By Richard Arderne
The Ardernes moved permanently to St Francis in 2005, and since then our business, Pam Golding, has sponsored many sports events, most notably paddling.
We sponsor the Pam Golding King of the Kromme every Easter and the Pam Golding Canals Winter Doubles Challenge every July, and we are approaching forty of these events, besides our involvement with many other paddling events.
Raffy showing his support last year.
Red Tape
But times have changed. Red tape has arrived. Since the early days when we sommer had a race, now we need municipal approval and an ambulance in attendance, and paddlers have to be registered with the national paddling association, recently renamed PaddleSportSA.
We established the St Francis Paddling Club in 2011, prior to that we had a loose arrangement between Pete King and myself and some PE paddlers. So, unfortunately, casual paddlers can’t just enter at the start for insurance indemnity reasons.
More about Saturday’s Race
Saturday’s main race is 20km and there is a shorter 10km race, both starting at 9am at The Cove in Shore Road. The longer one is four 5km laps of the canals and the shorter is two laps. Paddlers can paddle canoes or surfskis, surfskis being way more popular here because they are also seagoing.
The first boat in on Saturday takes home R3000 and the floating trophy, and another R3000 plus plenty of the famous Pam Golding red wine, is up for grabs for both races for the first mixed, first ladies, and first over 65 (yours truly hoping for that prize!). Also non-wine prizes for the first under 18’s.
Singles are very welcome, but prizes are only for doubles.
Prizegiving last year
Lucky Draws
For many years, Carbonology from PE have donated one of their excellent paddles, valued at R3500, as a wonderful lucky draw. And Rack and Paddle, soon opening at Quays, will be providing their usual accessories as further lucky draws.
High Tide
High tide is around 10am on Saturday, so will probably be fully high around 11am in the canals, about the end of the 20km race, so will probably be coming in for virtually the whole race, which is normally the preferred tide for quicker times, but being neap, the tide won’t be too strong.
Last Year’s Start
Venue: The Cove
There was talk of moving it to Charlie’s Landing, but Construction Boss Pete Mitch says there will be too much action there this week, so it’s staying at the Cove, with good public toilets, plenty parking, lots of jetties for access to the water, space for the start, space for braaing, shelter from the east wind (not so much for a westerly)
Let’s hope that the final heats of the JBay Open surfing are not on Saturday morning, otherwise we might not have many paddlers! Or maybe we will, now that Jordy is out! Whether you’re a participant or spectator we look forward to welcoming you to the event this Saturday.
Further reading: Major Coastal Protection Project Set to Launch in St Francis Bay
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