Conditions were EPILIPTIC!!

Pure South-East winds at 32-43knots with no swell. Combine that with the spring tides draining Table Bay and we had the fastest downwind conveyor-belt to date.

Virtually every paddler improved his/her times, with the only exceptions being those who were still chatting to time-keepers in the parking-lot when the start went off, plus those who kindly chose to chaperone their kids or first timers. Such were the conditions though, that even newbies who found standing up too testing set great times merely sitting on their boards the entire way!

A total of 44 SUPs and 40 surf-ski paddlers made it a great spectacle as sand was flying and the water was lifting in the gusts. Right off the beach it was clear that two guys had their eye on this race. Greg Bertish set off like a rocket and immediately created a gap, while Coreban founder Ivan van Vuuren paddled out deeper and flew down the course. Chris Bertish arrived at the beach three minutes before the start and was still chatting to the time-keepers when the whistle blew. He nevertheless set off in his usual style and by halfway had cleared everyone but the two frontrunners.

By the entry to Small Bay, Chris had caught both brother Greg and Ivan, and they crossed the sand-spit together. Chris, nursing a mild chest-infection told Greg to go for gold in the last 200m sprint – this must have been the red rag that Ivan needed because he put his head down and just beat Greg in the run-up to the flags – setting a new course record in the process with a 42 minutes 57 seconds.

Ivan’s time makes an extraordinary average speed of more than 14km/h over the entire 10.1km course. Greg also beat the previous record with his 43:02, while Chris eclipsed his own previous course record with 43:29 (the previous record stood for over two years).

It was great to see Cape Town’s three downwind pioneers share the spoils tonight! Ivan van Vuuren may have withdrawn a little from the commercial side of SUP but the classy legend showed everyone how its done when the conditions are really cooking – big congrats on the new course record – it will be hard to beat!

The young Brat-pack where properly schooled this evening with Colin Heckroodt, Dylan Frick and Brad Adams coming in over two minutes behind the leaders – though they all made huge improvements on their PBs and just need a few more big ones to challenge the old guard.

The ladies were flying and four out of the six entrants finishing under in one hour. Brigette van Aswegen nearly even dropped under 50 minutes! Great times by the ladies and another course record for Brigette in 50.58. Mishka Steyn and Karina Figl had never been under one hour, nor had Monica Wohlgemuth who came in 4th. Michaela Gabriel made a welcome comeback to downwinding after having been lost to the lure of prone-surfing for a good while. Michaela couldn’t stop smiling and neither could Maleen Hoekstra, who completed her maiden voyage in 1:07:30.

The Juniors (up to 16yo) really look to be serious challengers in the future with Ethan Koopmans setting a new junior course record of 47:37. Joshua Robertson once again had to settle for second while first timer Matthew Maxwell came 3rd in 53.50. Matthew even beat his dad Dave – as they crossed the line the youngster cleverly made sure that he took hold of the front of the boards while his dad took care of the tails ensuring he’d cross the line first!

We had a photo finish for 9th and 10th with Pietro Muscas (aka Franco Califano) beating Nicky Carstens by 3/10ths of a second! We also had another remarkable outing for Nic Muhl, who dipped under 50 minutes on only his third downwinder. This is not considered normal…

We had two DNF’s with Mike Smith and George Muller having chosen a too tight line and having to exit at Doodles. Everyone made it home safe and sound despite numerous spectacular crashes with 14’ boards doing the death spin at the end of their leashes! One guys leash had spun so many times they could barely get the leash off the board!

Everyone had their own stories to tell and virtually everyone took home a PB. We have two more races to go this year and with 7 out of the 8 weeks delivering race-worthy conditions (and a good forecast for next Wednesday) we continue to enjoy the great downwind conditions that Cape Town has to offer. There are now two discards in the overall results and if we can complete the last two races then we’ll have one more result to drop – so you can still make up places in overall ranking!

Big thanks to our time keepers Lollo and Jen + Aden and Deanna, BBLSC and of course our sponsors: PRIMI, Naish, BulkSMS, SUPHQ, Vitamin Water, Buchulife, SWOX, Coreban/Xpression, New Balance and Watersports Warehouse.

– Peter

PRIMI Naish Downwind Dash Series – LEADERBOARD

 

PRIMI Naish Downwind Dash Series – Race #7 RESULTS

Date: 28th November, 2012
Wind: SE 32-43 knots
Swell: none
Course: 10.1km
Sponsors: PRIMI, Naish, SUPHQ, Vitaminwater, Coreban/Xpression, New Balance, SWOX, BulkSMS, Buchulife and Watersports Warehouse

