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DOWNWIND DASH

RACE REPORTS

2011-03-02

The third last Downwind for the 2010-2011 series was suited best to the paddlers with technical skills and fitness in a light SE wind. Every now and then a hollow wave stood up trying to make exiting the beach a bit more tricky but it cause the ski paddlers little difficulty. There were equal ski and stand up paddles making up the 56 paddlers.

It’s good to see that the top seven spot all achieved Elite status but only one sub 40!

The 7th edition of the PRIMI Naish race took place on Wednesday 2nd of March and attracted 21 Stand Up Paddlers. The weather was overcast with a fresh breeze of around 20knots from the South East – not record breaking conditions, but plenty of fun runners (little swells) for the SUP’s to catch and glide on.

A 1.5m swell made timing essential at the start and a couple of paddlers got caught and got pummelled back towards shore. Once out the back, gentle little runners made the downwind run a breeze and everyone was catching swells left, right and center. None more so than the Series leader, Chris Bertish, who again blitzed the field in 53:15. Chris seems to have an acute understanding and feeling for where the next runner will appear and uses them to great effect, making everyone else look like they are virtually standing still. The only one giving Chris a fair run for his money, is his brother Greg Bertish ,who finished 2nd (again) in 54:48, with Peter Petersen coming 3rd in 57:59. These three paddlers are also in those positions in the overall Series rankings.

Brigette van Aswegen beat the other ladies once again in 1:09:52 with Monika Wohlgemuth not too far behind in 1:12:37 and Michaela Gabriel further back in 1:19:01. The Ladies Series overall ranking is also as per this race result.

Matthew van der Linden finished in 11th position overall but his time of 1:04:19 was enough to beat the second Junior, Kimon Dos Santos in 1:09:15 – these two are also ranked accordingly in the Series overall ranking.

A lot of the SUP’ers have been studying the techniques used by the surfski-paddlers and the times are definitely improving – on average, tonights times are probably 3-4minutes quicker than same time last year in similar conditions.

Having completed 7 events, all paddlers now have 2 discards, which allows the paddlers to throw away their two worst results and improve their positions in the overall rankings. Another two more events to go before this seasons PRIMI Naish SUP Downwind series draws to a close – In total 60 paddlers have taken part in this years PRIMI Naish SUP Downwind series and forecast for next weeks downwinder is looking promising for a record turn-out once again.

2011-02-16

From Mild to Wild as record are broken!

From last week’s mild Dash to last night Wild Dash memories of the 6^th of February 2008 which was dubbed Big Wednesday (ARTICLE ). Three years later almost to the date Big Wednesday No 2 played out. The wind gust recorded at Kite Beach was 53kt (98km/hr) but it seemed the sea conditions were a lot messier than the first time. The tide was very low which caused the swell bounce back to be exaggerated messing up the final stretch from Seli 1 home. Nevertheless FIVE records were broken. Three for the Ski paddlers, three for the SUP’s and all the runners setting personal best times.

Only 25 ski paddlers lined up at Milnerton beach with the gale force winds keeping the rest safely indoors. There was a line of sea spray about 400m off shore and this was the first place to get too to make the most of the thumping wind. It’s a strange feeling having the wind trying to blow your paddle out of your hands just as you try and set up for the stroke. Not to mention the pain from the sand blasting while waiting for the start whistle.

In the singles class Steve Farrell (35:07) managed to come home under the old record time but it was Daniel Kantor (35:04) who romped home victoriously to clinch the record by 16 seconds. Both these times are recorded as having gone through Big Bay as opposed to the more direct route through Small Bay cause of the low tide which would have necessitated a short portage over the sand bar. The direct route is estimated to be between 20 and 25 seconds quicker. The old record was set three years ago on Big Wednesday No 1 by Ian Black.

Marais Steyn took control of the Bullets class to push the bar 24 second higher and claimed the new bullets record of 36min 31 sec and improved his personal best by 2min 31 sec. Christo Smit who in his "youth" held the Bullets record paddled to his full potential in the wild conditions. Not only did he crack the elusive 40min barrier for the first time, and claim a new personal best, he also set a new record for his current age class, the Pace Makers, in a time of 39 min 46 sec.

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