SUMMARY OF RESULTS - Pirates Umhlanga Pirates Surfski Race

Click here for the full results

Overall

1. Hank McGregor 1:53:50
2. Luke Nisbet 1:58:40
3. Gene Prato 1:59:59
4. Barry Lewin 2:00:58
5. Tyron Maher 2:01:03

Women

1. Hayley Nixon 2:13:47
2. Sabina Lawrie 2:17:31

Doubles

1. Richard Lowe/Lee McGregor 1:57:37
2. Murray Smith/Steve Cohen 1:59:11
3. Stretch Struwig/Mike Stevens 1:59:15
4. Lee Furby/Quinton Rutherford 2:00:30
5. Bruce Wenke/Linton Hope 2:00:46

Reverse Buffels

When there's sufficient north in the wind direction (NNW is ideal) you can carry on, passing Miller's Point to head for Buffels Bay in the Cape Point Nature Reserve.  This more or less doubles the distance (and the pleasure)...

Hurricane Alley

But there is a sting in the tail of this route: a section of the route along a line of steep cliffs where the wind is compressed by the mountain and comes ricochetting across the water, sending squalls of 40kt plus that smash writhing clouds of spray off the surface of the water.

Yesterday Hurricane Alley performed for us spectacularly - but happily the wind direction was such that the blasts of wind hit us from behind.  But if there's any west in the wind direction, the squalls can blow directly offshore and a 40-50kt white-out side-on can be quite disconcerting.

Fortunately the squalls usually hit and move on in a few moments - it's a case of hang on to your paddle, hunch down the boat and wait!  

Here's a brief video of yesterday's Hurricane Alley blow-out:

Oscar Chalupsky’s Race Video

Oscar revelled in the conditions, taking a very wide line to get out into the big waves that he loves.  He won the over 50s by miles and came a highly respectable 8th overall.

Click here for Oscar's GPS track on Garmin Connect

He made an instructional video from footage he shot during the race – very well worth watching; it not only shows the conditions, but shows how he catches and works the runs.

Safety

“It’s great to see how far the race has come,” Sean Rice said. “Six years ago, with conditions like that, the organisers would have been really concerned about safety. Now they’re concerned with providing the paddlers with what they want.

Everyone has a tracker for safety – but the paddlers are also far more competent in the conditions.”

Cracking organisation, race officials who understand surfski paddling and have a genuine desire to give the paddlers ideal downwind conditions… What more could you want?

La Vila Joyosa is also the venue for the European Surfski Championships later in the year.

Results Summary

(Click here for the full results)

Men

1. SEAN RICE (SOUTH AFRICA) 1:03:00:678
2. KENNETH RICE (SOUTH AFRICA) 1:03:13:535
3. ESTEBAN MEDINA OJEDA (SPAIN) 1:05:35:286
4. GORDAN HARBRECHT (GERMANY) 1:05:50:262
5. NOÉ PELIZZA (FRANCE) 1:06:54:639
6. NICOLAS LAMBERT (FRANCE) 1:07:32:04
7. DANIEL SANCHEZ VILORIA (SPAIN) 1:07:50:376
8. OSCAR CHALUPSKY (GERMANY) 1:08:16:872
9. BENOIT LE ROUX (FRANCE) 1:08:28:705
10. ALBERT COROMINAS BERTRAN (SPAIN) 1:08:35:587

Women

1. CHLOE BUNNETT (SPAIN) 1:16:18:110
2. JUDIT VERGÉS XIFRA (SPAIN) 1:17:45:847
3. AMAIA OSABA OLABERRI (SPAIN) 1:17:54:181
4. JENNA WARD (SOUTH AFRICA) 1:19:40:601
5. AURORA FIGUERAS PALOMERAS (SPAIN) 1:20:38:790
6. LUCIA SERRALTA FERRER (SPAIN) 1:24:03:011
7. LIZELLE KEMP (SCOTLAND) 1:26:01:434
8. MARIA VAELLO SANTAMARIA (SPAIN) 1:28:15:118 

For more info

• Click here for the event website
• Click here for the Club Nautica Villajoyosa Facebook Page
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/337467656268687

Stew O'Regan is based in Rose Bay, NSW, Australia.

Find more about him and Think Kayaks at: http://www.thinkkayak.com.au/contact-us/

About Kai Bartlett

Kai has been building outrigger canoes since 1995 and started Kaiwa’a, his own company, in 2001.

He’s a champion paddler too: 5 Molokai World Championship Solo titles as well as 9 Molokai World Championship Relay titles…

His OC-1 and OC-2 designs are world renowned – so it’s going to be fascinating to see how the OC manufacturing techniques and designs translate to surfski…

Kaiwa'a

https://www.kaiwaa.com/

Summary Results

(Click here for the full results)

Overall

1. Jasper Mocke/Nicky Notten
2. Clint Cook/Tyron Maher
3. Matt Bouman/Phillip Smith

L-R: Phillip Smith/Matt Bouman, Nicholas Notten/Jasper Mocke, Clint Cook/Tyron Maher

Women

1. Hayley Nixon/Sabina Lawrie
2. Nikki Mocké/Kim van Gysen
3. Wilma Deyzel/Louisa van Staaden

L-R: Wilma Deysel/Louisa van Staaden, Sabina Lawrie/Hayley Nixon, Nikki Mocke/Kim van Gysen

Single Ski

1. Barry Lewin
2. Bianca Beavitt (1st women single)
3. Richard Lowe

Summary Results

Click here for the full results

Men

1. Andy Mowlem (NZ) 1:28:26
2. Garth Spencer (NZ) 1:30:33
3. Jordan McLarin (NZ) 1:31:26

Men's Podium

Women

1. Rachel Clarke (NZ) 1:36:07
2. Dene Simpson (NZ) 1:42:30
3. Danika Mowlem (NZ) 1:50:37

Women's Podium

Doubles

1. Oskar Stielau/Robbie Ford (NZ) 1:31:36
2. Gavin Clark/Glenn Gray (NZ) 1:33:55
3. Anton Reiman/Len D Beer (NZ) 1:35:28

Last Plett Shark/Surfski Incident

How’s this for a coincidence: The last shark/surfski incident in Plett happened two years ago to the very day…

In that one, a much larger shark smashed paddler Ben Swart right out of the water...

I wrote it up for the NSRI Magazine…

Multi-Discipline

At the same time as our race (as well as short and intermediate surfski courses), a SUP contingent raced downwind from Miller’s Point and Hobie Cat sailors raced around False Bay – all to raise funds for the National Sea Rescue Institute.

The NSRI kept a close eye on the race

Rice Heads to Europe

For Kenny Rice it was the last race before he heads overseas on Thursday to take part in the Naxos Cup in Sicily and then EuroChallenge in Spain, where Rice will be racing his brother Sean and a host of Europeans including Daniel Sanchez Viloria (Esp), Esteban Medina (Esp), Ignacio Soler (Esp), “Flash” Gordan Harbrecht (Ger), Noé Pelliza, Benoît Le Roux (Fra), Nicolas Lamber (Fra) and many more.

After EuroChallenge, Rice returns home to tackle the marathon season before taking part in the US surfski tour.

Results

Intermediate Course

(Simon's Town -> Ark Rock -> Roman Rock -> Fish Hoek

Short Course

(3 laps around Simon's Town Harbour)

Keto Nutrition Webinar

Keto Nutrition presents a webinar on low carb/high fat sports performance for paddlers - with nutrition guru Justin Strout and paddler-extraordinaire-who-needs-no-introduction Oscar Chalupsky.

To listen to the webinar, CLICK HERE