The City of Perth Surf Club hosted a nippers’ clinic for more than 200 youngsters from all over Western Australia, as part of the Shaw and Partners WA Race Week here in Perth. Aside from getting to train with their heroes, the nippers walked away with lucky draw prizes to remind of a cracking day at the beach.
The race organizers have just issued the provisional program and race course for the next few days in Quiberon, France where the 2019 ICF Ocean Racing World Championships are about to take place. Here's what you need to know.
The event is being held near Quiberon, which is located on the southern part of the Quiberon peninsula in Brittany, France.
(The area is packed with maritime history, including the Battle of Quiberon Bay, 20 Nov 1795, between the French and British navies and an abortive invasion by French Royalists, assisted by the British Navy during the French Revolution.)
Winters are notoriously long and cold and Atlantic gales regularly smash the coastline… This isn’t an area noted for winter paddling! But in summer it’s warmer and the exposure to the open ocean means that there’s almost always movement in the water, making for challenging, technical conditions. Given the location of the islands and the Quiberon peninsula, race organizers have a number of course options to choose from in order to create as much downwind conditions as possible.
The organizers announced this morning (Monday) that the World Championship race will most likely take place on Wednesday, with the start some time after 2pm, when the maximum wind is forecast. The wind drops off on Thursday and Friday, the alternate days in the event waiting period.
The Masters race will take place on Thursday.
Both races will use the same course from the Gâvres Beach to Pentièvre Beach, just to the north of Quiberon itself.
NB: If the forecast changes over the next day or two, the course and program could change too!
The Who’s Who of the surfski world will be lining up on Wednesday and an international crowd of masters paddlers on Thursday.
The 27 countries represented include: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, France, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Mauritius, The Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sweden, The Netherlands Antilles, Tahiti and the United States.
You can download the full list of entries here:
Cory Hill (Aus), the defending World Champion, Gordan Harbrecht (Ger) and Hank McGregor (RSA) at the Mauritius Ocean Classic in July this year
I think the conditions are going to be technically challenging, with small runs coming in over the paddlers’ right shoulders.
With moderate wind, and small waves, the paddlers are going to have to work the runs, accelerating left and then working right in order to stay on course. There probably won’t be much paddles-down surfing.
The paddlers with the most open ocean experience will have an advantage in the conditions and that inevitably means the Australians, South Africans and New Zealanders (especially in the women’s race).
Both the previous men’s and women’s champions are present to defend their titles: Cory Hill (Aus) and Hayley Nixon (RSA), but they have plenty of competition…
Defending Champion Hayley Nixon (centre) in Quiberon
The women’s race should be a huge tussle up front:
When the race isn't the World Champs, it's know as the Breizh Ocean Race - and Angie Le Roux has won it 4 out of the last 5 years - and won the inaugural event back in 2010 in massive conditions. She knows this area like the back of her hand...
The Maui Jim Molokai Challenge is a “challenge” no matter what the conditions – windy or calm, the heat and the distance make this a daunting race. So how do the paddlers prepare for the race? Here’s what you need to know about the race, with insights from some of this year’s competitors.
The Molokai Challenge is one of the oldest surfski races in the world, being run for the first time in 1977 across the Kaiwi Channel from Kaluakoi Beach on Molokai to the Manalua Beach Park on Oahu.
For the very latest NOAA forecast, click here.
The race is just over 53km long and paddlers face a number of obstacles:
The current NOAA forecast for the Kaiwi Channel (as at 24 May) says,
Sunday: East winds 15 knots. Wind waves 5 to 6 feet. Mixed swell northwest 4 feet and south 4 feet. Isolated showers.
The air temperature is forecast to be in the high 20sC/70sF. The water temperature is currently near 27C/80F… so it’s really, really hot. Those “isolated showers” might be extremely welcome.
The first challenge facing the paddlers will be to get through the surf before the start. The beach is fully exposed to the NW swell and shelves steeply so that there’s a fierce shore break. With swell that big, it can break further out as well.
