Latest Surfski News

Tuesday, 17 October 2023 07:11
“What the bloody hell are you doing here?” I thought to myself a few moments after launching on the brand new V10 4G for the first time. It was getting dark; it was raining; the squalls were lifting sheets of spray off the water… directly offshore. What WAS I thinking? The answer is that I’m a sucker for new toys – and if I get my hands on one, I HAVE to play with it. Damn the weather, full speed ahead… Since then I’ve paddled the boat many more times, in much pleasanter weather. Here’s what I think of this,…
Thursday, 08 June 2023 12:42
East London, South Africa: Angus Warren watched helplessly as the shark’s teeth crunched through the hull of his surfski. “It seemed to go on and on,” he says, “pushing and chomping. I was thinking, why is it not working out that it isn’t food? “I can’t tell how long it took, but I had enough time to shout a couple of times to the others.” The next thing he knew, he was in the water…
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Thursday, 27 April 2023 18:42
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.  
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Tuesday, 25 April 2023 11:50
Last Friday, however, I paddled with Dawid on a windless autumn evening in Cape Town. Cruising from Fish Hoek to Muizenberg, we paddled together, stopping at all the coves to surf a few waves. In short, the operative word was "fun". This was a different Dawid - off duty - and, well, I've never paddled with anyone so noisy before. Whistling, singing, shouting to folks on shore - yahooing as he caught a wave. Heading home at dusk we crept up behind a group of seals lazing on the surface. Dawid began barking like a five-year-old paid by the bark...until…
Thursday, 09 February 2023 07:39
A look back - aaaaargh! A mountain. Let it go through... A smaller one, with a glimpse of something massive lurking further out to sea. Catch it, catch it! Sprint, sprint, you’re on it, here’s the break zone, keep going, keep going, the roar from behind and the sudden acceleration as a massive foamy caught up to me, keep it straight, keep it straight... Phew. Arrived. Panting. Stop the watch. ok. Made it. Empty the boat, pick it up to prevent it knocking you down. Done.
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Saturday, 26 November 2022 17:16
The South Africans cleaned up today at the most prestigious surfski race in Australia – arguably the most prestigious race in the world - taking five out of the top six places and the entire podium at the Shaw and Partners “The Doctor” in Perth. Defending women’s champion, Kiwi Danielle McKenzie won the women’s trophy.
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Saturday, 19 November 2022 13:01
Gold Coast paddler, Cory Hill, took first scalp in the five-event ocean ski racing series, the Shaw and Partners WA Race Week, winning the inaugural race today, the 24km Fenn West Coast Downwinder from Fremantle, just south of Perth, to Sorrento Beach. In fine conditions with a 16 knot SSW wind courtesy of the famed Fremantle Doctor, the start off Port Beach was intense with the top paddlers in a terse battle to make the first break.   But it was 33-year-old Hill – the 4-times DOCTOR champ who relishes the Perth conditions – who was able to shake the field…
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Tuesday, 16 March 2021 13:54
It’s not easy to catch a rolling, runaway single ski in 30kt of gusting wind – and as they attempted to grab it, Alex and his doubles partner lost their balance and fell into the water. By the time they’d remounted, the single ski was gone – blown away by the strengthening near-gale. They turned and paddled back upwind to find their buddy.
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Wednesday, 03 March 2021 12:08
Accident reports are easy to write when the story ends happily, but this one didn’t and it’s with a very heavy heart that I’m writing this, with a view to learning what we can from it.
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Wednesday, 15 July 2020 09:13
When the NSRI found Duncan MacDonald, he was approximately 6km off Smitswinkel Bay, drifting rapidly further offshore. Gale-force squalls whipped sheets of spray off the waves, reducing visibility almost to nothing. What Happened? Given the small size of the surfski community, there’s always intense interest whenever there’s a rescue. What happened? What did they do wrong? What can we learn from it? Clearly there are lessons to be learnt from any mishap – so here’s a description of what happened, shared with the permission and cooperation of the folks involved in the hope that we might all learn from this…
Friday, 24 April 2020 11:41
Durban – As the continued coronavirus lockdown grips the country, Canoeing South Africa will host a 24 hour Canoeing4COVID-19 event this weekend as a way to raise funds for members of the broader paddling community that have been badly affected by the lockdown.
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Wednesday, 11 March 2020 14:35
“Hey, Rob! Help!” The shouts penetrated the sound of the howling wind and crashing waves – and even through the noise it was obvious from the tone of his voice that something was seriously wrong. I turned and headed back upwind.
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Tuesday, 03 March 2020 14:43
Many paddlers use Personal Locator Beacons, or tracker apps like SafeTrx on their mobile phones. But handheld VHF radios are also a great choice to consider – especially when they’re DSC-capable like the Standard Horizon HX870E.
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Monday, 24 February 2020 12:01
I finally got my hands on a demo Fennix Swordfish S this weekend and did two Miller's Runs in succession to see if I could feel any difference in handling between the 2018 Swordfish S and the new Fennix model.  Conditions were challenging: False Bay was covered in whitecaps, whipped by a combination of a 25-30kt southeaster and small, confused seas.  The result?  I definitely want to spend more time in this boat.
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Thursday, 26 December 2019 10:30
The shark smashed like a freight train into Roger Swinney’s surfski in an explosion of noise and spray, knocking him off into the water.  “I managed to get back on the ski,” he said, “but I fell off again and as I remounted the second time, I saw the swirl and tips of the shark’s fins. “I didn’t see it clearly, but from the force of it and the movement in the water, it looked big!”
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new zealand

Tuesday, 10 September 2019 18:50 | Category : Latest Surfski News

An angry sea and some supercharged paddlers gave the 2019 Zest Brokers Poor Knights Crossing ocean paddle race a dramatic edge with race records tumbling thanks to strong tailwind conditions for the event held in Tutukaka, Aotearoa.

