East Rand kayakers enjoy successful 2014 Dusi
Maritz brothers and long-standing members of the Homestead-based Ekurhuleni Kayak Club, Peter and Leon, enjoyed a successful Dusi, which took place in Kwa-Zulu Natal between February 13 and 15.
The race, which is widely known as the toughest canoe race, began along the Msunduzi River in Pietermaritzburg to end at Blue Lagoon in Durban – a 120km stretch of gruelling cross country and wild water rapids.
The pair, who also run businesses in Boksburg and Benoni, finished in 381st position in a time of 12 hours and 39 minutes (12:39:00) out of an approximate 775 boats, with the majority of the boats being doubles.
The club’s top finisher was Michael Stewart, who partnered with Cape-based and former Germiston paddler, Brandon Collyer, to finish in 39th place in (09:20:00) – a top 50 silver Dusi medal position.
Numerous paddlers from the East Rand area successfully finished the race, although one pair, Bob Harvey and Tony Ferguson, were rescued by helicopter when they were stranded on a rock island, on an unpaddled stretch of the river for four hours, having lost their broken boat, which washed away in the strong current.
ERK paddlers Bob Harvey, from Boksburg, and Tony Ferguson had quite the misadventure when they were stranded on a rock on an unpaddled stretch of the river, off the normal race course, for four hours.
The race’s safety helicopter finally managed to locate the pair and airlift them to safety.
According to Harvey, they were accidentally pushed into the river bank by another boat, and their boat wrapped around a rock and broke.
They tried to splint it with branches and tape, but it kept taking on water.
He said they thought that, if they could get to the Guinea Fowl portage take-out, they would be able to fix the broken craft, but they somehow missed it and ended up on a large rock island in the middle of the river.
They were completely stuck after losing their boat, until the chopper managed to help them to safety.
“We were very relieved to see the helicopter after four hours on the rock,” said Harvey.
“We had visions of sleeping on the rock overnight and, because of the extreme heat, we had resorted to drinking water from the Dusi, which is not really a good idea.”
Harvey said that, despite the experience, both he and Ferguson will definitely take on next year’s Dusi.
