bouman | 02:19:08 | 1 | 02:44:30 | 1 |
| 05:58:50 | 2 | S | Zoog Haynes | 02:57:17 | 3 | 03:01:33 | 2 |
| 06:05:24 | 3 | V | Paddy Strickland | 02:50:59 | 2 | 03:14:25 | 8 |
| 06:10:58 | 4 | V | Angus Ferguson | 03:03:45 | 4 | 03:07:13 | 3 |
| 06:23:47 | 5 | S | Clinton Wissekerke | 03:09:06 | 6 | 03:14:41 | 9 |
| 06:26:41 | 6 | S | Ross Poacher | 03:14:04 | 9 | 03:12:37 | 7 |
| 06:29:26 | 7 | V | Brett Lambert | 03:10:50 | 8 | 03:18:36 | 10 |
| 06:41:25 | 8 | S | Bryce Hatton | 03:09:38 | 7 | 03:31:47 | 13 |
| 07:00:04 | 9 | V | Hein Oosthuizen | 03:34:30 | 10 | 03:25:34 | 11 |
| 07:13:03 | 10 | M | Butch Murray | 04:02:58 | 12 | 03:10:05 | 6 |
| 07:21:25 | 11 | S | Alister Reid | 03:40:45 | 11 | 03:40:40 | 15 |
| 03:07:23 | S | Steve Cohen | 03:07:23 | 5 | DNS | ||
| 04:05:26 | S | Martin Piggott | 04:05:26 | 13 | DNS | ||
| 03:08:52 | V | Rowan Matthews | Sunday only | 03:08:52 | 5 | ||
| 03:08:37 | S | Simon Grout | DNS | 03:08:37 | 4 | ||
| 03:28:55 | S | Tim Firth | DNS | 03:28:55 | 12 | ||
| 03:38:16 | V | Guy Saville | DNS | 03:38:16 | 14 | ||
| 03:55:37 | S | Charl Geyser | Sunday only | 03:55:37 | 16 | ||
| 00:00:00 | M | Joe Boy | DNS | DNS | |||
| 00:00:00 | V | Clive Mundow | DNS | DNS |