This is my first blog entry in quite awhile (life on the road.)  I am making this entry with my HTC Tytn 11, which is a state of the art computer phone.  It allows me to stay in contact and continue to work; even as I travel (right now I am flying from Honk Kong to China, a 2 hour flight.)  Lately I have been training very hard in Durban, enjoying the magnificent downwind conditions the area offers. I have been doing mainly 24km paddles from Durban to Umhloti, or vice versa, depending on the wind direction. I paddled with my son Luke, who is 16, and my understudy Bevan Manson. Luke did one of the downwind days in 1 hour 35 minutes for the 24km run, which isn't bad for his third downwind ever. Bevan is improving all the time and his best run was done at a pace of 16.7 km/h.  We have all been paddling V10 ultras.  Herman and I did a very fast run on Saturday, finishing the 24km run in 1 hour 22 minutes, an average speed of 17.3 km/h. Herman was on his V10 Performance. This was starting off slowly.

I just did part of the Dragon Run course during my layover in Hong Kong.  It is a spectacular course in many ways. The scenery is beautiful; there are lots of islands with steep cliffs and crashing waves. The runs are everywhere, even when you are paddling against the wind (which isn't hard as you are sheltered behind many islands.)  Paddling through the island maze is going to make the Dragon Run one of the most technical races on the circuit.  The course rates up there with the Durban World Cup and Molokai in my opinion.

I was paddling the course with Rene Appel, our Epic Hong Kong distributor, and Paul Etherington, who owns a kayak tour guide business.  Both were paddling V10 Ultras.  I paddled a V10L Club/Value (yes I fit in the V10L.)