Chloe Bunnett

The Eurochallenge World Series Surfski Race is on of my favourite races on the calendar. It is located in a little fishing village near Alicante called Villajoyosa. The organisers at Club Nautico de Villajoyosa are awesome, very welcoming and helpful.

This year was a difficult year for them, the wind was Easterly one day and then South Westerly and then North Easterly. Being a sailing club they looked at the forecast and chose Sunday as our race day and changed the course so that we could have the best downwind possible. They were spot on with their decision and we had a very technical but awesome downwind, just what our sport is all about.

The start was very congested but we had quite away to go with a side wind before the turning buoy and the field spread out before the turn, once we turned it was race on. It was so awesome to race along side such a quality field in the ladies race. Angie Mouden (FRANCE) was ahead from the turn and we tried hard to catch her the whole race, trading…

I'm back in Tenerife after a great block of training and racing in South Africa. I was welcomed back with a nice little downwind for my first paddle. I paddle my ski from where I keep it during the winter to where I store it over the summer and it is unusual for the NW wind to blow, but it did and it made for an awesome downwind. Check out the video below;


Next week I travel to the Eurochallenge in Villajoyosa, Spain to race in a Surfski World Series Race and of course to eat some of their awesome Valor Chocolate.

Catch you all next week, thanks for visiting my blog.

We always enjoy our annual visit to Fish Hoek. Downwinds, races, sun and beach. This year we arrived on the 3rd of December the day before the final qualifier for the Cape Point Challenge. I had already qualified but thought it would be great to get a few more km's in the bag and always good to check out parts of the course. The qualifier was a windless day with small swell so it was a very pleasant paddle, well as pleasant as a 35km paddle can be.

Then this past week has been filled with downwinds, dices and races. You can do a race/dice every day of the week around Cape Town. Oh yes and of course every downwind is a race here. Have a look at my latest video of the local races/dices and downwinds.



On Saturday the 17th of December we will all line up for the gruelling Cape Point Challenge, a 52km race around Cape Point and into False Bay, finishing on Fish Hoek beach. Good luck to everyone taking on the challenge. See you out on the water.

:)

After the European Championships in Italy we went to Bournemouth for a few days and it was great to catch up with everyone. I also managed to squeeze in a downwind in really decent conditions. After a few days in the UK on Friday 30th Sept I would fly out to Amsterdam to race in the Dutch Coast race for the first while Pete would fly back home to Tenerife.

I entered the Dutch Coast, firstly because Joep kept on telling me that I must not miss this race and secondly I was in the UK so it would make an easy trip across to Amsterdam before I head back to Tenerife, it was going to be a very quick trip - Flying in Friday evening and leaving early hours Monday morning.

Joep is 100% correct, this is a race not to be missed. Thank you for persuading me to come and helping me find a place to stay and of course the great hospitality shown by the guys who make this event happen.

I flew in late on Friday evening so unfortunately missed the pre-race dinner. Rick Daman, my host for the weekend, pi…

This years Spanish National Champs were held over the past weekend in Castellon. It was a great turn out with around 400 Surfski Paddlers taking to the water. There are races for all age groups, held at a different time to the Seniors,U/23's and Master's, so it is great to be able to support and cheer on our club mates.

I arrived on the Friday evening and we were only racing at 4pm on Saturday, as to try and get the best possible wind and the Juniors would race after us.

This weekend there was heatwave on the mainland of Spain, and it was extremely hot. The race went off at 4pm as planned and there was a section of about 2.5km of flat to get out the harbour. After which we would go for 5km directly into the wind and then turn back and finish where we started. The wind had virtually died and we were left with some waves to catch but it was hard to work the runners that were left over and no time to rest. I had a good start and tried to break away after the harbour wall, Amaia …

Last week we travelled to Gran Canaria to join in a week of paddling, downwinds, beer, wine and good food.

Sean Rice and his fiancé, Emily McGrath, were also in Gran Canaria doing PaddeLife workshops and talks. It was awesome to catch up with them and we went on some epic downwinds. Thanks to Esteban and Sara from Living Sea for arranging all the downwind transport and a ski for me to be able to join in the fun. If you want to go on a paddling holiday with downwinds, warm water and sun then look them up and get yourself there. Las Palmas is the city in Gran Canaria where it all happens, there are skis for hire and downwinds start right at the club in the city on one of their great beaches. Depending on your experience and fitness you can choose how long (or short) you would like to go downwind. We did 30km and 20km runs. The guys then went on a 44km downwind, so really you can do pretty much anything.

Anyway check out my clip below to see how much fun you can have. I will edit and po…