Sunday, 31 March 2019 18:50 | Category : Latest Surfski News

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.

Tough Course

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.

start

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.

strava

Walking away with it

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.

mowlem downwind

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 start

Rachel Clarke heads out into the chop at the start...

Monday, 03 September 2018 11:46 | Category : Latest Surfski News

Sam Mayhew might have left it too late in the race to try to catch the eventual winner, Aussie Sam Djoden, but he did experience a proper adrenalin spike when a breaching orca landed right next to him…  The 2018 Zest Brokers Poor Knights Crossing lived up to the paddlers’ expectations – wildlife, exquisite scenery and hard racing…

Thursday, 26 April 2018 18:10 | Category : Latest Surfski News

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!”

Wednesday, 25 February 2015 11:54 | Category : Latest Surfski News

New Zealand’s National Ocean Racing Championship once again graces the Surfski World Series on the 7th March 2015, after a hiatus of a few years. International paddling greats have used this event to pick up some much sought after points in order to determine the best marathon distance surfski paddler in the world, and last year’s winner South African Dawid Mocke (3 X World Champion) was no exception. 

Wednesday, 05 March 2014 09:34 | Category : Latest Surfski News

The – 2014 New Zealand surfski scene is building up to a hightened level of activity, with solid races every few weeks currently, as we head into the countries premier event, the 2014 King Of The Harbour, sponsored by Vaikobi Paddlewear. This event doubles as Canoe Racing New Zealand's national ocean racing title event, and is rumoured to have some of the planets finest paddle-weilding atheletes lining up to smash it out in this year's event on the iconic Auckland-Waiheke Island course.


Race Details

The predominant spring SW’s and late summer NE’s make this a logical choice for an Auckland-to-Waiheke or Waiheke-to-Auckland course respectively. Last year I clocked 24.29km on my Garmin over the same course, which again will be held between Waiheke Island's picturesque Matiatia Bay and Birkenhead Wharf in Auckland's inner harbour. For the first time in many years, this event has lost it's standing on the World Surfski Series, meaning the door is wide open for a New Zealand based downwind event on the series calendar for future years! 

Course

 The 24.29km course between Waiheke Island and the Auckland harbour, on the Hauraki Gulf:Prone to strong SW's and the odd NE weather system.

Who?

Dawid Mocke and Cory Hill (current 2014 World Surfski Series second and thrid placed respectively) are both starters at this early stage. Local boy, Mike Walker, Olympian and multiple previous King Of The Harbour title holder, was heard to have exclaimed at the recent Butty Moore race in Taurange: "I just CANT retire now, bloody Oskar (Stielau) beat me mate!", making him a potential podium contender. A number of other Australian representative paddlers and even a few South Islanders are expected to make the trip. Birthday Boy Ben Fouhy, NZ’s Olympic Medallist in the K1 1000m event and last year's victor could be a threat if his calendar allows for a show this year (Happy Birthday Ben!). Rachel Clarke, last year's Queen of the Harbour is rumoured to be using this as a stepping stone to her Molokai ascent for this year, keeping the womans rankings honest.

 

New Zealand Season Roundup

A number of local and offshore events are listed below, rounding out the New Zealand surfski season for 2014, with the Tahitian Mara'amu classic drawing the keenest paddlers deep into a winter training regime. There are a number of weekly race series, and the prominant ocean paddling clubs of Takapuna Beach (on Auckland's north shore), and the Royal Akarana Club (for the city boys and girls) have regular squad sessions throughout the week. If anybody is interested in finding out more about the New Zealand surfski scene, jump online the Pacific Paddlers Facebook Group and have a chat with the local paddlers, whether it's a boat you need for an upcoming race, or some more information on events or clubs.

  • 22 March: Great Barrier Island Ocean Race, NZ. A new entry onto the NZ calendar, and timed to capatilise on the competitors travelling to Auckland for the King Of The Harbour the following weekend.
  • 29 March: King Of The Harbour, Auckland, NZ. New Zealand's premier Surfski Event! Ferry trips and down winds on the menu.
  • 30 March: Dawid Mocke Paddling Clinic, Auckland NZ. Learn to Paddle like the Pro! A number of demo-boats will be available for this clinic day, including the long-anticipated new Flow Kayaks 'Addict'
  • 12 April: Mighty Bo Herbert race, Tutukaka, NZ. Will we see the same monstrous seas that smashed many a boat at last years classic?...
  • 13 September: The Mara'amu World Series Surfski Race, Tahiti. As overseas competitors fly through Auckland to this venue, local paddlers are capatilising on this, and seeking to establish an exciting event in the World Heritage NZ Northland east coast waters a week or so before the Mara'amu event. Watch this space!

 

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Thursday, 14 June 2012 15:25 | Category : Product Reviews

What do you get if you take a tiny South Pacific Nation, mix this with a (borderline obsessive-compulsive) national fervor for all-things-adventure-sport, add a pinch of tight exchange-rates, stir in a very precise quantity of hi-tech engineering prowess, and ladle in a generous dollop of gutsy, dogged determination to out-perform countries 10 times their size (and budget!) on a world stage?

The answer is quite possibly Flow-Kayak’s latest offering, the long awaited Superstar!

Monday, 03 March 2008 02:19 | Category : Latest Surfski News

Brad Hayes of Hamilton, New Zealand sent us some pics of his new surf ski... 

Hayes Homebuilt Surfski

Cockpit, complete with 'Bumfortable' seat (Pic: Brad Hayes)