PUP starts ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Championship action

DURBAN – The on-water action for the 2025 ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships kicks off on Sunday with the oldest surfski race in the world providing a curtain raiser for next week's title-deciding action off the Durban coastline.

2021 World Champion Michelle Burn from Durban is expected to race in the world's oldest surfski race as part of her preparations for the ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships in Durban next week.

The Pirates-Umhlanga-Pirates – or PUP as it is colloquially known in Durban – will take place in what is predicted to be ideal weather conditions, and will provide a sprinkling of overseas paddlers and a strong local contingent with an opportunity to see what to expect at the World Champs next week.

The PUP is accepted as the event which started surfski racing in 1957, when a group of local lifesavers took to the sea to race each other in their rescue skis. The sport has grown since then, and next weekend's event will be the ninth official World Championships and the first time the global event is held in South Africa.

While South Africa may never have hosted the World Champs, they have always been a dominant force in surfski paddling – or as it is now officially known, Ocean Racing. The first official World Champion was South African Sean Rice in 2013, and he collected a second win in 2019, followed by compatriots Nicolas Notten and Kenny Rice in 2021 and 2022. Australian Cory Hill has won three times, in 2015, 2017 and 2023, while Gordan Harbrecht from Germany became the only northern hemisphere champion when he beat Hill and Durban local Hank McGregor in Portugal last year.

The first women's official champion was Michelle Eray in 2013, and South Africans have won three times since then. Hayley Nixon and Michelle Burn took the titles in 2017 and 2021 respectively, while Kira Bester will be the defending champion next weekend.

The other women's winners are all from Australasia, with New Zealanders Teneale Hatton and Dani McKenzie (now Richards) winning in 2015 and 2019 respectively, before Australian Jemma Smith won back to back titles in 2022 and 2023.

Add in the under 23 and junior champions and South Africa is comfortably the power-house of ocean racing, and so it is fitting the home of surfski padding should host the global showpiece event this year.

Sunday's Pirates-Umhlanga-Pirates race was moved so as to act as a curtain-raiser for the World Championships, with some local stars such as Hank McGregor and Michelle Burn on the start-line, alongside some of the internationals who have arrived early to check out the conditions in Durban.

The PUP will start at 9am and as of Friday morning, with entries still open, more than 25 international paddlers had entered as part of their preparations for the World Championships.

The PUP start and finishes at Pirates Surf Lifesaving Club, with paddlers racing to Umhlanga and back to the start point in what is predicted to be light South Westerly winds. For the World Championships, all races will start at the Durban Undersea Club (DUC), and if there is a south west wind paddlers will paddle past Pirates and then Umhlanga to Westbrook.