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The Aussie Invasion - Molokai 2011
2011 Molokai World Championships
By Joe Glickman
The Aussies showed up in force, but where were the South Africans? Hank McGregor, Lightie Pretorius and the Chalupsky brothers, who'd combined to win 15 Molo titles, were no-shows, as was perennial top-dog Dawid Mocke. In fact, the field featured just one Springbok of note.
Unfortunately, at least from this spectator's point of view, Cape Town's Tom Schilperoort is the anti-Oscar, soft-spoken, humble, unable or unwilling to toot his own horn. (Not only did Oscar win 11 titles in 15 tries but he drank more beer and talked more shit than all the men listed above.) And with Tim Jacobs and Jeremy Cotter -- two very tough outs -- back in Oz, predicting the winner of the world's most storied ocean race (starts with Clint, ends with Robinson) was about as tough as forecasting a rise in gas prices.
Annoying
More annoying still, at least to a surf ski junkie sitting 8,000 km East of Oahu, there was precious little pre-race chatter and surfski.info wasn't providing virtual coverage as in years past. Come race I day was so starved for information I began taking Rob Mousley's name in vain. The bespectacled paddler from Cape Town had lured us in with his tech-savvy coverage only to vanish like a hottie at the bar when you excuse yourself to hit the head.
Then some good news: the race would provide live reports via Twitter. I was eager to see how my man Marty Kenny, a perennial top 5 finisher, would fare on the new lightweight spec ski he'd been testing back in Oz and to see if Dean Gardiner, the 46-year-old nine-time champ, could challenge Robinson who, after five tries, won his first Molokai title last year. Gardiner was second in that race and, according to inside sources (OK, Dean told me), he arrived far fitter this year.
Gardiner
In my mind, Deano's only chance against Robinson was spelled downwind. Gardiner has often called the five-time Olympian the "greatest surf ski paddler of all time" -- after all, 13 of his record 36 Aussie Surf Life Saving Championships were won in the single ski -- but that's a four-minute dash through the surf and not 55 km across a capricious channel where tide, current, and course choice plays a critical role in who gets to the finish first.
