Jasper Mocke renews his "Doctor's degree" in Perth (Australia)

Great aerial view after the start. Photo: John O'Sullivan

The Mocke brothers, in their usual Australian tour during January, managed to claim the top two spots in The Doctor, the second race of the Surfski World Series 2014, after the Mandurrah Cup won by Jasper Mocke a week ago. And again the youngest of the brothers claimed a tough race on the blue waters of Perth.

On a perfect day for the surfski, no more and no less than 330 boats gathered in Rottnest Island to face the 27 km. of downwind to the finish line in Sorrento Beach. Among them, 46 SUP (Stand Up Paddle), booming discipline in the last years.

The massive start was hectic until the first turn of the race, before facing the open sea. The Australian Cory Hill ...

Sean Rice brings home victory at Camps Bay, sixth race of the Vodacom Cape Town Surfski Series

Last Sunday it was held a classic Spring surfski race in Cape Town, the Natural Camps Bay Clash, on the Atlantic side of the city.

The field was rather strong. After coming back from Hong Kong, the big stars attempt to fine tune their form for the big upcoming event of the Cape Point Challenge. This time, Jasper Mocke and Sean Rice had a nice neck to neck race, while Dawid Mocke and Brandon van der Walt fell back from the lead on a course with little wind and quite bumpy. Under these conditions, the physical strength of Sean Rice was finally decisive, opening in the last stretch a gap wide enough to enter the finish line alone and to be the only paddler under 50 minutes. Behind him, Jasper and Dawid Mocke completed the podium.

Brandon van der Walt, fourth overall, was the winner U21 (age division of the races), followed by Dom Notten and Craig Flanagan. In junior, victory for Kenny Rice, while Graeme Solomon won the veterans category and was fifth overall. Look in the video at his surfski, developed by Carbonology Sport in collaboration with Graeme's company in Cape Town, Bamboo Warehouse. Indeed, it is built in carbon and bamboo, giving it that classic (and classy) wooden aspect and weighing only 11.5 kg. Beautiful prototype. We do not know if it will continue to be produced, since its maintenance must be very careful, as it was always with wooden kayaks, but the truth is that we love it.

In women, victory for Nikki Mocke, with a big gap over Bianca Beavitt, second, and the junior Kirsten Flanagan, third, who entered sprinting to decide the two remaining podium positions.

You can check the results at this link and see the always colorful race video below ( by the way, it goes an Olympic champion , see if you find it):

Vodacom Cape Town Surfski Series: Big names on the podium

As summer season comes slowly to Cape Town, the canoeing scene turns its gaze to the ocean. The Lifesavers Club of Fish Hoek is responsible for organizing the Cape Town surfski series, sponsored by Vodacom, with races almost every two weeks in different spots around the area in both the Atlantic and Indic side. These races are a good prelude to the big event coming at the end of December, the Cape Point Challenge. Gradually, the best surfski paddlers will test themselves and the opponents getting ready for the big event .

In this occasion, the fourth race of the series (Seaforth Restaurant prix) was a nice fight between world champion Sean Rice, Dawid Mocke and Tom Schilperoort, but after the turn, in the downwind section (perfect conditions for it, in the video you can clearly see the great scenario with winds of about 25 knots), Rice showed his quality and claimed the win. Mocke and Schilperoort followed him in that order. 4th and 5th ​​were two young values as Kenny Rice and Craig Flanagan..

In women, very young participation, with victory for Kim van Gysen followed by Bianca Haw and Kirsten Flanagan, three names to keep in mind in the future of this discipline.

South Africans rule at the Eurochallenge

Left to right: Sean Rice, Dawid Mocke and Jasper Mocke

This past weekend was held at Villajoyosa (Spain) the Eurochallenge 2013 of surfski. Crowded field, but it was missed some more foreign participation, which in previous years had been abundant. Anyway, that foreign participation was of very high quality, as evidenced by the podium conquered by South African stars, all of them from Fish Hoek, Sean Rice, Dawid Mocke and Jasper Mocke.

That was the order in both races, the downwind North course on Saturday, of the two prepared depending on weather conditions. 20 kilometer run in line along the coast heading Southwest and finishing in Villajoyosa. And the classical race on Sunday.

Sean Rice, recent winner of the South African trials, both in 1,000 meters and surfski, stood alone doing much of the race at the downwind. As recognized after by Dawid Mocke, trying to follow him was a ticket to get sore muscles. Rice got a three minutes advantage over Dawid Mocke and five over Jasper. Walter Bouzán came in fourth place very closed to Jasper Mocke and heading the European field, where the Dutchman Joep van Bakel was fifth and Daniel Sanchez Viloria, who arrived as second Spanish, added himself to Walter in the list of our representatives in the Surfski World Championships to be held this coming July in Portugal.

McGregor, Nikki Mocke, the Mocke brothers and Eray/Mocke, RSA champions of surfski

Photo: Owen Middleton

Last weekend was held at Fish Hoek (RSA), the last race of the Surfski World Series, the Cape Town Downwind, which was also the Sout African National Championships. With no Australian in the field, other competitors arrived from Portugal, Great Britain, Germany or Belgium were not going to dispute the clear favoritism of the locals, mainly the Jasper and Dawid Mocke, who were playing at home. And they got victory in the doubles race of Monday 17th, but were dissapointed in the singles with a 5th and 6th place far away from their aim. Hank McGregor and Matt Bouman showed the Durban way of surfskiing by leading last half of the race, with McGregor retaining the SA title got already in 2011 and Bouman in silver. Bronze was for an impressive Simon van Gysen, who made a terrific final kilometres.

Tim Jacobs retain title at the Steelcase Dragon Run of surfski in Hong Kong

Tim Jacobs (AUS) entering the finish line to retain title. Photo: Nora Tam

The Australian Tim Jacobs won last Saturday the Steelcase Dragon Run, surfski race in Hong Kong, part of the World Series of this discipline. The amount of the prizes and the fact that the end of the series is close (in December in Cape Town), participation was really prominent, with the best specialists in the field. 
As it was presumed, Australians and South Africans ruled the race and only Walter Bouzán and Portuguese Andre Santos got into top positions among the contestants from down under. The number of figures in search of the $ 5,000 winner prize made nerves to be present from the beginning, including a false start. Once given the good one, a dozen paddlers stood out significantly from the rest of the competitors, with a very quick first third of the race. In the words of Dawid Mocke "is always like that lately, eight kilometers at a very fast pace and then let's see see who can stand it". In a race of 23 miles and the light wind conditions and heat present in this edition, only the most skilled could retain the strength until the finish line.

Dawid Mocke wins the Défis Kayak at Guadeloupe

The Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, French territory, held last week the Surfski World Series race of Défis Kayak EDF. Not many contestants, around 50, but with a very high international level, coming from all around the world.

With a paradise landscape as background, the paddlers took the start at Île Desirade, where they had to complete two laps in a course inside the lagoon (new this year, as it seemed  that Desirade inhabitants were quite unhappy with seeing the kayaks going away straight to the horizon) and then go to open sea heading Saint François, at the main island of Guadeloupe.