The key to getting out safely is patience and to wait for a gap between the sets.
Assuming the forecast is correct, and the easterly wind blows at 15kt, there will be fast moving runs to catch. But the oncoming ocean swell will make the conditions bumpy, technical and tiring.
The current should be running with the paddlers for two thirds of the race and they should finish at the ebb without too fierce an opposing current (but the waters south of Oahu are notorious for behaving in an unexpected way...)
Defending champion (and current world champion) Cory "Chill" Hill said he doesn't change much for Molokai. "Just a longer race," he said, "Keep it simple".
He'll be paddling a full carbon Fenn Elite S.
he also shared some of his thoughts about racing, family life and the race itself with Tim Altman:
The highly experienced (and three-time winner) Clint Robinson isn’t expecting the records (set last year) to be broken.
Tim Altman spoke to him a few days ago about his expectations for the race, and Clint shared some insights about the race and some of the other competitors!
The 12-time winner of the race is notorious for using hardly any liquids during long distance races.
This year he’s paddling a Nelo 600 double with Seth Koppes.
His setup includes:
Oscar’s predictions for the race? Cory Hill, Pat Dolan, Hank McGregor, Clint Robinson, Mackenzie Hynard, Austin Keiffer, Michael Booth and Alastair Day.
Oscar's been staying on Big Island in the lead up to the race and posted some phenomenal footage of paddling in the channel between Big Island and Maui a few days ago:
The three-time Molokai champion is back to have another crack at the race - and is featured on this clip filmed by Aussie Jim Walker, catching a loooooong run back into the beach in Oahu.
South African, Durban-based Hayley Nixon is the current ICF Ocean Racing World Champion and won both the Double and Single Surfski Championships in South Africa in April in Cape Town.
Part of the Shaw and Partners Team, she paddles a Carbonology Sport Pulse surfski.
Arriving in Hawaii a week ago, she’s feeling at the top of her game for the race. Her preparations:
Tim Altman interviewed Hayley a few days ago on Oahu:
The New Zealander has plenty of experience in Hawaii:
She’s paddling an Epic V11 Elite, the black surfski weighs in at under 9.5kg/21lb.
In March this year, Rachel completely dominated the King and Queen of the Harbour race in demanding, technical downwind conditions in Auckland.
She said, “My training has been going well, I feel like I’m in the best shape I’ve been in so we shall see how it unfolds on Sunday!”
Her race preparation:
To prepare for the Hawaiian heat, Rachel spent sessions in a sauna at home in New Zealand. Having prepared inadequately for my own race back in 2008, I can attest to the importance of being acclimatized; the humidity adds to the stress of the high temperature.
Tasmanian Georgia Laird is tackling Molokai for the first time. She should be in contention, having won the 2018 Perth Doctor (beating Hayley Nixon). Tim Altman interviewed her and her coach, Naomi Flood.
No stranger to Molokai, Macca came 6th in the 2018 event. The 24-year-old is one of the younger paddlers who’ll be near the front of the race.
Macca is sponsored by Think Kayaks, the Think UNO his weapon of choice (and before I get a million queries, in this video clip of Macca riding a wave in Honolulu, he was trying out a Think Ion, but that's not his race boat!!)
Race prep:
“Cory, Hank and Clint; their experience is so great. Then Pat Dolan with his local experience.
“Austin Keiffer. Young and new blood of Josh Fenn and Nick Gale.
“Boothy, even though on the SUP program no doubt will be up front.
“Ali Day, coming off successful Australian Ironman season and have won the most Coolangatta golds ever will be there, especially if it’s flat or small, as he will grind for days.”
Kieffer lives in Sausalito, California and has been competing around the world in surfskis since 2016. Most notably he scored a podium place at the Perth Doctor in 2017. In 2018, he scored a 5th at the Irish Coast Paddling Championships, but injured his shoulder, scuppering his chances of another podium position at the 2018 Doctor.
