Sunday, 18 July 2010 10:09
High drama: Great White sharks and damage galore at Scottburgh to Brighton
Siblings Dawid and Jasper Mocke snatched victory in the 2010 Discovery Scottburgh to Brighton surfski ultramarathon after twice having to grind back into contention after suffering major mishaps.
The win was a maiden victory for younger brother jasper, and a sixth victory in the gruelling 46.5km classic for Dawid Mocke, the reigning world surfski series champion.
However they started on the backfoot when they were battered trying to get out through the big surf at the start at Scottburgh. The crunching backline halted the progress of most of the field of elite double ski crews, with the exception of the classy combination of Ant Stott and Barry Lewin, who made a clean break and took a significant early lead.
Once they had negotiated the Scottburgh surf the Mocke siblings, together with Darryl Bartho and Grant Woollaston and another all-brother crew of marathon world champions Grant and Brandon van der Walt, they managed to reel in the race leaders after six kilometres of racing in balmy, windless and largely flat ocean conditions.
The Van der Walt brothers followed Bartho and Woollaston on a tactical gamble to look for a faster line further out to sea, and after apparently making some initial gains, it became clear that the inshore line followed by Stott and Lewin and the Mockes was a wiser choice, as they approached the compulsory beach stop at Amanzimtoti in the lead together.
The two skis entered the big surfbreak at Amanzimtoti together and were caught by a following wave that saw Lewin and Stott's ski broadside, and ram into the Mocke's ski, punching a tennis-ball sized hole through the hull underneath the front cockpit. "The surf was big, but it was a dumb mistake," admitted a humble Lewin afterwards.
While the Mockes swam to shore and started effecting emergency repairs on the beach Lewin and Stott managed to regain the lead, after being initially held up trying to get through the big backline at Toti.
The Mocke brothers located duct tape to patch up the hole in their ski, but needed to completely dry the hull before starting with the taping. They were saved by race boss Billy Harker, who quickly stripped his one-year-old son Henry of his baby grow, allowing the brothers to quickly dry the boat and effect repairs.
While this was happening, the chasing bunch was also hammered by the Toti surf. The third-placed crew of Grant and Brandon van der Walt collided with Bartho and Woollaston coming in through the surf, shearing the nose clean off their ski, and ending their race in dramatic fashion.
As the Mockes prepared to set off in pursuit of the race leaders they had to waste more time in the shorebreak while they tried to straighten their rudder damaged in the mid-surf collision.
"Just as we fixed it, the surf suddenly flattened out," said Mocke. "It was as if Jesus calmed the ocean for us, and we gladly took it!"
Trailing by more than three minutes, the Mocke siblings made a plan to win the race. "We decided that we had to treat it as a 16km timetrial, and just paddle at 90% all the way," said Jasper Mocke." We tried to equate it to starting one of our favourite paddles, from Smitswinkels Bay to Fishhoek," said Jasper Mocke.
Their plan paid handsome dividends as they caught Stott and Lewin after seven kilometres. "We were paddling on pure adrenaline," admitted Dawid Mocke. "That's a false energy, so when we caught up to Ant (Stott) and Barry (Lewin) we had to put the hammer down and grind past them, which we managed to do."
They reached the finish at Brighton Beach alone, and easily negotiated the tricky surfbreak, after having paddled through a number of shoals of sardines, and cantered up the beach to claim the title.
"This is one of the most memorable wins of my career," said Dawid Mocke afterwards. "Much of the credit must go to Jasper, who has got to be one of the most determined paddlers around," he added.
Runners-up Barry Lewin and Ant Stott heaped praise on the brothers for their spectacular fightback and admitted, "we were given a proper paddling lesson today."
Darryl Bartho and Grant Woollaston made it to the finish exhausted by satisfied, but having been shaken by a visit from a Great white Shark four kilometres from the end of the race. "It was longer than our six metre ski, and it pulled up alongside me and gave me a long look with its black eye," said Bartho.
"We were both pretty tired, but somehow our stroke rate shot up to around 18kays per hour after that!" he added.
The crowd at the finish gave a standing ovation to the gutsy Marine Surflifesaving club's surfboat crew, which managed to complete the gruelling race in their cumbersome vessel, having started before sunrise, and finishing close to the back of the field.
More information and results can be found at www.surfski.co.za
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