Its been ages since I've written in my blog and re entry into California after 3 weeks in Africa wasn't easy. After paddling Millers Run with Dawid Mocke, racing around the lighthouse up and back in shark alley, grinding 50KM around Cape Point and relaxing at a game reserve 20 feet from lions,I was lazy to get on the computer.

But some paddling thoughts now that I'm back to the grind in Newport Harbor in the flat bay...

Day 2 in Cape Town, I got my very first Millers Run 12 km of downwind from Millers Point to Fish Hoek.

This day was mild for there, ok for me, not my mild, but awesome.. if you can stop thinking about the sharks.

But hold on, back up to Day 1..probably blowing harder..and as we sat in the Golden Spur(hamburgers at their best) overlooking Fish Hoek beach, we saw Dawid come in on a doubleski....then later that day as we walked around the beach in Jet lag delirum, we saw Dawid come in with some gals on singles...after chatting with him later, he mentioned he had done 3 Millers runs actually and grinning from ear to ear..not bad for a day job. He takes these "clients" for the run and I believe he is booked solid when the wind is blowing.

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On the weekend there was the Peter Creese Lighthouse race...out around and back about 12km. maybe 150 paddlers, I think 6 or 7 girls and a super fun day. You start on the beach, in the surf ready go and hammer the whole way. Wake riding tactics and just a blast for a "little" local race.

Ok,the big race,Cape Point. We were fitter than last time we did it and really wanted to claim the mixed doubles. Another crew of Matt Bowman and his girl friend (sorry not sure of her name) were the stiff competition.
They batch or seed the groups so that on the grind to the point you are with crews your speed. All mixed doubles were batch together. Well we wanted to be batched with the fastest mens crews. In 2006,we were 4th overall in the doubles so know we can hang with most average mens doubles

6 am start from Scarborough Beach on the Atlantic side.

Anyway, we asked if we could switch batches and the race organizer said "NO" all mixed will go together. As it turns out Matt also asked to switch later in the evening and according to the race organizer he was tired of the badgering so he said yes. There went our race. They were getting pulled to the point with faster mens crews and we were the fastest in our group, doing the pulling or getting pulled at a snails pace of 10.5 to 11 km/hour. I mentally bitched the whole 26 km to the tip of Africa that it was too slow. And as it turns out if we had just been about .5km/hour faster we would have won. But to be fair, the other crew had to do the distance and I am sure our slow pace to the point is one of the reasons we felt so great in the second half of the race.

But with that aside, s@@@t happens and we paddled the best race in a long time. We grinded hard, never died, dropped the mens double we were with at the point by 6 minutes at the finish(sorry Sean, that was you). And for the second time we were second mixed..but by only 2 minutes and so knowing that it would have been different if we had been batched together..all was forgotten after the 6 pack Sean and his partner owed us at the party.

We are planning Cape Point number 3,not sure if it will be 2012 or later, but either we win the mixed or we go single..and that's a whole other story..me out there on a single.
Cape Points is special, 2 oceans, the vibe, the challenge, the distance,sharks, reefs, everything.....This is what makes surfski paddling an adventure.

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