2004 SA Single Ski title shared
10 February 2004
Seasoned ski paddler Herman Chalupsky and fellow Durbanite Matthew Bouman shared the spoils at the end of a drama-laced SA Single Ski Championships in Port Elizabeth over the weekend.
Chalupsky was first across the line at the end of the 30km Madiba Bay Challenge, run from Summerstrand to Sardinia Bay, but Bouman, who crossed the line in fifth, lodged a successful appeal that centred on a key marshall's boat that had moved during the race.
The resultant time penalty meted out to nine of the top 10 paddlers left Bouman and Chalupsky with almost exactly the same times, and both men sportingly agreed to share the victory as a dead heat.
Darryl Bartho finished third, with Oscar Chalupsky proving his years of ski racing experience as he finished fourth, and the first veteran home.
Switching wind
"It was a tough race", said Herman Chalupsky afterwards. "The wind kept switching from behind to the side and
then a headwind, and in the later stages it died down altogether. I was preparing for about an-hour-and-three-quarters, and eventually finished in over two hours", he added.
"I honestly didn't see the marshall's boat, that we were meant to have turned around after Cape Recife. As it was, I had to back paddle to get around another buoy that I missed", Chalupsky said.
The win secures berths for the top paddlers in the team to take part in the Men's Health Surf Ski World Cup, which will take place in Cape Town over the Easter long weekend.
"I am disappointed that more Cape paddlers didn't come to the trial", said Chalupsky afterwards. "I thought having the trial in PE would make it equally accessible to Cape, Durban and inland paddlers. But there were more Joburg paddlers than Cape paddlers! Maybe they are still smarting about being beaten at the last downwind event", he added.
Disaster
The ladies' race ended in disaster for star
Cape paddler Kim Rew. She was leading Knysna-based Kim Eray, with less than two kilometres to the finish, when she opted to take a chancy line close to a rocky reef off the treacherous Cape Recife.
She was caught by a freak wave and dumped onto the rocks, smashing her racing ski into three pieces, and leaving her with a broken toe on her right foot and multiple cuts and gashes. She discharged her distress flares, and was rescued off the rocks by the vigilant safety crew in an inflatable motorboat.
One of the officials on the rescue boat, a local businessman, was so impressed by her courage in that dangerous situation, that he has offered to buy her a brand new ski to replace the one destroyed on the rocks.
Rising Durban star Barry Lewin paddled into the top five overall, and secured his berth in the Men's Health World Cup squad for Easter.
For Herman Chalupsky, the World Cup is very important. "It's probably the biggest ski event ever held. There are so many
top international teams coming to the event. I would love to win it for South Africa", said the man who last month won the Cape Point Challenge in style.
Source: Canoeing South Africa
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