By Richard Arderne
Young Andrew Birkett was way too fast, finishing the two laps (about 10km) on Friday, 20 September, in an amazing 40min 36sec, a comfortable 90 seconds clear of the chasing pack.
Andrew, now based in London, is the son of Dave and Minky, owners of a house in Cape St Francis, where they spend about half the year.
We were treated to a sunny, calm afternoon for the 4.30 pm start with a slightly choppy, very high tide, making the entry on the slipway tricky, as James and son Josh Moore discovered, damaging their rudder in the process.
There was an excellent turnout, especially considering it was a Friday afternoon, which is not easy for many of our regular PE paddlers.
Evergreen AC Carter finished second, with new local Marc Holtzhausen in third, just behind AC.
Then came Carbonology’s Jason Goedhals and local vet champ Pete King. Behind them was “Q” Rutherford who holds the world record of about 240km on the sea in 24 hours!
First mixed was Kerry Louw and Fabian Smith, and Kirstin Scott was the first lady (as usual!)
Some slackers did only one lap, won by yours truly, but I had to light the fire, so I couldn’t do a second lap! Charl van Wyk, organiser of SA’s biggest surfski race, the Pete Marlin, also only paddled the short course!
We enjoyed a boerie and a beer on the lawn at Grannies afterwards. It was a very lekker evening all around.
Thanks to the St Francis Paddling Club Team Effort
To our ever-present timekeeping/registration team of Mandy McGregor (and usually Anita Dabrowski, but she’s in Oz) and Magda Boshoff (who also does lots of upfront event admin, e.g., ambulance and muni red tape). And our treasurer, Carol Rothero, jumps in to help with lots of other stuff, too.
Marie Louw runs the East Cape Canoe Union and is an amazing resource to us. Our race starter, Dave, who, apart from all his development training over many years, had the bright idea to resuscitate the Friday Bruces Dices in January.
Charlie Jonsson and Jen Vallance always bring good energy. This time, they cheerfully braaied the boeries (and all I could say was that mine wasn’t hot enough). Jen always takes great photos and videos. And Jaco Prins ably stood in for Pete Mitchley as Club Safety Officer (last time I pipped him … this time he not only beat me by a few meters … but he turned around and did another lap!).
Also, Ken McGregor for offering to braai but being beaten to the job by Charlie and Jen. And Greg West had his boat on the water—very nice if there had been a drama. He and Francis Brombacher took some great pics and videos. Sheryl Maskew was our spotter with binoculars from her Tom Brown house.
We look forward to another Pam Golding Bruces Surfski Dice at the next Calamari Festival. In the meantime, we paddle every Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. at Bruce’s. Would you like to join us?
See also: St Francis Kids Represent at Sea Harvest SA Junior Surfing Championships – Gallery
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