High drama: Great White sharks and damage galore at Scottburgh to Brighton - More damage

Sunday, 18 July 2010 10:09

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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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