We’ve successfully completed five races in the first six weeks of the 10-week PRIMI Naish Downwind Dash Series, which is a testament to the consistency of the wind in Cape Town! It wasn’t a howler today, but 15-24knots fanned the course producing heaps of quality runners.

It almost wasn’t to be though, as the wind only turned and switched on two hours before the start. A lot of paddlers stayed at home due to the wind’s late arrival – this despite the race-committee calling the race on since the morning. A total of 23 SUPs and 29 skis competed, the first time this year that skis have outnumbered the Stand Ups (plenty of name-calling such as “Fair-weather SUP’ers” etc was overheard at the bar afterwards…). A pretty solid swell might also have had something to do with it.

Big wave charger Chris Bertish attending Mavericks opening ceremony in the U.S. and Dylan Frick still on anti-biotics meant that lesser ranked paddlers were eyeing off a chance to steal the thunder. Colin Heckroodt welcomed the challenge and set off alongside Greg Bertish, with Dylan in tow. Dylan was looking a little sluggish off the start while Andrew Cillie chose a very wide line. Halfway down the course Andrew suddenly found his groove and Dylan also seemed to find his mojo, catching Greg and setting off after Colin.

Coming through Small Bay the sets were solid 3-6ft and Greg nearly became a rockstar while Francois Frick caught a beauty and nearly managed to pip Greg to the line. Up in front of them, Dylan made a great comeback, but just didn’t have enough to take the win from Colin, who celebrated his first ever downwind victory. Third went to Andrew Cillie, who really was flying, making it a Starboard lock-out on the podium.

Brigette van Aswegen once again dominated the ladies while Mishka Steyn and Monica Wohlgemuth had a very close tussle, with Mishka eventually pulling ahead to take 2nd.

Only two juniors this week – we’re in the middle of exams, so the rest of you are excused (this week only and provided you get good marks) – and Ethan Koopmans once again just pipped Joshua Robertson.

There were also two first-timers in this race, Mike Smith and Michal Mashia, meaning we now have 80 paddlers on the PRIMI Naish leaderboard. Positions are unchanged at the top of the leaderboard, though everyone is more bunched up and so there are openings for changes in the coming weeks. Four more races and forecast for next week is already looking promising…..gotta love Cape Town!

MORE >>> Results from the PRIMI Naish Downwind Dash Series, Races 1-4

PRIMI Naish Downwind Dash Series – LEADERBOARD

PRIMI Naish Downwind Dash Series – Race #5 RESULTS

Date: 14th November, 2012
Wind: SSE 15-24 knots
Course: 10.1km

#	Name	Time	Class	Division	% of 1st	Grade	km/h	min/km	Board
1	Colin Heckroodt	0:52:08	14'	Open	100.00	Elite	11.62	0:05:10	Starboard 14' OO
2	Dylan Frick	0:52:37	14'	Open	99.08	Elite	11.52	0:05:13	Starboard 14' Ace Pro
3	Andrew Cillie	0:53:15	14'	Masters	97.90	Elite	11.38	0:05:16	Starboard 14 'OO
4	Greg Bertish	0:54:27	14'	Open	95.75	Elite	11.13	0:05:23	Coreban 14' Dart
5	Francois Frick	0:54:33	14'	Open	95.57	Elite	11.11	0:05:24	Starboard 14' Ace Pro
6	Peter Petersen	0:55:44	14'	Masters	93.54	A	10.87	0:05:31	Naish 14 Glide (2012)
7	Pietro Muscas	0:56:33	14'	Masters	92.19	A	10.72	0:05:36	Naish 14 Glide 2012
8	Ethan Koopman	0:56:43	14'	Junior	91.92	A	10.68	0:05:37	Naish 14 Glide
9	Joshua Robertson	0:57:40	14'	Junior	90.40	A	10.51	0:05:43	Fanatic 14 Falcon
10	Brad Adams	0:58:49	14'	Open	88.64	B	10.30	0:05:49	Fanatic 14 Falcon
11	Brigette van Aswegen	1:01:32	14'	Women's	84.72	C	9.85	0:06:06	Starboard 14' Ace Pro
12	Nick Muhl	1:02:21	14'	Open	83.61	C	9.72	0:06:10	Naish 14 Glide AST
13	Rob Munro	1:04:16	14'	Masters	81.12	C	9.43	0:06:22	Fanatic 14 OO
14	Guy Bubb	1:04:55	14'	Open	80.31	C	9.34	0:06:26	Naish 14 Glide (2012)
15	Nico Pfitzenmaier	1:05:31	14'	Open	79.57	D	9.25	0:06:29	Naish 14 Glide AST
16	Michael Fiet	1:06:10	14'	Open	78.79	D	9.16	0:06:33	Coreban 14' Dart
17	Wayne Robertson	1:07:54	14'	Open	76.78	D	8.92	0:06:43	Coreban 14 Dart
18	Steve Tripney	1:09:14	14'	Masters	75.30	D	8.75	0:06:51	Coreban 14 Dart
19	Mishka Steyn	1:09:39	14'	Jnr women's	74.85	D	8.70	0:06:54	Starboard 14' OO
20	Monika Wohlgemuth	1:10:12	14'	Women's	74.26	D	8.63	0:06:57	Naish 14 Glide (2012)
21	Craig Girdlestone	1:20:17	14'	Masters	64.94	D	7.55	0:07:57	Naish 14 Glide AST
22	Mike Smith	1:20:27	14'	Masters	64.80	D	7.53	0:07:58	Fanatic 14 OO
23	Michal Mashiah	1:24:06	14'	Women's	61.99	D	7.21	0:08:20	Naish 14 Glide AST