Some experienced paddle boarders will be joining the DownWind Dash on Wednesday for the first time. They reckon that they can do the 10km route in less than 60 minutes and are planning on cracking 50 minutes with the help of a good blow.

This should be interesting to see how it all works out. They will start at 18h05 so the rest of the starts are in 5 minute intervals from then. This also get me off the hook for timing the sets of the 1st surfski start.

Here is a YouTube link of them in action.

If you are interested in a clip of our Downwind from the back of my ski last year you can go here to check it out.

See you all on Wednesday for the 1st DWD

Big Wednesday - 6 Feb 2008

Here's the story - as written by race organizer Rich Kohler, his record-breaking crewman Lance King and Fanta Gous, who didn't come out of it so well.

Oh No!

Oh Boy!

Oh YES!

Yes! We did do a DWD in those conditions.

RECORDS tumbled! Ski's snapped! Paddlers swam! But all was under some sort of control. I use the word, control, loosely ‘cause I am not sure if anyone of us were ever in full control.

Before I tell you about the BIGGEST Men's Health / New Balance DOWNWIND DASH EVER, let's look at the conditions and more importantly the wind. Here are some words taken from the Beaufort Wind Scale chart which goes from zero to number 12. Let's focus on the relevant ones. So skip the first ten!!!!