Sunday, 31 October 2010 16:28
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Dawid Mocke overcomes Series jinx; wife Nikki wins again
In quite the most extreme wind conditions ever experienced since the start of local surfski series racing in 1998, Dawid Mockè posted his maiden victory in the 2010 Discovery Sunglass Hut Surfski series, mastering the gale force winds and overcoming a strong field to clinch the title over a course shortened by the ferocious weather conditions.
Mocké had to call on every ounce of his strength, stamina and acquired skill to hold off his Fish Hoek clubmates Shaun “The Prawn” Rice and Tom “Tommygun” Schilperoort to win the appropriately named New Balance Fish Hoek Surf Challenge.
“Tom beat me fair-and-square last weekend at Langebaan and Shaun had nailed me to the wall well-and-truly in Simonstown Bay on the Sunday before that, so I had to pull out all the stops to-day by putting the hammer down from the gun,” said a visibly relieved Mockè.
Just on 85 boats ventured out for the testing race, which started with a first ever mass-start in knee deep water, after the race backers New Balance and the race organisers agreed to make paddlers safety their top priority in the difficult conditions.
The fleet had to race alongside the relatively protected waters next to Jaeger's Catwalk before heading into the 60km per hour south-easterly gale and then turning 600m off-shore at a turning-buoy next to Sunnycove Rail-station.
The paddlers were then required to race downwind for about 800m toward the second turning buoy anchored just off the club lifeguards'-tower on Fish Hoek beach before completing the short 1km triangular circuit at a third turning-buoy situated on the surf-line directly in front of the Baysider Restaurant and original starting-point.
The race was shortened to five laps within the relatively protected area in the Fish Hoek bay, effectively reducing the race distance by two-thirds to five kilometres. The formant still required each paddler to strategise as they weaved their line through the a field of slower-moving back-markers, and ultimately to the finish-line on the beach directly in front of the lifesavers' clubhouse.
“That was most definitely the meanest race I've ever been in in my life” said a clearly strained Tom Schilperoort who looked as if he needed a glucose drip after the race as a result of what he referred to as a 'severe case of lactic-acid overload' in his body.
Nikki Mocké kept it in the family once again by completing a Mocké cleansweep by winning the women's title, finishing less than four minutes behind her husband, and just outside of the top ten overall, with Bianca Beavitt and Kim Brugmann claiming the other two podium places.
14 year old schoolgirl Kirsten Flanagan earned the respect of her fellow paddlers by winning the junior girls title, despite the intimidating weather conditions, while Dominique Notten held off Kenny Rice to win the junior boys title.
Bruce Neill and Pierre Van Dyk took the double ski title, while the mixed doubles title fell once again to the evergreen husband-and-wife crew of series organisers Billy and Tracey Harker.
The fourth race in the series is the Discovery Downwind race on 7 November.
For more info go to www.surfski.co.za and www.surfski.info.
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