27 November 2006

South Africa won the Surf Ski World Cup in emphatic style in Perth at the weekend, led by back-to-back victories in both legs of the event by 43-year-old Durban ace Oscar Chalupsky.

After his solid victory over fellow Durbanite Darryl Bartho and brother Herman in the first leg event on Saturday, Chalupsky romped home to win the 30-kilometre second leg event from Rottnest Island to Hillary Harbour outside Perth on Sunday.

Once again his closest challenge came from Bartho, with Australian ski star Ashley Nesbitt squeaking in just ahead of Herman Chalupsky for third place. Barry Lewin added a fourth South African name to the top six, finishing just behind local paddler Dean Beamann

Experience critical
The race was held in relatively mild winds without heavy swell, favouring the younger, fitter paddlers. However, Chalupsky's successive wins have added credence to the belief that experience in ocean racing conditions is critical to the outcome of any race.

After a fast start, roughly one kilometre into the race, Chalupsky worked his way through the pack and pulled even with Bartho, whom he'd edged out the day before by just 10 seconds.

Third the day before, Herman Chalupsky, who loves to paddle off the front, took off with a tight chase pack just behind. Oscar Chalupsky ignored them, dutifully following the directional arrow of his Garmin 305 GPS, like a blind man following his guide dog.

Edged slightly ahead
Out to sea, the wind picked up to 12 knots and Oscar Chalupsky edged slightly ahead of the 29-year-old Bartho in the one-metre high bumps.

Knowing that Bartho possessed superior flat-water speed, Chalupsky felt it essential to open a sizeable lead before reaching the harbour in Hillary. Two kilometres from the harbour wall, he put the hammer down.

"Daryl's young and strong and was matching me run for run all the way across," Chalupsky said. "I didn't know how much he had left."

When his GPS told him he had six minutes to the finish, Chalupsky went flat out, paddling in anger up and over runs, leaving Bartho half a dozen boat-lengths back. On the glassy flat water inside the harbour over the last kilometre, he put his head down and never looked back until he leapt out of his Epic ski for the short run up to the beach.

'I was very happy to win'
"I was very happy to win," said Chalupsky afterwards. "Daryl was relentless. On the last leg I figured I had Daryl since I felt that I had a better line."

Typically gracious, Bartho was left scratching his head. "It was tough today. Oscar hasn't been beaten me all year and he comes and does it three in one week!"

Having dominated the two-leg Perth World Cup, the SA squad now heads for Dubai, where this weekend's inaugural international ski event has attracted a number of the world's best ski paddlers.

OVERALL RESULTS

	Oscar Chalupsky: one of the greatest paddle skiers of all time (Photo: Canoeing South Africa)

	SA wins Durban Surf Ski World Cup Pretorius wins Molokai Challenge Sonne, Brandung und Wale beobachten Soleil, surf et observation des baleines Sun, surf and whale watching Mockes rule SA surf-skiing Oscar wins record 11th Molokai Watersports in South Africa

	SurfSki.info  Canoeing South Africa

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