Faced with a calm and flat Durban Bay, Gene Prato used his accumulated skill and experience to claim line honours in the Point WaterSport Marine Race, the second leg of the popular winter surfski series recently.
With the second race building on the season opener, the two-two lap affair took the paddlers out into the deeper ocean for a downwind leg to Pirates SLC and then back to Marine SLC. Prato started with the singles long-course field behind the double-ski field, and battled his way to the front of his batch by the deep ocean turn buoy, where his downwind experience came to the fore as he raced away to win the single ski race. “The guys were fast off the start to the first turn buoy. I managed to get ahead just before the start of the downwind leg and then tried to work as hard as I could to get away from them. For the rest of the race I was by myself,” said Prato. He was a few seconds short of the day’s fastest time, posted by the double ski duo of Carl Folscher and Shane Millward, and said that the conditions had proved to be tough for the paddlers. “There was a little bump on the downwind leg but it made you tired rather than allowing you to catch it,” he explained.
Prato finished more than a minute clear of Jean-Luc Mauvis, with Paul Rabinowitz close behind him. Schoolgirl Tannah Smith was the first woman single ski home, as the elite field was short of a number of the top racers who were away competing in the Western Cape during the week. Louisa Van Staden and Wilma Deyzel won the women’s double ski race and took overall line honours as well. Jonathan Maehler won the 8km short-course race from the double ski crew of Wandile Dube and Keelyn Tucker. In two weeks’ time, the third series race from Marine SLC starts on Sunday, 16 May at 9am.
