STUNNING PHOTOGRAPHS – A couple of months ago student lady paddler Janine Drew was tenderly learning the very basics of surfski paddling,  perhaps dreaming of one day paddling in amongst schools of dolphins on a 20km paddle of open ocean  from Umhlanga to Durban. Janine has progressed through the school, into the local course races and has recently purchased her own HORIZON single surfski.  Last weekend, accompanied by experienced ocean paddler Craig van Heerden, and Sharon Armstrong, (who we have to thank for these amazing pictures), on a beautiful Durban Winter morning, paddled this route casually encountering a school of large dolphin, that kept them company for most of the way.

I will annotate the stunning pictures of their trip on the right. For full appreciation of these pictures double click on them, to enlarge them. 

Picture 1) Leaving Umhlanga Rocks early, the first picture is of Craig on his SYNERGY and Janine on her HORIZON, experiencing a typical Durban sunrise.

Picture 2) Janine showing the good paddling form and style that she has learnt at the Durban Surfski school. Janine had no prior paddling experience before attending the school .

Picture 3) Craig and Janine about a third of the way into the trip off La Lucia.

Picture 4) Approaching Durban they were met by the Dolphins. This awesome picture with Durban’s new World Cup Soccer stadium in the background is a great advert for the city of Durban.

Picture 5) Approaching the Durban beachfront accompanied by the dolphins, you can see the city in the background.

Picture 6) The large dolphins breaking the surface just ahead of the ski’s

Picture 7) A curious dolphin surfaces between the ski’s

Picture 8) This picture of 4 of the dolphins indicating their size.

Picture 9) Janine, paddling slowly, next to one or two large adults.

Picture 10) Janine silhouetted in the morning sunrise, with a Dolphin just ahead of her.

Picture 11) Janine, at the end of her paddle, approaching the beach.

As a manufacturer, seeing these pictures makes me feel really great and humbled at the same time. The HORIZON could not be a more appropriate name for a surfski after looking through those pictures. It is no wonder that we have never stopped getting orders for the HORIZON from the first day we started making them. The ski is making a difference to the horizons of many new paddlers. A lot of girls, younger paddlers and old, did not think that they could master surfski paddling until they paddled the HORIZON. We are also seeing a number of paddlers trading in their so called “competitive” surfski’s, for the HORIZON, finding that they are enjoying their races a lot more, finish a lot stronger, surf bigger waves and can negotiate bigger surf.
It feels really great to believe that we have built something that will contribute to the growth of this awesome sport.

COMING UP – It is hype week this week with the registration party and the First grading race in the KZN Winter Surfski Series and only three weeks to go to the Durban Surfski World Cup.

See you on the water
MARK