Naish South Africa rider, Ethan Koopmans, came out on top in both SUPSA races this past weekend at the Naish & SUP Cape Town Estuary Race on his Naish Javelin 14’0” LE. This victory has now pushed him to 2nd place on the national ranking with a good chance of qualifying for the ISA worlds 2014.

This year the weather was predicted to be pretty rough and by race time, winds were gusting over 30 knots, making the course rather challenging. An up and downwind leg with a little 100m dog-leg certainly made for an interesting test of skills.

Ethan Koopmans and Anton Nel were eyeing out the prize from the start as they are both in contention for the “runners up” spot in the overall ranking. Andrew Cillie took the start with Anton on his heels while Ethan got boxed in a bit and had some work to do. By end of lap one Ethan had caught up to Andrew with Anton somewhat further back. On lap two Ethan ran away with the victory and left the competition behind.

Ethan also took out the technical course which was converted into a short downwind sprint as everyone was tired of fighting the fierce winds ­ so a double for Ethan who now goes into the last event needing to beat Anton one more time to book his ticket to the ISA worlds. The heat is on!

Ethan will be representing South Africa at this weekend’s Naish ONE European Championships held in St Moritz, Switzerland.

Best of luck this weekend & congratulations!

Photos courtesy of: Bruce Johnston / Elleni Smyth / Maleen Hoekstra