Rob Mousley

A Cape Town summer institution is the Downwind Dash on Wednesday evenings - around 10km from Milnerton to Big Bay, Blouberg...  When the Atlantic swell is running big, it can be "interesting" both to launch and to survive at Big Bay!

Sun, southeaster, surfskis and four extraordinary races including the final Oceanpaddler World Series event… what’s not to like?  That’s the inaugural Fish Hoek Surfski Festival – kicking off on 9 December in Cape Town, South Africa.

Dawid Mocke extended his lead in the Oceanpadder World Rankings last weekend, coming fifth in the Steelcase Dragon Run.  His lead is now almost unassailable with one race to go.

“Yeah, it was alright mate!” said Tim Jacobs.  “I relaxed until Nine Pins and then seem to find a nice rhythm.  I got ahead of the rest of the guys and never saw them again.”  He looked as though he'd just been for a quiet walk in the park - not as if he'd just won a 23km race on flat water against the best surfski paddlers in the world...

The jetlag is still pretty bad; at 6am my body tells me it’s really midnight and I should be deeply unconscious.  I reach across for my friend the iPhone (bought a local sim at the airport, HK$88 for 7 day unlimited data plan, awesome!) to check the latest weather forecast for race day…

The sixth edition of the Dragon Run will take place on Saturday, 10 November and it’s set to be a cracker – in more ways than one.

Jasper Mocke is now just six points behind his older brother Dawid (after discards).  There are just two races to go and it's going down to the wire...

Video of the week?  More like video of the month!  Rambo did another great job of showcasing this race...  Man I'd love to have a go at this race!

Double surfski racing is becoming more and more popular and several international events schedule doubles races - here's Rambo's footage of the US Surfski Champs...

Two more races down - the Nelo Summer Challenge and the Maar'amu Surfski Race in Tahiti...  Jasper Mocke beat his brother to take the Nelo race and to move into second position on the Oceanpaddler World Rankings.