Rob Mousley

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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.

Men’s Rankings

(Click here for the full rankings)

Women’s Rankings

(Click here for the full rankings)

Some real downwind ski-porn here as the Think Team paddles the Dragon Run before the 2017 ICF Ocean Racing World Championships in Hong Kong a few weeks ago.

A couple of weeks ago, here in Cape Town, a paddler found himself in trouble on the famous (notorious?) Miller’s Run downwind route.  Some 2km offshore, he fell off and after a number of attempts was unable to remount his surfski.  He activated his McMurdo FastFind 220 Personal Locator Beacon.  An hour and half later he was pulled from the water having swum his ski almost all the way to safety. A happy ending - but not because of the PLB.

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.

An oldie, but a goody...  Paddling the Miller's Run in the back of a V10 Double with Oscar Chalupsky.  I've had the pleasure of doing several of these with the big O and each time it's been a combination of revelation and inspiration.

More from Mackenzie Hynard from this year's Gorge Downwind Festival...

Richard von Wildemann (aka "Chopper") is a born waterman - and one of his passions is riding the massive swells at Cape Recife near his home in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.  The first time he filmed this wave, he rented a helicopter to do it and the story was written up by Joe Glickman and posted here on surfski.info.

This time the technology wasn't quiet so expensive...  Here are some fabulous drone shots of Richard riding The Point.

The Perth Doctor almost always has great downwind conditions, but the 2017 edition was something special.  Days out, the forecast was for 25kt of southerly wind and sure enough the forecast was spot on...

Brett MacDonald posted this fun video on Youtube - they had a cracking run, complete with a swim (and swift remount!)

The Gorge Downwind Championships have already acquired an unrivalled reputation as a bizarre but wondeful place for downwind paddling...  Why bizarre?  You're blown upriver by winds that howl up the Columbia River Gorge...  Check it out.