Evergreen paddler and surf lifesaver Matt Bouman stamped his mark on his local race by winning the annual SBS Pirates-Umhlanga-Pirates surfski race by an emphatic three minute margin on Saturday.
Bouman had to keep looking over his shoulder to make sure visiting Cape surfski star Mark Keeling was not going to threaten the top step of the podium in the 26 kilometre dice from Pirates SLC to the Umhlanga Lighthouse and back.
The Umhlanga local was inspired by the excellent conditions on the day as he mastered his local waters, a few days after World Oceans Day.
“It was such a beautiful morning. The sea was looking so good and clean, conditions were really good and we were paddling with the dolphins,” said Bouman.
“Its all part of my preparation for the world champs, so things went well today,” he added.
Fish Hoek ski star Keeling duly wrapped up second place with Gene Prato making up the balance of the podium.
The fastest boat across the 26 kilometre course was the doubles crew of Richard Lowe and Jason Ekstrand who pulled away from
Vernon Vogt and Marco Magni to win the S2 bragging rights and the overall line honours by more than five minutes.
The women’s race saw Michelle Burn retain her title, and signal her continued return to top form after injuring her shoulder in a river canoeing race in January.
“This is never easy!” said Burn. “Pirates Umhlanga Pirates is always one of the toughest races, even though the conditions were so good today.
“A lot of the elite paddlers who are taking the SA marathon champs that start on Thursday seriously decided not to race.
“I got into a little group of guys for the first five or six kilometres in our batch start, but when they started doing some serious intervals I decided to drop off and go a little more inshore.
“After the turn at the can off Umhlanga there was a slight bump but you had to work really hard to get onto the bumps. I went a little deeper on the return leg to try and use those bumps,” said Burn.
The Marine Winter Surfski Series continues with the Bay Union King of the Bay on 26 June.
SUMMARY OF RESULTS
SBS PIRATES UMHLANGA PIRATES
1 Matthew Bouman 1:57:53.04
2 Mark Keeling 2:00:44.09
3 Gene Prato 2:01:35.52
4 Herman Chalupsky 2:06:20.90
5 Paul Rabinowitz 2:06:34.60
6 Brad Pearse 2:07:11.47
7 Luke Nisbet 2:07:56.74
8 Brett Hadiaris 2:09:02.16
9 Brendon Waters 2:09:29.76
10 Nic Burden 2:10:59.22
WOMEN
1 Michelle Burn 2:11:32.60
DOUBLES
1 Richard Lowe/Jason Ekstrand 1:54:10.91
2 Vernon Vogt/Marco Magni 2:00:04.20
3 Lungelo Gumede/Kwanele Banda 2:02:08.47
4 Eric Hildebrandt/Colin Simpkins 2:02:53.49
5 Jonathan Maehler/Murray Smith 2:04:15.79
6 Linton Hope/Bruce Wenke 2:06:17.19
7 Lee Furby/Barry Painting 2:07:21.27
8 Gary Behn/Gavin Dundas-Starr 2:08:34.17
9 Glenn Hilliar/Luke Steenkamp 2:08:54.62
10 Sarah Jones/Luke Swinney 2:10:25.51
SHORT COURSE
1 Keelyn Tucker/Ayanda Dube 1:16:13.25
2 Jordan Deeble 1:19:18.21
3 Luc O’Brien 1:21:33.24
4 Greg Vogt 1:22:17.25
5 Jayden Jansen Van Rensburg 1:27:21.86
6 Gary O’Connor/Megan O’Connor 1:27:28.76
7 Chelsey O’Brien/Julia Mcalister 1:27:30.93
8 Quintus Van Der Merwe 1:27:32.65
9 David Cobbold 1:27:32.94
10 Zamokwakhe Ngcobo 1:27:33.66