The Makai Cup is hosted by the Makai Paddling Society of the
South Coast and is part of the Paddle Australia Ocean Racing Championships.
This year’s race was a qualifier for the International Ocean Racing
Championships in Portugal. It is primarily a surf ski race but is open to outriggers
and sea kayaks.
The race was held on Saturday 8th February at Ulladulla
on the NSW South Coast. A lot of the participants were South Coast paddlers. All
the big names in Ski and Outriggers were there.
The forecast for the day was for Easterly winds to 30 KNOTS
but the observations for the race put the wind to 19 knots swinging around from
SE to NE in the one hour it ran. This might have been one of the reasons it was
so messy. There was an ESE Swell of about 3 metres. The sea was awash with
whitecaps and breaking waves. An outgoing tide and a massive low pressure
system (which finally dropped enough rain to put those blasted fires out once
and for all) all combined to make for a rough sea. Although the race is usually
run as a downwinder the decision was made on Friday night to run it as a 2.5KM
loop times 6 laps from inside Ulladulla Harbour and out to two marker buoys
anchored about a kilometre off shore. It was supposed to be a bit further out
but the motor launch charged with placing the buoys couldn’t get past the
northern headland so they placed the outer one as far as they could.
There were about 200 entries which turned into 174 entrants
on the day (inc doubles), the vast majority surf skis and six out riggers. There
were six sea kayakers, Rob Mercer, Nick Blacklock, Gary Forrest and David Linco
in Audax’s, me in the new Azure and Paul Monaro in a Pace 17. Caroline Marschner
entered the Makai Mini in her Pace 17 and was the only Sea Kayak in that race.
Well done Caroline.
The Makai Mini ran prior to the main event and was a loop
circuit around a buoy moored about a hundred metres out from the harbour. On
looking out to sea quite a few of the main race entrants downgraded to enter the
mini instead.
At 12.30 the gun went off. My race strategy was to keep Nick
and Rob in my sights just like I’ve done on so many Tuesdays. And to survive! Club
stalwart Mark Sundin was also paddling but he crossed over and was in the front
of an Epic V8 double with his power house mate Jason Hodder in the back. Check
out Mark Sundin’s YouTube channel for a great video he put together of the
race.
It was mayhem at the start as so many paddlers jostled for a
good start. For a lot of them it was a waste of effort as the real enemy was
not the competition but the sea that waited to trounce them outside the safety
of the fortress walls (i.e. the harbour breakwater). I had visions of a
medieval army charging forth - to their slaughter! I found myself letting out a
bit of a war cry as the first wave smashed over my head. I yelled again as I
rounded the furthest marker buoy and gave it all I had to get onto a big wave.
Some of the rides were phenomenal and my GPS track hit a maximum speed of
25KM/H.
All the while there were capsizes going on and I must have
paddled past at least a dozen. Most seemed to be around the markers where the
skis were forced to go side on to the wind and sea as they made the turn
downwind. I think even the best paddlers might have had to concentrate hard to
pull those turns off without going over.
A few of the elite paddlers went across to the northern
bommie to get the maximum help from the bigger waves. I’m told the first guy, a
well known Surf Ski professional, got it wrong and ended up on the rocks, ski
smashed in two. A couple of the elites behind him did manage to make it work
and surfed to the front of the pack on a big wave. These guys are not only very
good paddlers, they’re brave as well! Unfortunately, the next group of paddlers,
all on skis, weren’t so lucky (skilled?) and got creamed on the point and a
mass recue had to take place. As I paddled out for lap two the IRB (Inflatable
rescue boat) came in with five shell shocked paddlers on board – I have no idea
what happened to their boats but I assume they all went into the pile of
smashed ski’s – eighteen of them in the end.
By the third lap the field had thinned considerably and
although Nick and Rob were in front, I did notice they were settling in which
was perfect for me. I remember thinking I just needed to do three more laps and
there wouldn’t be too many left in the race! Alas the rescue boat whizzed past
yelling that this was to be the last lap – the race was cancelled half way
through.
Because it had been raining hard most of the morning a lot
of the race stickers didn’t adhere and were lost. Some were also lost because
the bow’s of the skis they were on got broken off and sunk! That and the fact
the race was turned into laps made it a nightmare for the poor old time keepers
and so the scoring was inaccurate. There were a lot of protests to say the
least.
I get the feeling that us Sea Kayakers are seen by a lot of
the surf ski paddlers as slow and cumbersome try hards who shouldn’t even be at
these types of races. They might have to take stock of that view in light of
just how comfortable we were out in those conditions compared to the ski
paddlers. We only had one sea kayak that didn’t finish whilst a good chunk of
the field of skis didn’t make it to the third lap. The other thing is that we
weren’t that slow and finished well up the field. There were a lot of skis
coming in behind us.
Credit where credit is due though. Some of the elites are
absolutely incredible paddlers. I have a Fenn Spark which is considered an
elite ski but I only paddle it in the harbour and even there I can have a hard
time if the winds up and when ferries and big boats go by. There were a lot of
Sparks in the race alongside other similarly tippy skis and I can tell you that
to have these boats outside in such conditions speaks volumes about some of the
ability within the ski paddling community. To me this is quite incredible. Some
of these paddlers must be out every day to have that level of skill and
balance. To the rest of the field and those who didn’t finish all I can say is
they might not have the amazing skill of the elites but most certainly had the
courage to go for it – even if they ended up with smashed boats. Such is the
power of South Coast ski paddling culture I suppose.
I hope to go in more of these ocean races to fly the flag
for us seafarers. Who knows, if enough of us enter these races and we keep
proving ourselves we might even get a Sea Kayak class one of these days – I
think we deserve that.
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| Caroline, Dave, Nick, Paul, Matt, Rob & Gary - Seafarers! Marks Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AUIJRYuYM0 Official Makai video: https://www.facebook.com/makaipaddler/videos/1555440787966094/ |
