Part of the reason why Dabs is ‘The Best Canoe Club in the Whole Dam Universe’ is because of the annual Fenn High Altitude Surfski Challenge – there really is nothing like it in the whole wide world…
The 15th edition was claimed by last year’s winner Mike Arthur who teamed up with Luke Salmon to literally squeeze out Nic Notten and Clint Cook. They had their nose in out in front and in the right place at the right time and in the end that made the difference. Clint clearly wasn’t happy about getting pushed into the jetty, but apparently that’s part of the game. Clint did however win the ‘last gasp’ award as he’s relocating to Durban soon, and we hope he won’t forget his roots. As for Nic, well he’s going to be here for a while so his time will come, and he now knows the ways of high altitude surfski paddling. Third home were Brad and Emma Boule as the first MD. Mark Garden won the singles title ahead of Sosi Zulu with Sean Evans and Brad Fish sharing third place. The ladies S2 race was won by Louise & Johanna from Centurion while Sarah Field won the S1 title. Wohooo!
Flem Pup paddled as an Arabian Oil Tanker on the Strait of Hormuz to win the most entertaining award, while Asher Wilson was youngest by far and got a special mention and has now earned the rank of Seaman Apprentice. Thanks to all the Pretoria people from both Centurion and Tuks for their support, we are not sure what happened to the ERKies and can only guess they were scared by the size of the surf this year.
Back on the beach the promised Gin Storm whipped itself up while the Dabblers were saxier than ever before, so the party was pumping. Then it was the draw for the Fenn Surfski. Only 57 people had pre-entered to make the themselves eligible to win which shows paddlers can’t commit and/or like to enter races at the very last minute. Where else can you get odds at 1 in 57 for something worth over R20k. Incredible. As previously, five names were drawn from the hat and given keys to see who would get lucky. In the end it was a shootout between last year’s Fenn winner Richard Cook and Gunther Grune. We couldn’t have had a more popular or deserving winner in Gunther winning the Fenn this year – Good ol Gunther – will we now see you at the Turtle Tour or Pete Marlin?
Thank you to the sponsors. Firstly to Fenn for their years of support for our race, hence our editors have taken the liberty of rebranding this event the Fenn High Altitude Surfski Challenge, and thanks also to the guy who has to keep on asking Fenn for favours. Fresh Earth and Paddle Life SUP & Yoga donated goody bags and vouchers – thanks guys. Thanks and well done to the motorboat men Miles Murray, Correl and Speedy for churning up the waters; all out there had a lots of fun chasing the runs, and thanks to the Lifesavers who watched out for all involved. Thanks to the Dabs Darlings for the décor and to Deon, Courtney and Adro for the time keeping, and thanks to Sidwell, Pat Dumi, Steve and Caren for all their work in the background. Thanks to the legendary Dabblers for the entertainment; take a bow. Thanks to all the guys and girls who supported, both on off the water, for helping make the event what it is. And the final note of thanks goes to Karen who took this all on; the Admiral of the Transvaal Navy happy and sung her praises; which is just as well because as we know, he likes his event to be the best day at Dabs.
Up next for the Navy contingent it’s the Turtle Tour in Mozambique, either at the end of May or end of June. Wives, girlfriends, boyfriends; even cyclists are invited and there is talk of a downwind up there in 2027 – busy times for the Navy. Nice!
Till next time – Go Dabs!