He paddles the Fenn Elite S in full carbon lay-up. When I contacted him, he was scrambling to get a footplate problem repaired in time for the race. “Drawbacks of being the last Fenn athlete to arrive, I guess,” he laughed.
Austin Kieffer paddled the Maui to Molokai race earlier this year
His race day prep includes:
Austin said candidly that his money is on Cory Hill to win the race. “But,” he said, “I’m going to set myself up with the best possible chance, and for sure I’m gonna be on that podium!”
“This was one of the toughest races I’ve done in a long time!”. When a campaigner like Oscar Chalupsky says that, you know the conditions must have been challenging. Chalupsky had been in New Zealand for a two-week trip, culminating in the Vaikobi King and Queen of the Harbour race in Auckland.
Given the forecast 20kt Northeaster, the race directors chose a 23km route known to the locals as the “Gnarly Northerner” from Whangaparaoa Peninsula on Auckland’s north shore to finish at Takapuna Boating Club.
The first leg of the course was a flat-out 3km grind into the wind and waves, and any thought of an easy downwind was quickly dashed as the paddlers rounded the buoy.
“Once we turned, I thought it would be an easy downwind,” said Chalupsky. “But I was mistaken!” In fact they were faced with almost side-on wind and waves, extremely testing, technical conditions.
Looking at some of the race tracks on Strava, you can see how they were catching runs by turning right and then working left to stay on course for Takapuna.
Defending champion Andy Mowlem reached the turn-buoy first and simply paddled away from the rest of the field, finishing in 1:34:54, a massive 3 ½ minutes ahead of second placed Sam Mayhew.
Andy Mowlem hurtles downwind...
The real race was for second place; a tremendous dice between Mayhew, Toby Brooke and Oscar Chalupsky.
Takapuna club member Mayhew, with the benefit of local knowledge, took an inside line to the final turn and pipped Brooke by seven seconds with hard charging Chalupsky (“you can see from my heart rate that I pushed my hardest in a long while!”) just two seconds behind.
"Finally cracked the podium!" said an elated Mayhew on Facebook. "2nd place at the King of the harbour which is also the NZ Ocean Ski Nationals!"
"6 years ago I started falling out of a SLS ski for the first time," he added, "and later that year I did my first king of the harbour. I was near last but I was hooked..."
In the women’s race, Rachel Clarke dominated, coming in 7th overall in the single skis with Rebecca Cole and Danika Mowlem coming in 2nd and 3rd respectively.
“VERY technical conditions out there today,” said Clarke, “… which I loved!” It was Clarke's seventh win in this iconic event.
Rachel Clarke heads out into the chop at the start...
Hong Kong – With less than a month to go before launch, the Steelcase Hong Kong Dragon Run is preparing to greet some of the surfski community’s superb usual suspects as well as a wide range of local paddlers angling to take home some of the event’s largest-ever purse offerings.
“I had two or three extended, paddles-down, ‘whooosah!’ moments”, said race director Garth Spencer, “and I pulled a few cheeky chakas for the camera crew on the media boat…
“…but those failed to show up in the photos, so there’s no proof, haha!”
"Molokai" You just have to utter that name, and everyone in the surfski community knows what you're talking about: the 53km open ocean crossing from Molokai to Oahu across the Kaiwi Channel. One of the oldest surfski races in the world, it was long regarded as the surfski world championships; and in the 2017 race only three of the past 43 year's winners weren't back to tackle the challenge once more.
The Kaiwi Channel has a reputation for massive downwind conditions; with a fetch of several thousand km, the NE trades can produce ferocious swell. In 2017, however, the winds didn't arrive on the day and the paddlers faced a challenge of a different kind: heat, a head-on current, a slow heaving, seasickness inducing swell...! (Those were the conditions I faced in 2008 - and it was one of the toughest days of my life.)
