KNYSNA NEWS - After KPH recently published an article about a five-man surfboat team that was set to take part in SA's national championships, many people not familiar with the sport were left wondering how it works.

If it were not for the Covid-19 pandemic, Cameron Ward-Able (45), Jeffrey Willcocks (52), Ivan van Lier (53), Darren Berry (39) and Steven van Lier (50) who form part of the Knysna Surf Lifesaving Club (KSLC), were due to become the first team from the Southern Cape to take part in the Lifesaving SA Surfboat Shootout.

So, here's your chance to familiarise yourself with this relatively "new" sport after it was first introduced in the early 1900s as a technique to rescue stranded swimmers.

Some history
The sport started as a way for surf lifesaving crews to stay sharp for rescues, but it's now purely for competition. The first surfboat race was held at Manly Beach in Australia all the way back in 1908. Before the days of compact combustion engines, surf lifesavers used to row wooden longboats out through the surf to rescue swimmers in distress.

Now we can fast-forward back to the present day where rescues are conducted using high-powered outboard engines on inflatable craft, but the subtle art of rowing a boat head first into huge swells has stuck around. Even though lifesaving clubs around the country have been participating in the sport for years, it was only reintroduced into the SA Lifesaving Championships in 2018.

The teams
A crew is made of five members: four rowers and a sweep. The sweep stands at the back of the boat and steers using a long oar. The remaining four crew members have one oar each – it's their job to haul the craft out through the swell.

The rowing technique is almost identical to surfboating's tamer cousin – rowing – that you see at the Olympics. You need to be part of a lifesaving club to be able to take part in a surfboat crew, and in Knysna and surrounds that club is the KSLC.

How does it work?
Races start at the water's edge on the beach. When the gun goes off, the crews leap into their boats and begin the mad scramble out through the surf. If all goes to plan, the boats power through the waves and over the swells. In reality, many crews will mistime their run or be bested by the ocean and can be flipped or carried backwards by the wave. This is known as back-shooting.

Once they clear the surf, the crews settle into a steady rhythm in the relatively calmer waters until they reach the turning buoy. Each boat has their own buoy – there's enough carnage in this sport without having them all try to turn on the same point.

From there it's a race straight back to the beach. The quickest way to do that is to catch a wave. First boat back across the line wins.

What's with the wedgies?
One of the quirkier parts of surfboat rowing is the need to "wedge up", prior to racing. It involves giving yourself a wedgie by pulling your Speedo in between the buttocks so that the skin is exposed. This is so that the rower can slide along the wet seat to complete the full rowing action. Trying to do so if the seat is too dry or through clothing can provide some pretty painful friction burns in a very sensitive location. – Compiled by Blake Linder, courtesy of Red Bull, Thomas Elliott

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