Sea Dog is a surfski time trial at Fish Hoek beach that takes place every Friday evening, starting at six in the evening. It runs for the last ten weeks of the year, and the first ten weeks (so twenty weeks, during the summer months). There is a gap in between for Christmas and New Year. It has been running for a few years, and a meet is never cancelled for any reason. We can attest to this, having gone down to the beach during a black south easter with bucketing rain, only to see a hardy group of paddlers battling it out behind the breakers in almost zero visibility.
The event is organised by the Mockes of the paddling shop in Fish Hoek, and there’s usually a photographer (apart from me) to document the event. There are usually a couple of marker buoys out in the bay, and the paddlers do a number of laps around them. I’m not sure of the details of the race format, but it starts and ends on the beach. There are participants of all skill levels, from world champions to weekend warriors.
If you’re around, it’s a lovely thing to watch (or participate in, if you’re a paddler) on a Friday evening after work. We sometimes get dinner and take it down to the beach to watch the proceedings.
