Last season's Darcy Price NZ Ocean Ski Champions Gene Prato and Danika Mowlem have had the best possible start to the defending their titles, both securing two wins and maximum points from the opening two races of the 2024/25 series - Northland's Tawhiti Rahi Challenge and the 2024 Windy City Downwind in Wellington.
Gene Prato taming the treacherous Tutukaka Coast's conditions for a dominant win at the 2024 Tawhiti Rahi Coastal Challenge.
Both events experienced favourable winds and great downwind conditions for competitors as the Darcy Price series gets off to a better start than last year, when 2 of the first three events were canceled due to unsafe weather conditions. Prato showed his downwind dominance in the Tawhiti Rahi Challenge leading from start to finish and coming home nearly 15minutes ahead of Anachie McLouchlin and Jeremy Kuggeleijn.
But Gene had a much closer battle in the Capital city, with local legend and race organiser Toby Brooke pushing him hard to the finish. It was only in the last kilometre when Gene got the gap and crossed the line 36 seconds ahead. Auckland's Travis Mitchell finished 3rd overall and first masters paddler.
Toby Brooke chasing down Gene Prato in the final stages of the Windy City Downwind in Wellington Harbour.
Close to 60 paddlers in Wellington were pleased to see the race get underway after cancellation last year, and were treated to a famous Wellington Harbour downwind experience. They started in the relative shelter of Petone then crossed the harbour towards Miramar and cut into Eve Bay to finish, although it was likely some paddlers would've liked to continue surfing out into the Cook Strait.
The local double ski pair of Blair Simpson and Iain McKyver took home the double ski title ahead of Nelson's Dan Bremner and Morgan Moore.
Danika Mowlem leads the 2024/25 series after wins at both Tawhiti Rahi Challenge and Windy City Downwind
Ocean ski paddlers will now look ahead to December's Deep South Downwind in Queenstown, which doubles as the 2024 NZ Ocean Ski National Championship. As well as national titles up for grabs, this race is also worth extra series points so it is well worth the trip.
The Darcy Price NZ Ocean Ski Series is the national ocean racing series comprising of the 8 premier surfski races around Aotearoa. A paddler’s best 3 races will count towards the series results, with winners recognised at the final event.
The series aims to promote and grow ocean ski paddling in New Zealand and encourage paddlers to experience amazing paddling venues and events throughout New Zealand each summer. It was launched in 2019 in memory of Darcy Price, one of the driving forces behind developing ocean ski paddling in New Zealand.
Check out the Darcy Price series information, events, race results and live leaderboard, race results on the Series webpage - https://www.paddler.nz/darcy-price.
Upcoming 2024/24 Darcy Price NZ Ocean Ski Series events:
Deep South Downwind / 2024 NZ Ocean Ski National Championships, Queenstown - Saturday 7th December 2024
Paddler Virtual Champs - 1st to 31st January 2025
Queen and King of the Bay, Tasman - 25/26 January 2025
James Moore-morial “Bhutty Moore” Race, Tauranga - Saturday 1st February 2025
Heads to Harbour, Whakatane - Saturday 8th March 2025
Auckland King & Queen of the Harbour, Auckland -Saturday 3rd May 2025
Lake Wakatipu will be the battlegrounds for the 2024 NZ Ocean Ski National Championships on 7th December, hosted by the Southern Lakes Multisport Club.
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