WINTER SERIES KICKS OFF – RACE 1, About 360 enthusiastic paddlers kicked off the 2010 Durban winter surfski season at the grading race 1 on Sunday 2 May 2010. (See pictures). The conditions were as flat as can be, which for me personally is not that great, but it helps to establish the split in strengths of the paddlers for the coming races, and serves as a seeding to have graded starts and smaller batches.
While the surf may be flat, it is a real dog fight out there, with ski’s everywhere. You feel completely surrounded by other boats and feel way off the pace until things settle down and you find that many of the paddlers do not have more than a good 20 minutes in them. Once you fight your way out of the pack though, you can then get a good feel for what the sea is actually doing. Usually somewhere in a triangular course, you will have one leg where even the smallest swell can give you some assistance. On the north bound leg of the course I found that I was picking up a bit of the swell and managed to squeeze out a 50-100m lead over the batch of paddlers I was with.
It was all good though with good weather and a great way to start the racing season.
Pictures are of the paddlers on the beach at the briefing, the hectic start and the mass of surfski’s snaking their way out of Durban Bay.
RACE 2 – NORTH BEACH –SUNDAY 9 MAY What a different kettle of fish to race 1. A strong easterly onshore wind blew throughout the night, whipping up a gnarly inshore surf. Unfortunately we also caught low tide at the start, so the persistent wave was breaking on a shallow bank, and created strong rip currents on either side of the banks. The start was a bit of a lottery. I got a few big waves on my head resulting in about a one minute delay getting away. Once out in the open it was a very washy sea, but on the down wind section you could really fly. I passed all the ski’s in the batch I left with. If I had not lost a minute in the surf I would have eaten 3 places into the A batch of paddlers, nudging me into the top 10 overal. Despite the swim at the start I was very happy with how I paddled, particularly leading up to this weeks World Cup.
The first of the foreign paddlers and good friend Frank fifils arrived together with Pablo from Spain and they had a baptism of fire taking part in the surf in race two of the series. Both of them enjoying the excitement of surfski racing S.A. style.
Unfortunately the most striking thing that I am seeing more and more of in the races, is paddlers, paddling on craft that are not stable enough for them. While the sea was bumpy, it was not radical. Not long into the race, I passed a double ski capsized and I really felt sorry for the two paddlers. They had fallen off and while passing them I could see them capsize again before they could get going. I could hear lots of cursing etc. They had not even reached the more difficult part of the course yet. That is not fun at all. Surfski paddling should be fun.
Part of the problem is that too many paddlers are basing their ability in craft in protected waters. One or two of the craft in the market at the moment are not user friendly in choppy water or downwind conditions at all. Lesson: Try everything first, and preferably in varying conditions. Do not go on the suggestions of a friend. Paddlers ability levels differ greatly. I was amazed at how easily I was able to pass a number of supposedly top paddlers. The error there is that too many paddlers are looking for a faster “ski’ to make them go faster. Unfortunately unlike a boat, you do not buy the motor with it. Paddlers are not spending enough time making themselves faster, and are kidding themselves that buying the supposedly faster ski is going to make them faster.
Maybe it is a good thing that we had tricky conditions for yesterdays race. I am hoping that it will be a wake-up call for any paddlers that found yesterday going tough. Next weekends race is over double the distance out in the open ocean, preferably down wind.
If you found yesterday tricky, and you are not going to finish in the top 15 next week in the World Cup, then look for a more stable craft to use.
Looking forward to next week.
See you on the start line.
MARK
