Wednesday 20th Feb Paddle

Looks like the wind is still playing a bit of merry hell with us and considering that Windfinder has been giving us inaccurate forecasts for wind speeds this year it will probably be more than 10m/s. Give us a call at the shop if you are not online to check Roman Rock and we will tell you how it's looking. Appears that a front is coming in on Sunday and Monday so while it's turning, Friday and Saturday look good days for a gentler paddle. We should try for a paddle at Simon's Town 4.30pm on Friday.

WELL IT DID!!!! NOW IT'S BLOWING THE WHOLE WEEKEND LONG.

Wednesday Paddle and Braai

As of 9am this morning the forecast looks very good with the wind dropping all day. In fact the next week looks like the relentless howling south easter might be over - at least for a while. Don't forget the bring and braai at Paddlers this evening from 5.30 onwards.

With a bit of luck the howling gales of the last week may moderate to make Wednesday's paddle a possibility. Windfinder forecasts have not been too accurate during the last couple of weeks of south-easters. Where they have predicted 10 to 12 m/s (36 to 42 kph) actual speeds have been almost twice that. However when they have predicted lower speeds these days have tended to be only slightly higher in reality. Hopefully Wednesday might be more accurate - Weather SA is forecasting fresh south easter.

Seaforth Race Pictures

Click on the pictures to view them a little larger. Top pair: Carnage at the yacht club bridge.
Bottom pair: The start and Kim lets the faster skis go past

Seaforth Race Report

Sadly our talented blogger Paul did not compete this year so it is left to me to paint a small and considerably less amusing picture of the event.
Last year all us kayakers raced in the short course but this year I, stupidly, decided to brave the long course as it was advertised as only 14km. As our kayak races are usually 10km I reckoned the extra 4 would not be too bad. Well actually the two lap long course was just under 18kms which made the "short course" nearly nine!
As you can see from the results us asterisk-marked kayakers did OK. I'm told Kim would have done even better had she not decided to go off-piste for a while right at the end. Big applause to (I think his name is) Etienne who none of us knew, and looked like he'd only recently taken up the sport, for participating. Hopefully one of the short coursers will be moved to type up a little report for me to add to the blog?
The long course? It started like a whirlwind and I reckon I was halfway or lower down the field by the time we rounded a pretty choppy Ark Rock where at least two guys went swimming who were caught out by the big rebound waves. They get back onto these surfski things pretty quick though. Got some very good surfing down to the wreck - wind was probably 30-40kph - and then saved some energy on the tow of the ski in front until the jungle jim at the navy but lost him at the turn towards the yacht harbour. Through the yachts and up to the bullnose in the sheltered waters and then into the wind and waves back to Ark Rock to begin lap two. The wind had picked up as well so it was a tough upwind haul, but turning downwind back to the wreck made for some really good surfing. I even overtook the ski in front of me on this section, although he caught me up towards the end and eventually beat me. Boy was I knackered for the last upwind section to the finish at Seaforth which could not come soon enough. For the record I was 71st out of 81 paddlers in a time of 1 hour 55 mins. The bastard winner did it in 1.21
But enough of me, how was your Sunday?