THE Gauteng Surf Ski Championships takes place annually at Emmarentia Dam, hosted by Dabulamanzi Canoe Club. This is, of course, the world’s only High Altitude Surf Ski Championship (HASSC) taking place hundreds of kilometres away from the surf and the ocean coastline, at very high altitude.
The race is a lot of fun with stand up paddlers (SUP) originally from Hawaii beach surf and a festive atmosphere.
The official surf ski race was a 10km course, while the SUP’s were shorter and informal with a number of six-man crews on the blow up large SUPs, just having some surfing fun.
With bagpipes playing along the banks and ducks scuttling to get out of the way of the waves on a sunny day, as well as a few blow-up sharks planted around the dam and a number of paddlers tipping over when hit by the side on waves, the day was full of laughter and fun.
A few participants from the South, Wemmer Pan based Johannesburg canoe club enjoyed the festive event. Morgan Ziervogel from Alberton, recognised the past two years running as top woman paddler in Gauteng, enjoyed the social informal SUP participation laughing as she was tipped off by huge waves as the motorboat rushed past her and finishing in 1 hour and 7 minutes as the second u-23 despite the swim on the lovely hot day.
Her brother and father, Ryan and Warren Ziervogel, doubled up in a ski two-man, finishing in 55 minutes, while Peter Chissano finished in 54 minutes as the first u-23 finisher.
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