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7 June 2017, and Cape Town is hit by the strongest storm in decades.  By early afternoon the next day, the winds had dropped, but the massive swell had swung from the southwest to south - which meant that it was wrapping into False Bay.  Multiple Surfski World Series Champion Dawid Mocke and a crew of like-minded paddlers took the opportunity to ride the big waves near Kalk Bay Harbour.

When some of the best surfski paddlers in the world gathered in Cape Town, South Africa for the inaugural Cape Town Downwind Race, Greg Kitto of White Hot Media was on hand to record the action.

Alex Matthews is a Sea Kayak instructor from British Columbia.  Bob Putnam lent him a Think Eze surfski for the winter (eeek - that's cold!).  Bob said that Alex "had been resistant, almost anti-surfski."  Clearly though, sea kayakers are a tough breed and Alex is now hooked on surfski and has been playing in a tidal race called Baynes Channel.  The first thing he had to do though, was practise remounting the ski.

Second time out on my new V10 Double - in some challenging downwind conditions - and we take a swim...  Nothing like being 2km offshore to try out remounting a new ski!

"I didn’t have a specific race plan or line," wrote Jasper Mocke in his post-race report, "but being in front and staying there seemed like a good idea!"  

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!

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...

It's always a treat when dolphins come to play - but I've never seen them behaving like this...  "Hyprian" aka Ian Foo went out for a paddle after work near Kaiwi Point on Hawaii Island, Hawaii.  Dolphins came out to play - and stayed with him for 30 minutes...

Later today some of the top surfski paddlers in the world will line up for the 10km Nelo Summer Challenge downwind race, among them world ranked #1 Dawid Mocke, his brother Jasper (currently ranked #3), and fellow South African Sean Rice (ranked #9). Last year's winner Australian Kenny Wallace is there, his compatriots Jacob Clear and David Smith, along with a host of top sprint paddlers including 1000m K1 Olympic gold medalist Eirik Larsen (Norway).