The Dabs Scribbler does it again…
Yoh! What an awesome day at Dabs. This year we had several celebrities on our beach. The current World Games Marathon Champion and heir apparent Dusi King Andy Birkett arrived with his young protégé Matt Fenn from East London, in search of a first HASSC title win. From Durban we had the all-time Umkomaas King and former HASSC winner Hank McGregor who was paddling with his wife Pippa; they too were in search of a win, or at least a mixed doubles win. And then we also had our local lads and last year’s champions, Wayne and Ricci, plus 3 or 4 other local contenders, all who know our conditions really well and were certainly not going to give anything away to our visitors.
At the start the shore break was quite tricky, Hank and Pippa appeared to get it wrong, and in no time at all the 12th running of the HASSC became a 3 boat race. Andy and Matt, Wayne and Ricci, and local outsiders, Brad B and MJ Robb. That’s the way it stayed for most of the battle. Some say that Andy and Matt plus Wayne and Ricci, proudly flying their EuroSteel colours were a bit distracted by the no-show of Captain Colin, others say that Andy and Matt thought they were only on lap 9 when they were actually on lap 10 but the spectators saw, and the results will forever show that Brad and MJ dominated the last lap and claimed a famous victory. Well done boys! Andy and Matt came second, followed by Wayne and Ricci – and then Hank and Pippa came 4th and claimed the MD win.
In the singles, young Luke appeared to paddle on his own to claim the win, followed by a close tussle between Benji Cockram and Sean Evans who took second and a third respectively. On the ladies front Karen Field claimed the first S1 place while Alexa and Lexi claimed the first S2 place. The SUP race was dominated by Antony Petersen while Fatima Adelino claimed the ladies win. In the middle and at the back of the field there were another 70 boats along with 10 SUPS who had a lot of fun chasing down the waves provided by 4 motor boats on the dam. Some rode the waves better than others, and there were several swimmers, but all who were there had a great time; the happy faces said it all.
Back on the beach, the Gin Storm started. Some of the proper athletes (sensibly) just drank tonic (with all the infusions of berries and stuff) to look like they were participating, but most of the ordinary seamen happily climbed into the gin, then moved to beer, and then on to rum….
Then it was prizegiving where the champions TK & MJ got to stand on the top step of the podium – a first we think for both of them. Well done guys – we wonder if you might now be contenders for a sponsorship? And then it was what everyone had be waiting for – the draw for the beautiful Fennix Swordfish. Matt Fenn drew the names and Anja called up the lucky people. At some point Matt drew Anja’s name but she asked him to draw another contender. 5 guys each ended up with a key to open the lock on the boat. The third to try was the lucky guy, and he just happened to be Willem Kilian, Anja’s boyfriend. Willem we hope that this is the start of a long and happy calling.
While that was happening the braai masters were busy preparing boerie rolls and then the Dabblers were once again on fine form. We noticed that they imported rent-a-crowd (family and friends) to ensure that they received rapturous applause, but the reception from the Dabs crowd was equally good. King of the dance floor (in farming boots but with silky-smooth tango-type manoeuvres) was Jack. Bronwyn enjoyed it so much that we think that Rob will have to go for dance lessons.
After the sun had set and the Dabblers were done, there was a rematch between Andy and Matt, Brad and MJ – one lap, winner takes the final win. The race favourites were once again Andy and Matt; this time because MJ had been celebrating and was full of all sorts of cooldrinks, but they lined up and set off. Andy and Matt won comfortably, ensuring they could go home with a Dabs win, so it all ended well. And then the party went on…
Once again we have to thank so many people. Thanks to all who participated, thanks to all who got family and friends out to enjoy the day. Thanks to the celebs who came all the way for such a short (but fun) race. It really is great to have you and we hope you will keep coming back. (Matt, Andy, Hank and Pippa all have unfinished business, so 2024 should be a cracker!) A sincere thanks to all at Fenn for the very generous Swordfish sponsorship. Thanks to the shoppers and braai-masters for feeding us, to Dumi and his bar-helpers for hydrating us, and to the Dabblers for entertaining us. And mostly, thanks to the committee and the organisers, to Anja and her crew for making it all happen. Well done – thank you for a very enjoyable day.
Go Dabs!
