Ocean Series Race 3: Bondi to Watson's Bay

Written by Jamie Stewart

Sunday, 25 October 2009

You know you're a long distance paddler when ... you warm up for 12km and still call a 10km race a "flat out sprint". That's just what Tim Jacobs (and a few friends) did this weekend; choosing to paddle rather than drive from Tim's home at Freshwater Beach to the race start at Bondi.

Maybe he thought that juice was cheaper than petrol? Whatever the motivation, the tactic seemed to work, with Tim managing to hang on and win the first Bondi to Watson's Bay race: Race 3 in the Bing Lee LG Oceanseries, in association with Epic Kayaks.

It wasn't without a challenge though; less than 2km from the finish Tim knew that Murray Stewart was coming at him "like a freight train". "It wasn't until the final buoy a few hundred metres from the finish, that I knew I could stay ahead of him". Tim ended up winning by only a few boatlengths from his younger training partner.

Local knowledge

To be fair, the Manly/Freshy locals had a pretty big advantage over the other 160-odd paddlers on the start line. And I'm not just talking about a perceived immunity to the "purple people eater" jellyfish that had flocked to Bondi in the thousands.

No, the course from Bondi to Watson's Bay contains a section that Sydney's paddlers specialise in: good-sized runs along a 4.5km cliff face. Local knowledge plays a big part in these conditions and if you don't train in them regularly, you're at a big disadvantage.

The squad which Tim and Murray lead just happens to train in exactly these conditions week-in, week-out. Murray picked a narrow line, very close to the rocks, while Tim chose to go a bit deeper, but both made the most of the south east swell and the rebounds off the cliffs.

Negotiating this sort of stuff can be tricky - according to the experts, you just have to "pick your run and charge through", making sure to stay calm and not get frustrated.

The Mocke factor

The conditions made it even more impressive that Jasper Mocke, fresh (!) from a ninth place in his first individual Coolangatta Gold only 6 days earlier, came in third, only a minute or so behind Murray.

Jasper picked a deeper line along the cliffs, more by mistake than choice, but which paid off as he ended up in cleaner runs, rather than the rebounds off the cliffs that the locals are more accustomed to. Perhaps the course reminded him of the rock ledges at his home in Fish Hoek, or maybe he is just as versatile a paddler as they say.

Regardless, as he turned around South Head in seventh place, Jasper put the pedal down and picked off Nathan Smith, Dean Gardiner, Dave Kissane and Tony Shumacher one by one. "Just before South Head I could see Dean in third, and I made up my mind that I wanted that spot. After we turned, I knew that if I could catch up to Tony, Dave and Dean [who were paddling in a pack] I could win the sprint to the finish".

The willpower paid off, and Jasper charged home to a podium finish. Ever the humble gentleman, Jasper was quick to praise the quality of the field, albeit over a shorter course than he is accustomed to. I suspect that the paddling world will be seeing a lot more of the young Capetonian.

Top Eight

Another tourist who suffered in the conditions was Queenslander Dane Sloss. Slossy ended up a close seventh to Nathan Smith, just managing to pass Dean Gardiner in the flat to the finish. There was only a minute or so between Jasper and Slossy, meaning that you could have just about thrown a blanket over the top eight paddlers. Over such a short course, one missed run could very easily cost you a place.

Over 40s

The battle for the over-40s division in the 2009 Oceanseries is getting really interesting.

Before this weekend, Ian Timbrell and Dean Gardiner had one race each. Proving once again that he is a total genius in bumpy conditions, Dean rounded South Head with only Tim and Muzz ahead of him, and neither by much.

The genius ended there though, as "about five guys came past me". One of those guys was Dave Kissane, who won the over-40s, meaning that no matter what happens in the next two races, the result of the 20 Beaches will decide who gets the flights to Hawaii. Since Dave's company, Lifestyle Financial Services, is sponsoring the flights, the battle is becoming quite personal between these old mates.

Women's Race

Kirsty Holmes reaffirmed her dominance in the women's division, convincingly beating Elyse Yardley and Lauren Smith. The ironwoman turned firefighter flew down from Queensland just for this race, coming in 40th overall.

Kirsty was comfortable in the conditions: "I just raced my own race, and tried to beat the guys around me".

Hayden White ticked off another junior victory, and narrowly missed the top ten overall, finishing just behind Mark "Ando" Anderson in 13th. Hayden's clubmate Ali Day came in 2nd in the juniors.

What about the surf boats?

But what about the surf boats? In what may be a first for the high-profile surfski races, the Bondi to Watson's Bay was open to surf boats as well as surf skis.

Unfortunately for logistical reasons the surf boats and skis did not share the same start line, but I can say that any of you who bet on the skis would have kept your money this weekend. The conditions were choppy for the bulkier five-man craft (four rowers plus a sweep), which are more suited to sprints in and out through the surf.

Tim's time was certainly faster than the first boat crew home.

Surf boat racing is huge in Australian surf lifesaving. Over the years, paddlers and boaties have co-existed in surf clubs across the country, but the racing has generally remained quite separate.

(Standard paddling joke: how do you pick the boat crew in an Aussie surf club? Line the whole club up against a wall and throw bricks at them. The ones who don't duck are picked for the boat crew. Ba-boom tish!). All jokes aside, it was really good to share a race with the boaties. I for one have a newfound respect for the guys and girls who pulled their boats around South Head this weekend, and I hope that we see them at more races in the future.

A big thank you to the race organisers from Bondi surf club and their sponsors, including the Watson's Bay Hotel.

In particular, the hotel management, and local police and water police, who were responsible for clearing a path for the race finish amongst a bunch of quite unhappy fishing boats. Overall, this weekend's race was a great addition to the Bing Lee LG Oceanseries.

You can't ask for much more than good runs, tough strategic racing and a cold beer at one of Sydney's best afternoon drinking spots at the prize giving.

Full results will be up shortly at www.oceanseries.com.au