This video was released 6 months ago - but is well worth taking the time to review. And with the Maui Jim Molokai Challenge coming up on Sunday, May 27, 2018, it's a great reminder to make your bookings and to keep on training hard... And train for flat water, just in case.
The World Surfski Series rankings have (finally) been updated. With just one (title) race to go, it seems certain that Hank McGregor will have successfully defended his title, while Rachel Clarke, if she competes in the Palm to Pines will win her first Women’s title.
(Click here for the full rankings)
Points | |||||
Pos | First Name | Last Name | Title | Non-Title | Total |
1 | Hank | Mcgregor | 2996 | 499 | 3495 |
2 | Jasper | Mocke | 2992 | 499 | 3491 |
3 | Dawid | Mocke | 2986 | 496 | 3482 |
4 | Mackenzie | Hynard | 2982 | 495 | 3477 |
5 | Oscar | Chalupsky | 2964 | 497 | 3461 |
6 | Mark | Anderson | 2928 | 498 | 3426 |
7 | Nicolas | Lambert | 2918 | 495 | 3413 |
8 | Lee | Furby | 2768 | 488 | 3256 |
9 | Maurizio | Tognacci | 2614 | 469 | 3083 |
10 | Michael | Mckeogh | 2588 | 466 | 3054 |
11 | Patrick | Langley | 2408 | 472 | 2880 |
12 | Shaun | Rice | 2850 | 0 | 2850 |
13 | Colin | Simpkins | 2714 | 0 | 2714 |
14 | Sean | Rice | 1998 | 500 | 2498 |
15 | Kenneth | Rice | 1994 | 500 | 2494 |
16 | Austin | Kieffer | 1990 | 497 | 2487 |
17 | Kyle | Friedenstein | 1982 | 498 | 2480 |
18 | Joshua | Fenn | 1952 | 498 | 2450 |
19 | Ian | Black | 1954 | 494 | 2448 |
20 | Bevan | Manson | 1954 | 491 | 2445 |
(Click here for the full rankings)
Points | |||||
Pos | First Name | Last Name | Title | Non-Title | Total |
1 | Kyeta | Purchase | 2984 | 498 | 3482 |
2 | Hayley | Nixon | 2994 | 0 | 2994 |
3 | Rachel | Clarke | 2000 | 500 | 2500 |
4 | Michelle | Burn | 2000 | 500 | 2500 |
5 | Teneale | Hatton | 1996 | 500 | 2496 |
6 | Nikki | Russell | 1990 | 499 | 2489 |
7 | Angie | Le Roux | 1988 | 500 | 2488 |
8 | Tricia | Gilbert | 1974 | 499 | 2473 |
9 | Wendy | Reyntjes | 1990 | 0 | 1990 |
10 | Jenna | Ward | 1984 | 0 | 1984 |
11 | Tegan | Fraser | 990 | 500 | 1490 |
12 | Chloe | Bunnett | 990 | 499 | 1489 |
13 | Amaia | Osaba Olaberri | 992 | 495 | 1487 |
14 | Sara | Rafael | 988 | 499 | 1487 |
15 | Sally | Wallick | 992 | 495 | 1487 |
16 | Tamlyn | Bohm | 988 | 498 | 1486 |
17 | Kirsten | Flanagan | 988 | 497 | 1485 |
18 | Ana | Swetish | 990 | 494 | 1484 |
19 | Sharon | Armstrong | 988 | 493 | 1481 |
20 | Heather | Nelson | 984 | 497 | 1481 |
Older brother, younger brother; younger brother, older brother – if you weren’t a sibling you weren’t on the podium! The South African brothers dominated in Canada this weekend – too bad Teneale Hatton, winner of the women’s race, didn't have a sister there…
The West Coast Downwinder was run and won over the weekend and despite lackluster downwind conditions it turned out to be a great afternoon for all involved. The event lived up to the pre-race hype and paddlers were greeted with calm, hot, flat, grind conditions for the 17-kilometer event. Over 100 paddlers took to the start line and a blistering pace was set early on.