#	Name	Time	Size	Division	% of 1st	Grade	km/h	min/km	Board
1	Ivan van Vuuren	0:42:57	14'	Masters	100.00	Elite	14.11	0:04:15	Coreban 14 Dart
2	Greg Bertish	0:43:02	14'	Open	99.81	Elite	14.08	0:04:16	Coreban 14' Dart
3	Chris Bertish	0:43:29	14'	Open	98.77	Elite	13.94	0:04:18	Naish 14 Glide
4	Colin Heckroodt	0:45:35	14'	Open	94.22	A	13.29	0:04:31	Starboard 14' OO
5	Dylan Frick	0:45:53	14'	Open	93.61	A	13.21	0:04:33	Starboard 14' Ace Pro
6	Brad Adams	0:46:09	14'	Open	93.07	A	13.13	0:04:34	Fanatic Falcon 14'
7	Peter Petersen	0:46:10	14'	Masters	93.03	A	13.13	0:04:34	Naish 14 Glide
8	Matthew van der Linden	0:46:26	14'	Open	92.50	A	13.05	0:04:36	Naish 14 Glide AST
9	Pietro Muscas	0:47:10	14'	Masters	91.06	A	12.85	0:04:40	Naish 14 Glide
10	Nicky Carstens	0:47:11	14'	Masters	91.03	A	12.84	0:04:40	Carstens Custom 14'
11	Ethan Koopmans	0:47:37	14'	Junior	90.20	A	12.73	0:04:43	Naish 14 Glide
12	Gary van Rooyen	0:47:54	14'	Masters	89.67	B	12.65	0:04:45	Coreban 14 Dart
13	Francois Frick	0:47:56	14'	Open	89.60	B	12.64	0:04:45	Starboard 14' Ace Pro
14	Nick Muhl	0:49:07	14'	Open	87.44	B	12.34	0:04:52	Naish 14 Glide AST
15	Nico Pfitzenmaier	0:50:40	14'	Open	84.77	C	11.96	0:05:01	Naish 14 Glide AST
16	Joshua Robertson	0:50:50	14'	Junior	84.49	C	11.92	0:05:02	Fanatic 14 Falcon
17	Brigette van Aswegen	0:50:58	14'	Women's	84.27	C	11.89	0:05:03	Starboard 14' Ace Pro
18	Michael Fiet	0:51:09	14'	Open	83.97	C	11.85	0:05:04	Coreban 14' Dart
19	Gavin Dace	0:51:12	14'	Open	83.89	C	11.84	0:05:04	Naish 14 Glide AST
20	James Taylor	0:51:24	14'	Open	83.56	C	11.79	0:05:05	Naish 14 Glide AST
21	Tyran Cooper	0:51:44	14'	Open	83.02	C	11.71	0:05:07	Coreban 14 Dart
22	Rob Munro	0:52:00	14'	Masters	82.60	D	11.65	0:05:09	Fanatic 14 OO
23	Neal Esterhuyse	0:53:02	14'	Open	80.99	C	11.43	0:05:15	Halo Custom 14'
24	Matthew Maxwell	0:53:50	14'	Junior	79.78	D	11.26	0:05:20	Naish 14 Glide AST
25	Dave Maxwell	0:53:52	14'	Masters	79.73	C	11.25	0:05:20	Naish 14 Glide AST
26	Mishka Steyn	0:54:10	14'	Jnr women's	79.29	D	11.19	0:05:22	Starboard 14' OO
27	Dawid de Villiers	0:55:44	14'	Open	77.06	D	10.87	0:05:31	Naish 14 Glide AST
28	Armien Wohlgemuth	0:56:18	14'	Masters	76.29	D	10.76	0:05:34	Starboard 14' Ace Pro
29	Steve Tripney	0:56:48	14'	Masters	75.62	D	10.67	0:05:37	Coreban 14 Dart
30	Karina Figl	0:57:02	12'6	Women's	75.31	C	10.63	0:05:39	Coreban 12'6
31	Monika Wohlgemuth	0:57:50	14'	Women's	74.27	D	10.48	0:05:44	Naish 14 Glide
32	Jason Wallbanger	0:59:48	14'	Open	71.82	D	10.13	0:05:55	Naish 14 Glide AST
33	Wayne Robertson	0:59:58	14'	Open	71.62	D	10.11	0:05:56	Coreban 14 Dart
34	Patricia Kohrs	1:00:13	14'	Women's	71.33	D	10.06	0:05:58	Naish 14 Glide AST
35	Michaela Gabriel	1:01:40	14'	Women's	69.65	D	9.83	0:06:06	Naish 14 Glide AST
36	Justin Trent	1:05:50	14'	Open	65.24	D	9.21	0:06:31	Naish 14 Glide AST
37	Maleen Hoekstra	1:07:30	14'	Women's	63.63	D	8.98	0:06:41	Starboard 14' OO
38	Craig Girdlestone	1:08:45	14'	Open	62.47	D	8.81	0:06:48	Naish 14 Glide AST
39	Francois Ferrera	1:11:10	14'	Open	60.35	D	8.52	0:07:03	Naish 14 Glide AST
40	Oliver Potgieter	1:11:56	14'	Open	59.71	D	8.42	0:07:07	Naish 14 Glide AST
41	Johan Adler	1:18:22	14'	Open	54.81	D	7.73	0:07:46	Naish 14 Glide AST
42	Michael Rhategan	1:22:22	12'6	Open	52.14	D	7.36	0:08:09	Coreban 11'6 Cruiser