Flatwater World Champion Hank McGregor conquered some tricky conditions to win the last instalment of the Wall and Back Surfski series on Friday.

However he narrowly missed winning the series after missing one race and having a shocker in another leg.

Matt Bouman, who came in second place on Friday night, was the overall series winner after consistent performances in all of the series legs.

“It has been a pretty challenging series this year but I have to say that this must be one of the best small series in the world,” said Bouman.

“You see some of the best paddlers in the country come out here and paddle for the enjoyment of it and the guys are out there just racing for pride and fun,” said Bouman.

The weather really mashed up some tough conditions on Friday night with a howling North giving paddlers some help on the way to the wall but pounded them on their return journey.

“The conditions were really tough, it was really choppy out there which made the going pretty difficult but after I opened up a big lead on the way to the wall I knew that I just needed to maintain that on the way back and I was going to be ok,” said McGregor.

Danica Bartho, who recently paddled 162 kms from Richards bay to Durban, won the ladies category but found conditions less than average.

“It was really tough and I was hoping that I might get some better conditions than there were when I had my first paddle in the series but it was just as bad today,” she said.

McGregor ended up coming fourth overall while Michelle Burn claimed the series spoils in the women’s category.