Awesome conditions for race #6 of the PRIMI Naish Downwind Dash Series in South Africa today.

Winds gusting to 35 knots and solid 6-8ft (2-3meter) waves made for another epic Cape Town downwinder. Due to the high swells, the surfski field was whittled down to 12 boats – while 31 SUP’s lined up for the challenge.

The first group of starters got off without a hitch – a lull in the sets allowed everyone safe passage and off they went. However the second start coincided with a solid 6 wave set, which had everyone pausing mid-break. Francois Frick stormed out and brilliantly succeeded in duck-diving through one of the set waves to get a clear head start. The Bertish Brothers, Chris and Greg, snuck upwind seconds before the start and found a gap, while others were not so lucky (or smart) and took 5 to 10 wave drubbings…

Eventually everyone got through and the ocean was offering some of the best runs of the season. Chris and Greg took control of the lead with Dylan Frick, Colin Heckroodt and Francois Frick trying to hang on. Chris managed to drop Greg coming through Small Bay to take another great win and cement his lead in the series. Small Bay did not live up to it’s name today – virtually everyone that chose this route got cleaned up, though Colin Heckroodt somehow managed to sneak past Greg to snatch a fine 2nd place. Dylan followed suit to take 4th and Ivan van Vuuren, who was one of the victims of the carnage at the start, worked his way up to take a fine 5th place.

Young Mishka Steyn was giving Brigette van Aswegen a good run for her money this week, but eventually Brigette pulled out another win with Monika Wohlgemuth coming in third just behind Mishka. Only 2 juniors with Ethan Koopmans again taking a few minutes out of Joshua Robertson.

Cape Town once again delivered the goods, meaning 6 out of 7 Wednesday night SUP races have now been completed. Despite Chris Bertish pulling away at the front of the Leaderboard, the rest of the field is getting increasingly closer and we look forward to the last 3 races of this season!

– Peter

PRIMI Naish Downwind Dash Series – LEADERBOARD

 

PRIMI Naish Downwind Dash Series – Race #6 RESULTS

Date: 21st November, 2012
Wind: SE 23-35 knots
Swell: Big
Course: 10.1km
Sponsors: PRIMI, Naish, SUPHQ, Vitaminwater, Coreban/Xpression, SWOX, BulkSMS, Buchulife, Watersports Warehouse

#	Name	Time	Class	Division	% of 1st	Grade	km/h	min/km	Board
1	Chris Bertish	0:48:54	14'	Open	100.00	Elite	12.39	0:04:50	Naish 14 Glide
2	Colin Heckroodt	0:49:24	14'	Open	98.99	Elite	12.27	0:04:53	Starboard 14' OO
3	Greg Bertish	0:49:47	14'	Open	98.23	Elite	12.17	0:04:56	Coreban 14' Dart
4	Dylan Frick	0:51:20	14'	Open	95.26	Elite	11.81	0:05:05	Starboard 14' Ace Pro
5	Ivan van Vuuren	0:51:24	14'	Masters	95.14	Elite	11.79	0:05:05	Coreban 14' Dart
6	Andrew Cillie	0:51:27	14'	Masters	95.04	Elite	11.78	0:05:06	Starboard 14 'OO
7	Peter Petersen	0:51:44	14'	Masters	94.52	A	11.71	0:05:07	Naish 14 Glide
8	Francois Frick	0:52:04	14'	Open	93.92	A	11.64	0:05:09	Starboard 14' Ace Pro
9	Matthew van der Linden	0:52:27	14'	Open	93.23	A	11.55	0:05:12	Naish 14 Glide AST
10	Nicky Carstens	0:53:50	14'	Masters	90.84	A	11.26	0:05:20	Carstens Custom 14'
11	Ethan Koopman	0:54:41	14'	Junior	89.42	B	11.08	0:05:25	Naish 14 Glide
12	Nicky Venter	0:55:17	14'	Open	88.45	B	10.96	0:05:28	Starboard 14' OO
13	Joshua Robertson	0:56:18	14'	Junior	86.86	B	10.76	0:05:34	Fanatic 14 Falcon
14	James Taylor	0:56:33	14'	Open	86.47	B	10.72	0:05:36	Naish 14 Glide AST
15	Nick Muhl	0:57:19	14'	Open	85.32	B	10.57	0:05:40	Naish 14 Glide AST
16	Glen Thompson	0:57:55	14'	Open	84.43	C	10.46	0:05:44	Naish 14 Glide AST
17	Brigette van Aswegen	0:58:25	14'	Lady	83.71	C	10.37	0:05:47	Starboard 14' Ace Pro
18	Michael Fiet	0:58:46	14'	Open	83.21	C	10.31	0:05:49	Coreban 14' Dart
19	Dave Maxwell	0:59:38	14'	Masters	82.00	C	10.16	0:05:54	Naish 14 Glide AST
20	Tyran Cooper	0:59:51	14'	Open	81.70	C	10.13	0:05:56	Coreban 14 Dart
21	Craig Ginsberg	1:01:18	14'	Masters	79.77	C	9.89	0:06:04	Naish 14 Glide
22	Trevor Minny	1:02:24	14'	Lady	78.37	D	9.71	0:06:11	Coreban 14 Dart
23	Rob Munro	1:02:53	14'	Masters	77.76	D	9.64	0:06:14	Fanatic 14 OO
24	Mishka Steyn	1:03:24	14'	Lady junior	77.13	D	9.56	0:06:17	Starboard 14' OO
25	Steve Tripney	1:05:27	14'	Masters	74.71	D	9.26	0:06:29	Coreban 14 Dart
26	Monika Wohlgemuth	1:05:54	14'	Lady	74.20	D	9.20	0:06:31	Naish 14 Glide
27	Neal Esterhuyse	1:06:08	14'	Open	73.94	D	9.16	0:06:33	Halo Custom 14'
28	Wayne Robertson	1:06:12	14'	Open	73.87	D	9.15	0:06:33	Coreban 14 Dart
29	Patricia Kohrs	1:09:46	14'	Lady	70.09	D	8.69	0:06:54	Naish 14 Glide AST
30	Justin Trent	1:19:43	14'	Open	61.34	D	7.60	0:07:54	Naish 14 Glide AST
31	Oliver Potgieter	1:26:34	14'	Open	56.49	D	7.00	0:08:34	Naish 14 Glide AST