Download 2013 SA K1 SWARTLAND MARATHON OVERALL Results HERE

                        Top three overall, Graeme Solomon, Pierre-Andre Rabie and Ivan Kruger

The Swartland K1 Canoe Marathon, 15^th/16^th June, 2013 – also the 2013 SA K1 River Championships.

Hosted by Peninsula Canoe Club

Co-sponsors – Harfield Guest Villa; HANSA; Cape Town Sport Photography; MetPet; Brian’s Kayak Centre; Knysna Racing; ORKA paddles and GAFFNET.

The river gods again came to the fore for canoeing in the Cape as the 2013 Swartland Canoe Marathon was raced off in excellent weather conditions and on a full river, thanks to the rain that fell at the begining and the end of last week making a section of the Berg River over whioch the Swartland is raced (Skooltjie to Bridgetown), notorious for it's tree blocks, relatively easily to negotiate and, provided paddlers followed the flow of water, never once necessitated having to get out of their canoes to portage.

LAGOON CHALLENGE 2013

Knysna Oyster Festival 2013 - www.oysterfestival.co.za

The Knysna Lagoon Challenge, hosted by the Knysna Canoe Club, will again take place this year as part of the Annual Knysna Oyster Festival. There have been some important changes to this year's event, please note the following:

• The event has moved to the first Sunday of the Festival - 30 June 2013
• The race distance has been increased to 22km for the main race, and 10km for the Fun race.
• For the third year, there will also be a category for SUP's (Stand Up Paddle Boards) - 5km & 10km
• The race once again forms part of the Knysna Oyster Festival BIG5 (see www.oysterfestival.co.za)  

LIFE JACKETS COMPULSORY

Check out the SCOTTISH TAY DESCENT HERE

Promo Video HERE

Download 2013 VILJOENSDRIFT Results HERE

A small field of 40 paddlers entered the Breede River, Goree to Viljoensdrift K1 25 km canoe race on Saturday 8th June.

Was this because of the poor weather  - cold and wet throughout - the fact that scholars and students alike are writing exams or that many others chose to 'trip' the Berg River in advance of the annual Swartland K1 Canoe Marathon this coming weekend, 15th/16th June (which is also the 2013 SA K1 River Championships)? No doubt all three factors came into play which is a pity as the river was in good spate, offering paddlers good water to hone their racing skills on. Certainly, in previous years, when the weather has been good, the race, combined with the annual very popular wine festival held out at the various cellars in the Robertson region of the Breede River Valley, numbers have been far more numerous.

Notwithstanding the small field, Peninsula's evergreen paddling legend, Graeme Solomon, now in the Veteran class (40 to 44 years), romped home the winner in the very good time of 1 hour 30 minutes 03 seconds. Nearly 30 seconds off the pace was Stellenbosch's Sub Veteran, Ernest van Riet in 1:30:30 whilst on van Riet's slip for 3rd place went to Peninsula's Edgar Boehm jnr in 1:30:31.

In the Ladies category, Kirsten Penderis of Stellenbosch was again the first women paddler home (1:51:43), Marisa Pretorius (Mil) placing 2nd and Simonstown's Cassandra Jones, 3rd.

The U18's section was won  by Milnerton's Michael Pretorius, the U23's by UCT's Ben Biggs

Despite the poor weather - rain, cold and wind - experienced on Saturday 1st June, some 96 paddlers lined up on the Berg River at Gouda Bridge, for the 32km canoe race down to Bridgetown.

 This section of the Berg River, a favourite for most local paddlers as it is far out into the farmlands of the Swartland and therefore has minimal pollution from towns such as Paarl and Wellington, always provides canoe racing of the highest order and the 2013 running of the event was no exception.

 From the start, a large leading bunch broke away and remained so through the notorious Black Rock rapid some 30 minutes into the race and beyond, where, at the single channel sneak on river left, veteran paddler, Graeme Solomon (Pen) broke away with Gavin White (Cty). However, by the time they reached the channels down to the train bridge, the likes of Pierre-Andre Rabie (US), Lance King (Mil) and Edgar Boehm jnr (Pen) had re-established contact.

Peninsula Paddle 2013: Taking back the City’s waterways

In 2010, four social and environmental activists paddled from Muizenberg to Woodstook beach through Cape Town’s waterways. The aim was to highlight the urgent need to deal with the condition of Cape Town’s inland waterways.  The successes of the first paddle soon turned this into an annual event. Soon after the 2011 paddle the City mayor responded by establishing the Kader Asmal Project tasked with cleaning and restoring the waterways, and aims to create 400 jobs.  As a result, the waterways have improved, but there is still a lot to be done.

The fourth Peninsula Paddle, set to take place on Sunday, 9 June 2013, will see paddlers use kayaks, canoes and stand-up paddle (SUP) boards to traverse these waterways.  This year will also see feature some homemade boats made from plastic bottles collected from the waterways following numerous clean ups. Under the theme, ‘Take back the City’s waterways’ the paddle will showcase the achievements over the past year but will also draw critical attention to failures.

