Summer’s here, and there’s been lots to smile about, from the results at international ocean and sprint races to real river racing and more…
Last week it was the 2026 Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships in Spain. Quite why the ICF tried to be more inclusive and moved away from ‘Canoeing’ to become ‘Paddling’ orientated but call a surfski race ‘canoeing’ is quite confusing – but let’s leave that to the powers that be. Anyway, there wasn’t any surf to be seen (certainly nothing like what was experienced at the South African event in 2025) but the racing was red hot. The senior ladies’ was won by an Aussie, Jemma Smith, Cape Town’s Kira Bester was second while Rosie Edwards from England (and also East London) was third. Six South Africans made the top 10, fantastic stuff! The U23 race was won by Rosie Edwards with Saffas Saskia Hockly and Georgia Singe taking silver and bronze. Well done to Issabell Strydom who took silver in the juniors. Go girls! In total 155 ladies finished the singles race, including our friend Ericha Pretorious from LCC, who would otherwise have been helping out at the Lowveld Croc.
In the men’s race, Germany’s Gordan Harbrecht was too strong for Pierre Vilella and Cory Hill, who beat Hank McGregor into fourth – a fantastic result for this no-so-young man. Next home from SA, in 7th place was Nick Notten. Not living at the sea seems not to be helping Notty – but we like having him at Dabs – so Raoul is thinking of simulating some HASSC conditions for future training sessions, although in another breath Raoul also said conditions in Spain were plain. Anyways, in the senior men we had four Saffas in the top 10. In the U23 men we had Levi Mayes take silver while in the junior men South Africa only had 4 guys paddling and they took the top 4 spots – there was a tight tussle between Sam Mocke & Keegan Vogt while Ryley Smith & Jarryd Cole were a few minutes further back – so with these young men the future of SA surfski looks superb.
Also paddling was Herkie Sandenberg (as a Norwegian?), Nigel (Guff) Harvey and Dabs’ Danny Hanf. Danny placed 563rd overall, just two places ahead of the 89-year-young Paul (Pappa) Chalupsky. 567 men’s singles finished. Oscar was very proud to commentate at a race where his father, his brother Herman and his son Luke were paddling. Lovely stuff. Although the reality is that Oscar was making them all work for him; to paddle and promote his ChalupSki brand. As we said: lovely stuff.
In the mixed doubles, Australia’s Jemma Smith & Cory Hill only just beat Jade Wilson & Hank McGregor, while Georgia Singe & Uli Hart took bronze just ahead of Kira Bester & Kenny Rice. And in the (not so hotly contested) doubles event, the Fenn boys won gold; just so they weren’t overshadowed by their girls. Overall, a fantastic performance by the South Africans, winning 21 medals, second only to Spain with 24. If you can afford an entry. Brad Boulle (a canoeist) was overseas for work and thought it would be fun to paddle (a surfski), but at over R3k he said ‘no way José!’ to Paddle Worldwide and their Canoeing on the Ocean.
After all that excitement the African Canoe Sprint Championships was held in Algeria, serving as a stepping stone towards the 2028 Olympics in LA, America. South Africa sent Hamish Lovemore, Alexa Godden, Esti Olivier and Henry van der Walt, and they all excelled. Hamish won the K1 Men 1000, while Henry won the K1 200. Alexa won the K1 U23 Women 500 & 200 events, Esti won the K1 Women 500 & 200 events; and in-between all these Alexa & Esti won the K2 Women 500. Well done Alexa – here’s to making those Olympic dreams come true. You go girl!
Back home in South Africa it was the 55th TRAC Lowveld Croc, at a fraction of the surfski cost, serving up much, much more excitement. The river didn’t disappoint – it is after all one of the best pieces of paddling in the whole country. We know this to be true because there is a guy called Mike Woodburn who literally lives on the Umkomaas, but still makes the effort to drive all the way up to the Lowveld every year, bringing a big bunch of KZN paddlers with him. Piers and his team spent weeks clearing the river, and organised a release of 7.5 cumecs – perhaps the perfect level. Of the 45 that started, there was only one DNF, sorry chap, and only one really long hard day, everyone else got home relatively unscathed in just over two hours. Easy peasy. And so much fun. Actually some tricky stuff, but mostly an awesome roller coaster ride. So they said. Siseko wrote his name into the history books, winning in 1 hour 28, for the 5th time – fantastic stuff! He first won the Lowveld in 2014, and then continued to compete when guys like Ant Stott, Jacques Theron, Andy Birkett, Hank McGregor and Piers Crookshanks were winning, and when more guys like Wayne Jacobs, Clint Cook and Brad Boulle got in before him, but now with 5 wins Siseko is second only to Ant Stott as King of this awesome river. Respect. Respect also to Piers who gave up racing against his mate from Beyond the River to make this race happen. Piers went off early to scout for hippo and any new obstructions, and one of our reporters had a peep at his watch – his time was really good. Well done to Benjamin Mntonintshi who came second and Thabani Msia who was third. Rob Crichton was the only Dabs paddler in the top 10.
The only lady there was the first lady, and she came an impressive 11th overall. KZN’s Abby Solms, a Lowveld novice, added the Croc to her long list of titles: Drak (9), Fish (7), Dusi (4), Berg (2), the Sella and the Avon – and she loved the Lowveld. (Notably, she was also very busy in the kitchen cooking for the KZN crew, while they sat around a fire. So we heard).
One of the best Dabs performances came from Dan Cole, pipping some proper river paddlers like Geachie, Chuckie and Belkie. Well done to Ethan Cockram, who lost one paddle and broke another but soldiered (and swam) on to get home in 3 hours 28. Well done to all who went and were rewarded with the privilege of paddling a really fantastic river. Piers and his team were very grateful for the support – as were the paddlers for all the work that Piers and the tiny team put into the event. Thank you also TRAC for the continued sponsorship.
While the river doesn’t disappoint, sadly the hippo do. Unfortunately a pod of 5 including a calf have made a pool at the 24km mark their home, so the race was shortened from 29km to 21km to avoid this danger. Then, while the guys were tripping on the Saturday, a hippo was seen at the 5km mark, creating a sleepless night for some. While none were seen on the race day, the locals say paddlers have been passing over or around hippo for the last twenty years; that we are just more aware (and soft) these days; while others note that the race gets shorter and shorter, and fear that soon it will be no longer, which would be a tragedy. Equally, we don’t want another kind of tragedy. As some say – the sea is full of sharks, but people still paddle. But yes, it’s not an easy one for anyone…
Staying with rivers, well done to Gunther on hosting such a big basic river proficiency class at Dabs on Sunday. Coming soon it’s the Lions Descent – it’s a B grade river and we hope that many will make the effort, then there’s also the Orange and the Vaal; because as Belkie said about Lowveld, if paddlers don’t support races, they will fade away…
This Saturday the Canoe Polo people are hosting an Open Day at Dabs – and all are invited so please go have some fun in the sun. It’s being run from 9am to midday. The first of 3 Sprint Series starts this Sunday at Roodeplaat, then there’s another Sprint Series race and a boat auction at Dabs on Sunday 25th and the weekend after it’s the Pete Marlin, SA Surfski Champs – where we hope to see Dabs and the TVL Navy shine.
Till next time – Go Dabs!