On the 7th of June, the who’s who of UK Surfski racing lined up at the start of the annual Weymouth to Lulworth Cove Surfski race. The course is a 15km paddle from Weymouth across open water to the idyllic location of Lulworth Cove.
With such a great field there was a fair amount of prestige riding on this race. After the Spanish Challenge in May with the UK Paddlers finishing
8GLENN ELDRIDGE, 9 IVAN LAWLER 13 MARK RESSEL 17 STEVE BAKER 21 GRAHAM O'REGAN (AWOL) 25 DOUG BITCON
they were all hoping to re arrange the positions and some who didn’t take the Spanish Challenge needed to place their names amongst these guys.
The race started at just after 10am with a moderate South Westerly (following wind). The start of the race is against the wall at the ferry terminal and is great spectator spot as the paddlers race the length of the harbour wall before the bay opens up and are faced with the Jurassic coast line and a broad open expanse of Weymouth bay with Portland Bill looming on your right.
All the elite paddlers, bar Simon Dark, were virgins to this course and the early start didn’t give any of them a chance to reccy it. It would be all about experience and how best to read the conditions. Without knowledge of the landmarks they were all, excuse the pun, in the same boat. With the tide on its final pull out, and the wind behind plus the waves backwashing of the cliffs, it woudl be interesting to see who made the right decisions. Im sure they were all trying hard to keep an eye on the challengers.
One of the best things about Surfski paddling is that as soon as there is a bump on the sea or wind on the water, the field spreads with everyone using their sea knowledge to milk the conditions. Today was no different, the paddlers spread. Doug Bitcon remarked after about 20 minutes the paddlers were spread so far that it was hard to see the other competitors. Ivan and Glen went out deep, Doug was in-shore while Simon Dark and Steve Baker, who had raced hard against each other in the 3 Beaches, chose the same in-shore line. It could have been to follow each other’s moves or maybe as Steve knew Simon had the local knowledge and experience from last years race.
The group of drivers and I made the 30 minute drive to Lulworth Cove and I scuttled my way to the look-out point. Peering out over the bay, your eyes would play tricks on you. You would see a dot and think it was a paddler and then it would disappear. As they came into view, it was evident that the race would be close. All 5 of the leaders were bearing down on the Cove headland from all directions. From the awesome vantage point it was still not clear who had the best line. Ivan and Glen 500m further out to sea, looked like they may have the runs on their side for the way home and on the inside line Simon Dark and Steve Baker may have had the edge on the guys out to sea. I think all the paddlers were surprised when the Cove opened out on them sooner that expected. Mark Ressel turned the point 1 and a half minutes ahead of Ivan and Glen and crossed the line in 1:15:00.
Well done to all the paddlers, it was a great race.
A big thank you to the The Cromwell House Hotel who hosted the pool side Barbeque after the race.
Thanks also to James Best and Daniel Frend from Branksome Chine Surf Lifesaving Club in Poole who were on the Safety boat.
