Excitement grows over surfski series

SURFSKI paddlers the province over are excited with the start of the newly launched five-race FNB Durban Downwind Surfski Series.

Renowned for its pristine winter ocean paddling conditions, KwaZulu-Natal is considered by many to be the surfski mecca of the world with the newly formed series set to further this reputation.

“2014 saw us launch the Durban Downwind as a standalone race that played host to last year’s memorable SA Surfski Championships. We are very excited by the expansion of the Durban Downwind into a five race series this year thanks to FNB’s increased support of the surfski community,” said series coordinator Barry Lewin.

The emergence of the Bay Union Surfski Series in 2013 saw five Durban beachfront-based events brought together under one umbrella and now this year’s launch of the FNB Durban Downwind Surfski Series signals the formalising of the remaining five races of KZN’s age-old winter events.

“We looked to pool events that were similar in format and venue into the Bay Union Surfski Series. The FNB Durban Downwind Surfski Series has now done a similar thing for KZN’s remaining five winter races that are also quite similar in that they are all more adventurous, downwind-suited races,” said Lewin.

Conditions permitting, races will be staged as downwind clashes that will see paddlers head from point to point with the wind at their backs and in order to offer paddlers the best possible conditions. Each event has a two day window period with the exact race day to be announced on the Thursday before.

The Halfway Toyota Scottburgh Classic was the first of three South Coast based events, which started at the weekend, and Durban will play host to the Zurich Pirates Umhlanga Pirates on 27 and 28 June.

The series’ feature race – the FNB Durban Downwind – then wraps things up on 11 and 12 July with the fifth and final clash also doubling as a priority race on the 2015 World Surfski Series which promises to serve as an added attraction for many of the country’s top competitors.

“It’s great to see Durban finally has a race on the World Surfski Series calendar. Hopefully this will be another step in the process of Durban proving that it is a great location for and is more than capable of hosting the Surfski World Champs sometime in the near future!” said Fenn Kayaks’ Burn.