Under the umbrella of the Surfski World Tour, which embraced fourteen events around the globe in a calendar year, the elite ocean racers were able to test themselves against the best surfski specialists in a wide variety of locations and in vastly different ocean conditions.
The 2014 series included twelve races, in Australia, Guadeloupe, Hawaii, Mauritius, Greece, USA, Tahiti, France, South Africa and Hong Kong.
The 2013 ICF Ocean Racing World Champion, Sean Rice, won in San Fransisco and the fabled Hong Kong Dragon run, while Australian superstar Clint Robinson dominated in tough conditions in Tahiti. Multiple ICF World Canoe Marathon Champion, Hank McGregor, won a thrilling edition of the Molokai Challenge from Australians Clint Robinson and Corey Hill.
But the year belonged to Jasper Mocké, the younger brother of four times Surfski World Series winner Dawid Mocké, who had set the year aside to travel to as many of the Surfski World Series events as possible. He came away with wins in seven of the ten events in which he took part, and wrapped it up by winning his hometown event in Cape Town, after emerging victorious in the Mandurrah Duel and Perth Doctor in Australia, the Defis Kayak in the Caribbean, the Mauritius Ocean Classic, the Aegean Cup in Greece and the Breizh Ocean Race in France.
“It was a very tough year, because it was impossible to prioritise any one of the surfski races to peak for,” recalls Jasper. “That meant that I went into a lot of these races at about 85% and had to dig really deep to compete with the classy paddlers I was coming up against at all of these events.”
“As the sport’s pinnacle events, the races that make up the series must be downwind, as this is the essence of open ocean surfski paddling,” said Surfski World Series organiser, Dawid Mocké. “Secondly, races need to offer a minimum of $5,000 prize money, which encourages the best open ocean paddlers from around the world to take part. Other criteria used to select the best events for the World Series include having a window period for the best conditions, assisting entrants with logistics such as accommodation, transport and equipment hire.
“The goal of the World Surfski Series is to grow the sport of open ocean surfski paddling by offering its athletes the best possible events in order to showcase the sport at the highest level.”
The tenth leg of the series was the popular Dischem Automall Pete Marlin Classic in East London, on South Africa’s east coast. Dawid Mocké took that title, but this was overshadowed by the tragic death of experienced surfski paddler Mark Feather, which sent shockwaves around the global surfski community.
While the arriving weather front had whipped up big downwind ocean conditions, the organisers and their federation were satisfied that every safety precaution had been in place, and the race had taken astute logistic decisions given the prevailing weather. It did, however, ram home the need for surfski paddlers to respect the ocean that is their playground and to ensure that they are fully compliant with all the surfski safety conventions every time they head offshore.
More information on the series can be found at www.worldsurfskiseries.com.
11–12 January – Mandurrah Duel, Mandurrah, Australia (Jasper Mocké, RSA)
18–19 January – The Perth Doctor, Perth, Australia (Jasper Mocké, RSA)
26–27 April – Defis Kayak, Guadeloupe, Caribbean (Jasper Mocké, RSA)
18 May – Molokai Challenge, Oahu, Hawaii (Hank McGregor, RSA)
29 June–5 July – Mauritius Ocean Classic, Mauritius (Jasper Mocké, RSA)
26–27 July – Aegean Race, Athens, Greece (Jasper Mocké, RSA)
16–17 August – USA Champs, San Francisco, USA (Sean Rice, RSA)
12–14 September – Maraamu Tahiti, BoraBora, Tahiti (Clint Robinson, AUS)
24–26 October – Breizh Ocean Race, France (Jasper Mocké, RSA)
15–16 November – Pete Marlin East London, South Africa (Dawid Mocké, RSA)
22 November – The Dragon Run, Hong Kong (Sean Rice, RSA)
16 December – Cape Town Downwind, Fish Hoek, South Africa (Jasper Mocké, RSA)
- Jasper Mocké (RSA) 2050
- Dawid Mocké (RSA) 2036
- Hank McGregor (RSA) 2020
- Sean Rice (AUS) 2018
- Matthew Bouman (RSA) 1997
- Sam Norton (AUS) 1973
- Michael Dobler (GER) 1916
- Flores Hiromana (TAH) 1904
- Joep van Bakel (NED) 1881
- Clint Robinson (AUS) 1513
- Cory Hill (AUS) 1511
- Jeremy Cotter (AUS) 1487
- Reece Baker (AUS) 1486
- Kenny Rice (AUS) 1479
- Tom Norton (AUS) 1477
- Austin Kiefer (USA) 1471
- Barry Lewin (RSA) 1466
- Timothy Altman (AUS) 1434
- Valentin Henot (FRA) 1427
- Grant van der Walt (RSA) 1415