For further information about Peninsula Paddle 2013 -  visit the event website http://peninsulapaddle.wordpress.com

The Zandvlei Trust is showing its support by providing the paddlers with coffee and muffins at their first stop at the  entrance of Wildwood Island in Marina da Gama.

If you are keen to assist, please bring along as many flasks as you can, filled with boiling water to the end of Mullet Close at 7o’clock in the morning!

The rain promises to stay away on the day.

The paddlers will have started at Muizenberg beach and need to cross over into the canal at Wildwood Island and use this opportunity to have their first cup of coffee, so please consider being there to support them.

Please let me know if you are able to assist.

Lucia Rodrigues (083 325 8881 or 021 788 5580)

Download 2013 SA MARATHON K1 Results HERE 

Download 2013 SA MARATHON K2 Results HERE 

One of the SIM paddlers broke his boat at the end of the treinspoorgangetjies on last Saturday's race and is now looking for a replacement for the rest of the K1 season.

Could you maybe place this request on the web and also send it to various clubs.

He is looking for a very stable second-hand K1, a yeti or similar.

If anybody can help, pleas contact Dwane White at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or René Boehm at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Please remember that it is quite urgent.

 Download 2013 WCCU Marathon K1 Results HERE

 Download 2013 WCCU Marathon K2 Results HERE

The perfect weather and the unique setting that is the Mofam Dam at Arieskraal, helped make the canoe marathon racing this immediate past weekend very conducive to racing and very pleasant conditions for spectators, to watch and on both days of the event.

With just two weeks to go before the Canoe South Africa Canoe Marathon Championships, to be held on Shongweni Dam in Kwazulu-Natal on 1st/2nd June, the canoe 'racing snakes' from the Western Cape are heading towards peaking shortly and if the racing seen today and yesterday has been anything to go by, then the Western Cape paddlers should feature well at the SA event. What this kind of canoe racing also does, is set up paddlers who are considering the river races of the season, very well, as it gives them the speed and endurance to handle what are generally longer events that were raced this weekend - i.e. 28 km up to 42 km per day race - but which have the added advantage of being on flowing water - unlike the flat water conditions required for canoe marathons..

1st portage, WCCU K2 Canoe Marathon Champs - left to right, Gavin White/Graeme Solomon; Pierre-Andre Rabie/Ivan Kruger; Dawid Mocke/Jasper Mocke; Richard von Wildermann and Ryan Louw(obscured). Photo credit - Enslin van Rie

Canoe South Africa has announced the South African Surf Ski team that will take part in the 1st World Surf Ski Championships, taking place during the 1st week of July, 2013, in Oporto, Portugal.

(WCCU paddlers in bold).

The SA Single Ski Team

Cape Town - With just over two months to go until the start of the 52nd running of the iconic Berg River Canoe Marathon, organisers have started taken entries for what is being seen as a wide open race for the coveted titles.

The 212km race from Paarl to Velddrif on the West Coast will follow the same format as last year, offering the men and women who take part a truly unique challenge of river, tree blocks, stamina testing flatwater and the vagaries of the Cape winter.

"Prepare well because you never know what elements will be thrown at you during the race," said race committee head Andre Collins. "Whatever the conditions it will be tough!"

The season of pre-Berg races that will ultimate span most of the final ultra-marathon course has already started, offering eager novices the opportunity to upgrade their river proficiency and ultimately qualify to enter this legendary tough four-day race.

Orka Marathon Series: 5, 12 and 26 May at PCC

PCC is introducing an Orka Marathon Series open to any paddlers at all (just like our time-trials are) to try raise funds to establish a Marathon Fund to build a second marathon-spec floating jetty and to help needy paddlers get to SA events.

Apart from helping to promote accessible paddling, they will provide a fantastic opportunity for:

• beginners/novices wishing to compete over qualifying distances to help with their proficiency and confidence;

• any paddler wishing to get some distance training in for the Berg or Swartland; and

• paddlers wishing to hone their Marathon racing skills, as they will incorporate short (100-150m) portages.

The series consists of 3 events building up to SA Marathon Champs (which are on 1^st and 2^nd June) and will take place on Sunday mornings.

 Download Alle Bleue Berg Ruver Dam Results HERE

The anomaly of having a K2 race before the K1 season has even started has always been a strange event to have in the annual WCCU canoeing calendar! Be that as it may, some 70 paddlers turned out in very good weather and on a stunning piece of water (they were allowed to race there by special dispensation from DWAF on request from the WCCU as previously this event was held out on the Misverstand Dam on the Berg River - a looong way out of the city!).

This is a reminder that the annual WCCU Kayak Sprint Champs is this Wednesday (1 May 2013) at the Eikenhof Dam outside Grabouw. If you have not entered please contact Laura van Heerden ASAP. The entry forms are attached. All relevant details are on it.

Download Entry Form HERE

Download Single Ski results HERE

Download Double Ski results HERE