Another late call on the route for last night. What is going on with the wind this year. I am getting calls from people, wanting to have a function and for the wind not to blow, asking me to arrange a Downwind paddle on that day so the wind won’t blow!! How bad is that!!

Anyway we got the call correct last night. All indication were that the S/SE was going to push on through. From an early morning NW and rain the conditions only changed in Milnerton at 15h30. The surf was predicted to start ramping up in the evening and the early warning signs were shown to the single start leading to at least 5 taking a goof and some even taking more. These bi-athletes were lined up at announcement time and handed the traditional "Dances with Waves" jug of beer with a dash of green. "Luck draw" Hales had two dashes of green in his - you ask him :-)

 The actually downwind dash was very pleasant for the singles. I think the doubles had to work a bit harder up till 3/4 mark when the swell and runs were a little bit longer and bigger. Small bay was not an option with a low tide.

The SUP's are growing more each week. A group of 5 took to the water 15 minutes before the ski paddlers. Their top manna should be able to crack a sub 50min and that could be similar to the ski paddlers SUB 40 time. Chris Bertish posted a respectable 53:20 and was the first SUP home.

The top 3 BULLETS Mike/Ralph/Boris only had a one single ski ahead of them. RichK sneaked in just before all the bullets on his first paddle this year after a rest to heal a cracked rib. The proof's in the pudding - the old men are showing the rest of us the way - skill and knowledge make up a big portion of downwind paddling.

Bianca was the only lady paddler coming in, in 6th place overall, 30sec or so ahead of Larry - just had to throw that in ;-)

Brett and Alex Steyn did their first DWD along with Pete the submarine. Not a great one for him as his new ski virtually sank. Better luck next time Pete and welcome to the gang.