The HASSC 2023 Results
Singles – S1
| Boat number | Name & Surname | Craft | Time | Position |
| 52 | Luke Salmon | S1 | 48.23 | 1 |
| 46 | Benjji Cockram | S1 | 51.03 | 2 |
| 74 | Sean Evans | S1 | 51.21 | 3 |
| 65 | Phola | S1 | 52.24 | 4 |
| 63 | Nick Longley | S1 | 54.45 | 5 |
| 6 | Nick Wrren | S1 | 54.5 | 6 |
| 62 | Sheldon Baker | S1 | 55.3 | 7 |
| 38 | Simon L | S1 | 55.5 | 8 |
| 70 | Jonathan Nel | S1 | 55.58 | 9 |
| 7 | Peter Geach | S1 | 55.7 | 10 |
| 24 | John Barrow | S1 | 56.4 | 11 |
| 30 | David Brown | S1 | 57.1 | 12 |
| 45 | Louis Eksteen | S1 | 58.06 | 13 |
| 75 | Mariaan Steen | S1 | 58.3 | 14 |
| 8 | Gunter Grune | S1 | 59.16 | 15 |
| 1 | Tex Holm | S1 | 59.4 | 16 |
| 26 | Karen Field | S1 | 59.5 | 17 |
| 18 | Tracey Nuss | S1 | 60.15 | 18 |
| 44 | Rob Macfarlan | S1 | 62.21 | 19 |
| 5 | Alwin Weir | S1 | 62.35 | 20 |
| 40 | Hardi Wilkins | S1 | 63.45 | 21 |
| 22 | Mike Hanekom | S1 | 64.02 | 22 |
| 23 | Mick Joyce | S1 | 64.06 | 23 |
| 39 | Jeren Segers | S1 | 66.15 | 24 |
| 64 | Ockie Raubenheimer | S1 | 66.27 | 25 |
| 54 | Chad Andrews | S1 | 66.57 | 26 |
| 4 | Grant Thiel | S1 | 67.1 | 27 |
| 73 | Sarah Evans | S1 | 67.5 | 28 |
| 43 | Allen Needham | S1 | 68.1 | 29 |
| 19 | Chantelle Fraser | S1 | 69 | 30 |
| 11 | Gabriella van Rooyen | S1 | 69.44 | 31 |
| 60 | Michelle Haskins | S1 | 70.3 | 32 |
| 47 | Daniel Machlachlan | S1 | 70.4 | 33 |
| 27 | Cally Henderson | S1 | 71.45 | 34 |
| 13 | Kyle | S1 | 71.55 | 35 |
| 76 | Nhlamulo Mahwayi | S1 | 72.05 | 36 |
| 41 | Chris Rowe | S1 | 72.43 | 37 |
| 79 | Sibusiso Tyiki | S1 | 72.55 | 38 |
| 72 | Sikhanyisele | S1 | 74.4 | 39 |
| 42 | Roy Lynn | S1 | 83.25 | 40 |
| 28 | Kirsty Pott | S1 | ||
| 78 | Hermanus Lombard | S1 |
Doubles – S2
| Boat number | Name & Surname | Craft | Time | Position |
| 10 | Brad Boulle & MJ Robb | S2 | 42.33 | 1 |
| 20 | Andy Birkett & Mat Fenn | S2 | 42.41 | 2 |
| 61 | Wayne Jacobs & Ricci Talevi | S2 | 42.45 | 3 |
| 59 | Hank & Pippa McGregor | S2 | 46.59 | 4 |
| 51 | Mark Garden & Alex Roberts | S2 | 47 | 5 |
| 50 | Rob Crichton & Matt Ballendan | S2 | 47.45 | 6 |
| 33 | Mark Schroeder & Jack de Swardt | S2 | 48 | 7 |
| 9 | Bruno & Brad Fischer | S2 | 48.24 | 8 |
| 14 | Greg Mandy & Simon Lishman | S2 | 51.21 | 9 |
| 57 | Michael Tinley & Alaric | S2 | 52.15 | 10 |
| 53 | Derek Leven & Andrew Venter | S2 | 52.24 | 11 |
| 21 | Bryan Slater & Clive Evans | S2 | 53.18 | 12 |
| 15 | Herkie and Phil | S2 | 54 | 13 |
| 67 | Peter & Keith Flemmer | S2 | 55.41 | 14 |
| 29 | Murray & Rob Collier | S2 | 58.16 | 15 |
| 69 | Kevin Hunt & Darren | S2 | 60.3 | 16 |
| 34 | Pete O’Connor & Tony Purchase | S2 | 61.1 | 17 |
| 81 | Lesedi & Sibongile | S2 | 63 | 18 |
| 16 | Andrew & Phil Cooper | S2 | 63.22 | 19 |
| 35 | Riaz & Aafiah sader | S2 | 65.26 | 20 |
| 25 | Gillian Jones & Schalk | S2 | 67.46 | 21 |
| 32 | Alexa Godden & Lexi | S2 | 70 | 22 |
| 2 | Russel & Levi Willis | S2 | 70.4 | 23 |
| 3 | Terry & Troy Drummond | S2 | ||
| 37 | Arhon & Ilan van Heerden | S2 | DNF | DNF |
S3
| Boat number | Name & Surname | Craft | Time | Position |
| 31 | Raoul, Danny & Jennifer | S3 | 53.45 | 1 |
SUP: Social 3km
| Boat number | Name & Surname | Craft | Time | Position |
| 12 | SUP Crew Darlings 1 | SUP 3km | 48.5 | 1 |
| 36 | SUP Crew Darlings 1 | SUP 3km | 48.5 | 2 |
| 68 | Asibabale | SUP 3km | 52.55 | 3 |
| 71 | Nkosikhona Makasi | SUP 3km | 60 | 4 |
SUP: 5km
| Boat number | Name & Surname | Craft | Time | Position |
| 55 | Antony Peterson | SUP 5km | 37.03 | 1 |
| 48 | Arturo Barreiros | SUP 5km | 40.46 | 2 |
| 66 | William Wallace | SUP 5km | 43.3 | 3 |
| 56 | Shawn Peterson | SUP 5km | 44.45 | 4 |
| 49 | Fatima Adelino | SUP 5km | 47.05 | 5 |
| 58 | Suraj Valand | SUP 5km | 69 | 6 |
Photos by Bertie Baard and Jennie Dallas. More images on our Facebook page.