More wind and more entrants and lots of personal best times – 38 Stand Up Paddlers and 32 Surfskis took part in the 7th round of the PRIMI Naish Downwind Series On Wednesday night. Wind was gusting 23-32knots from a South/South-Easterly direction creating near perfect conditions. Testament to this was 17 Personal Best times for the SUP’s which means nearly half SUP field improved their times – check out the PB list and see how you fare on the all-time ranking.

A 1-2m swell caught out a few paddlers, most notably Monika Wohlgemuth in start one who had a lot of catching up to do once she finally cleared the surf. In the second start the guys on the right hand side of the start line seemed to clear the incoming sets with some success while the guys on the left got punished – amazing to see the difference it makes as the guys who clear the surf with no incident immediately have a 2-300m gap on the guys who got caught. One man was on a mission to improve on his string of 2nd placings – and did he go or what? Ivan Van Vuuren absolutely blitzed the field and was over 2 minutes ahead at the finish – clearly reveling in the stronger winds. 2nd place was a bit more hotly contested as 4 riders converged on Small Bay close together. Dylan Frick was in a clear second but hesitated to go through Small Bay as a big set was approaching, Andrew Cillie seized the opportunity and caught a great wave through the gap to claim 2nd and set a personal best time of 50.05 while Peter Petersen got cleaned out which meant it was now a neck and neck sprint to the finish between Dylan and Brad Adams who had also capitalised on the carnage. Dylan showed his class and dropped the other two to take 3rd podium place whilst Brad took a fine 4th.

First in on the 12’6 boards was Chris Bertish in 6th position almost 4 minutes behind Ivan. Brigette van Aswegen also battled to set a competitive time, but still took the ladies class with Sophie Rotabuille in second and Tammy Robarts in 3rd, both of whom set Personal Best times. Dylan once again won the Juniors, and Matthew van der Linden set a personal best time of 51.47 which was enough for 8th place overall and second junior. 3rd Junior was Kimon Dos Santos who also set a personal best of 57.24

Ivan van Vuuren is a strong contender to challenge Chris for the overall title as they are now only 1.9 points apart (in favor of Chris) with Dylan in a clear 3rd, a further 5 points behind. Chris Bertish may have to go back on the 14’ board if he wants to compete with Ivan and Dylan as they clearly have his number at the moment! 60 SUP riders have competed to date in this series and we urge you all to make an appearance next week so we can break 50 entrants!

Big thanks to PRIMI, Naish, BulkSMS, Vitaminwater, SUPHQ, Fanatic/ION, Watersports Warehouse and Black Project Fins

For Overall Ranking Click Here.

For Hall of Fame (Since Series Started in 2010) Click Here.


Peter Petersen
SUP-culture  - NAISH SUP DISTRIBUTION
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