cape town

CAPE TOWN - Hank McGregor and Josh Fenn convincingly claimed back their Prescient Freedom Paddle title on Thursday in a dramatic race marked by tough conditions and a rain-delayed start.  Conditions were extremely tough - a brisk northwester blowing spray from the big confused chop into the paddlers' faces as they headed out to the island.  Huge breaking surf on the far side of the island ensured a wide line but the wind dropped as the fleet started on the journey back to the finish, making it that much more difficult and energy sapping to catch the runs.  

The start whistle for the women’s race coincided with the arrival of a set, a breaking wave smashing into the surfskis, sending their noses rocketing skyward before they plunged down the other side… One, two, four skis flying backwards without their paddlers as the surf played havoc with the field...

“Big prize money has been offered before in surfski races, but the massive handicap prize-pool is really going to shake things up,” said Russell Sadler, Race Director for the newly announced West Coast Express, and Operations Manager for the World Surfski Super League (WSSL). “At least, we certainly hope it will,” he laughed.

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!  

The wave reared up, curling over and dumping over the ski, stopping me dead in my tracks; the other two surged past and I thought, “will that bloody buoy EVER get any closer?!”

Conditions looked pretty good: South South East wind blowing 27-33kt and no big swell.  

But when we started the runs were so small, and somewhat messy that it didn't look like being a Personal Best kind of day, and I figured that I'd just take it easy and enjoy catching and working the runs as much as possible.

And that's what I was doing - my heart rate was low, I was focussed on using minimum effort to stay on the runs when...  one of my paddling buddies, Jono Niemann, came storming past as we approached the lighthouse on Roman Rock.

Jono and I have had dices before - most recently on the day a few weeks ago when I achieved my best time ever for the Miller's Run... On that occasion we'd been blasting along together when he disappeared just before Fish Hoek.  Turned out that he too was closing in on a record time, when he fell out of his boat.  He was very bleak!

In the video you can see that my heart rate (and breathing!) escalate drammatically as he comes past!  I slowed briefly to capture him on video coming past the lighthouse, but after that it was no-holds-barred!

I didn't capture it but as we came into Fish Hoek, I was just ahead... but he put a sequence together at Sunny Cove and blew past me again, so I think the honours went to him - although he peeled off to the right to land at Fish Hoek Beach Sports Club about 100m further up the beach.

But what a day.  That was my 126th Miller's Run since January last year - and it never gets boring.

Peter Holloway got into surfskis in the late 90s, using a series of hand-me-down boats for playing in the waves...  but around that time Fish Hoek saw a series of encounters between Great White Sharks and surfskis (click here for the details).  "For some reason," says Peter, "I lost interest in paddling for a while and took up cycling instead!"

And it was only 2014 that his yearning to be back on the sea overcame his aversion of big toothy fish.  He bought a Custom Kayaks Horizon from the surfski school and went on to a Think Evo II in which he did his first Miller's Run in 2015.  He now paddles a Fenn Swordfish S and this video was taken as he did his 89th Miller's Run.

#mockemillersrunoftheseason

The Mocke Millers Run Of The Season competition started in November and continues until the end of February; prizes for fastest run, the most runs, the fastest mixed doubles runs and... the best video are all on offer.

Pete's also after the 20-run special edition shirt and is only 4 away from that particular goal.

The day of this video, the SE swell was just begining to swing into False Bay, and Pete took one on the nose as he headed out to Bakoven Rock (which marks the start of the run itself).  It was big and bouncy and enormous fun.

"For me, the Miller's Run is the epitome of surfski paddling," said Peter. "It is a perfect combination of facing your fears and harnessing the power of the wind and waves. The rush of flying down the face of a huge ocean swell at 25 km/h is one that not many sports can compare with... it's also a great way to keep fit!"

Anything under 50min is considered a respectable time and Peter has broken his own record no fewer than 4 times so far during the competition, his current personal best being 47:32, which he achieved on 28 Dec 2017.

Go Pete!

The Miller's Run may be the best known of the downwind runs in Cape Town, South Africa, but there are plenty of others...  This video was shot just to the north of Cape Town's city centre, on another popular route that runs from Milnerton to Big Bay, Blouberg.  The sea on this part of the coast offers very different conditions to the Miller's Run, which often has confused seas with several sets of waves running at different angles.  The Milnerton to Big Bay run, in contrast, usually has "clean" runs, lining up perfectly along the coast.

On the day this video was shot, the wind was gusting 47kt and there was very little ground swell.  Richard Kohler was in the front of the Carbonology Zest Double; Timothy Venn Fey was in the back with the camera.

As he fell off his ski yet again, Tim Wightman felt panic starting to well up.  If he didn’t get back on and paddling in the next few moments, the gale-force wind and breaking waves would drive him onto the jagged rocks of Miller’s Point.  “Calm down!” he yelled to himself.  “Take it slowly!”  “This time, stay in the f%#$ing boat!”

When WindGuru forecast a 40kt NNW, we leapt at the opportunity to do a "Reverse Buffels" run, downwind from Fish Hoek to Buffels Bay in the Cape Point Nature Reserve.

I planned to film the others so I started off first so as to film them overtaking me. When I arrived at Millers Point, no-one else was in sight.

After waiting briefly, I carried on, unaware that one of the guys had suffered rudder failure and the group, having rescued him, stopped at Millers Point. While it wasn't a spectacularly fast paddle - I did the 20.5km in 1:30 - it was bloody good fun.