Vaikobi goes 1, 2, 3 whilst whales invade the King of the Harbour

Photo Credit: Blake Horton-Daily Telegraph

Vaikobi Race Team went 1,2,3 at the Belle Property King of the Harbour held at Manly on Saturday 18th of October which was race 1 of the Anytime Fitness/ Men's Fitness Australian Ocean Racing Series.

In a race between Coach and Athlete, Olympic Kayaking Gold Medalist from London 2012, Murray Stewart (NSW) duelled with his long time coach Tim Jacobs (NSW) all race to slingshot over a wave coming into the beach at the finish to become the 2014 King of the Harbour.

TJ described the eventful finish- " We were both coming in through Fairy Bower at a ridiculous pace and Muz slewed off a wave but managed to get going again and come back at me. Finally as we were coming into the beach I cracked onto a sucky wave when Muz steamrolled up the back of it and hooked on to it to then slingshot past me right at the beach to get the win".

The victory against his coach on Saturday might have resulted in a punishing training session on Monday morning for Murray we suspect....

Vaikobi's Champ from Gold Coast, Michael "Boothy" Booth (QLD) made a comeback to the Ski after a few months of SUP Racing on the West Coast of the USA to claim 3rd in a race which had unbelievable depth throughout.

Boothy hopped back on the plane on Saturday night to get back to the Gold Coast to claim a 3rd place in the Australian SUP Nationals on Sunday in the distance race to finish off a solid weekend for the the versatile ocean paddler.

Jeremy Cotter (QLD) and Greg Tobin (NSW) filled out the Top 5 in the Mens

In the Women's, Nurti Grain Iron Woman, Hannah Minogue (NSW) claimed a 19 second win over Wendy Reyntjes (VIC) with Tracy Wilson (NSW) claiming 3rd. Pocket Rocket Camille De Carmejane (NSW) and Mel Pelly (NSW) rounded out the Top 5 in a strong Women's race.

Finally, the big story of the day  was the intruder on the race course. The King of the Harbour course around North Head is a real test for racing paddlers as they navigate around the rolling swells bouncing of the gigantic headland creating washing machine conditions. This year, competitors had to also contend with a Humpback whale who decided to come and get a closer look at the fast Vaikobi gear on the race track.

Max Riley commented, "I was chugging along and the next thing I saw was the tail of a whale go underneath my bow. I freaked out as I thought it was going to flick me, but it managed to slide underneath me so I put my head down and got the hell out of there...close call!" 

Full Results are available HERE

Race 2 of the Anytime Fitness/ Men's Fitness Australian Ocean Racing Series is the Natural Gas SA Ocean Racing Series to be held on Nov 2nd at Port Noarlunga, SA.