Surfski | Perfect conditions for Prescient Freedom Paddle
CAPE TOWN – The potent field of the country's top surfski paddlers are looking forward to ideal conditions for the 2024 Prescient Freedom Paddle around Robben Island on Saturday.
Unlike 2023, when race organisers were worried the event may have to be cancelled in the days leading up to the event, and competitors battled strong winds and tough conditions, the 2024 race looks like providing perfect conditions for a compelling race for arguably the country's premier surfski title.
The weather is forecast to be 15 to 20km/h winds from the start at Oceana Power Boat Club toward Robben Island, giving competitors fairly gentle downwind conditions for the first half of the event, and then a headwind battle to the finish.
In the men's race, the defending champions – multiple world canoeing champion Hank McGregor from KZN and his young Eastern Cape partner Josh Fenn – will be confident of making it four wins in five years.
They will face a strong challenge from a trio of new-look crews, headed by two-time winner Nic Notten and Shaun Rubenstein, while Notten's partner in his 2018 victory, Jasper Mocke, will be paddling with Mark Keeling. Another boat that will be expecting to round the famous island in the lead group is Western Cape local Uli Hart and Wayne Jacobs.
As with McGregor and Fenn, in the women's race the defending champions and pre-race favourites are also a classic combination of experience and talented youth. 2021 World Ocean Racing World Champion Michelle Burn will once again partner Saskia Hockly, who can boast no less than six unior, U23 and senior World Championship medals for surfski and marathon canoeing.
However, they will have to be at their best to beat a potent women's lineup that also features Candice Starr and Melanie van Niekerk; current SA champion Kira Bester and two-time race winner Pippa McGregor; Nicole "Nix" Birkett and Jenna Nisbett team; and current junior Canoe Marathon World Champions Geogia Singe and Holly Smith.
For the top competitors, this year's race will have an extra edge as the 2024 Prescient Freedom Paddle will kick-off an exciting new surfski series aimed at preparing competitors for the World Championships which will be held in South Africa in 2025.
The Euro Steel Surfski TRPL Crown is a three-event series made up of the country's two biggest surfski events – the Prescient Freedom Paddle in Cape Town, and the Biogen Pete Marlin Surfski Race in East London in November – and a new event, the Durban Downwind, which will be the South African Championships and a test event for next year's World Championship course.
The three-race series is offering a big prizefund with the Prescient Freedom Paddle kicking things off the series with a doubles race, while the final two events will both be singles events.
Entrants in Saturday's event have the option of two distances: The majority of the field will tackle the full 27km route, which takes all competitors around Robben Island. However, for those paddlers and rowers not confident enough to take on the open-water crossing to the world-famous island, there is a shorter, 10km option. In this event the competitors will hug the shoreline past Mouille Point and Green Point to a turning buoy just off Sea Point, before returning back to the start/finish area at the Oceana Power Boat Club.
CAPE TOWN – The potent field of the country's top surfski paddlers are looking forward to ideal conditions for the 2024 Prescient Freedom Paddle around Robben Island on Saturday.
Unlike 2023, when race organisers were worried the event may have to be cancelled in the days leading up to the event, and competitors battled strong winds and tough conditions, the 2024 race looks like providing perfect conditions for a compelling race for arguably the country's premier surfski title.
The weather is forecast to be 15 to 20km/h winds from the start at Oceana Power Boat Club toward Robben Island, giving competitors fairly gentle downwind conditions for the first half of the event, and then a headwind battle to the finish.
In the men's race, the defending champions – multiple world canoeing champion Hank McGregor from KZN and his young Eastern Cape partner Josh Fenn – will be confident of making it four wins in five years.
They will face a strong challenge from a trio of new-look crews, headed by two-time winner Nic Notten and Shaun Rubenstein, while Notten's partner in his 2018 victory, Jasper Mocke, will be paddling with Mark Keeling. Another boat that will be expecting to round the famous island in the lead group is Western Cape local Uli Hart and Wayne Jacobs.
As with McGregor and Fenn, in the women's race the defending champions and pre-race favourites are also a classic combination of experience and talented youth. 2021 World Ocean Racing World Champion Michelle Burn will once again partner Saskia Hockly, who can boast no less than six unior, U23 and senior World Championship medals for surfski and marathon canoeing.
However, they will have to be at their best to beat a potent women's lineup that also features Candice Starr and Melanie van Niekerk; current SA champion Kira Bester and two-time race winner Pippa McGregor; Nicole "Nix" Birkett and Jenna Nisbett team; and current junior Canoe Marathon World Champions Geogia Singe and Holly Smith.
For the top competitors, this year's race will have an extra edge as the 2024 Prescient Freedom Paddle will kick-off an exciting new surfski series aimed at preparing competitors for the World Championships which will be held in South Africa in 2025.
The Euro Steel Surfski TRPL Crown is a three-event series made up of the country's two biggest surfski events – the Prescient Freedom Paddle in Cape Town, and the Biogen Pete Marlin Surfski Race in East London in November – and a new event, the Durban Downwind, which will be the South African Championships and a test event for next year's World Championship course.
The three-race series is offering a big prizefund with the Prescient Freedom Paddle kicking things off the series with a doubles race, while the final two events will both be singles events.
Entrants in Saturday's event have the option of two distances: The majority of the field will tackle the full 27km route, which takes all competitors around Robben Island. However, for those paddlers and rowers not confident enough to take on the open-water crossing to the world-famous island, there is a shorter, 10km option. In this event the competitors will hug the shoreline past Mouille Point and Green Point to a turning buoy just off Sea Point, before returning back to the start/finish area at the Oceana Power Boat Club.