Deano and his troups paddled 500km along the north west Australian cost back in 2007, taking in some of the most spectacular footage scenery ever filmed in paddling history. Now the video is available for sale. For the bargain price of $25 (+ $2.50 postage and handling in Australia, $5.50 internationally), everyone can now own their own copy. Be inspired in these cold winter months and get yourself a copy. Orders can be taken by emailing Dean direct on dean@oceanpaddler.com

Advantage kayaks have come on board as a sponsor for the event. Pete from Advantage will be giving away one of the “Charger” SLSA Surf Skis for the series.  Peter has been a long tim supporter of kayaking in Australia and we welcome his involvement.

This summer will see the launch of a new ocean racing series on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Set to take over where the last major ocean racing series finished a few years ago the FENN CUP will bring back the excitement to the beaches.

The ocean ski racing world championships has been run and won for another year and the win was South Africa’s sole representative – Hank McGregor. Pre-race favourite Clint Robinson from Australia duelled with McGregor at the head of the race for over 2 hours before succumbing to cramps and finishing well back, while Australia’s Tim Jacobs and two time defending champion Tahitian Lewis Laughlin paddled steady races to take the remaining places on the podium respectively. The women’s race was dominated by New Zealand’s Katie Pocock, who beat home Australian Naomi Flood and Hawai’i’s Lauren Bartlett.

With yesterday’s history lesson well and truly in the memory banks, let us now focus our energies on the present. Well, the recent past and immediate future to be more precise. Who has the form and fitness to take home the bacon on Sunday ?

There’s a very good reason why ocean racing ski boats are known as Molokai boats: it is the undisputed home of the sport and the site of an annual pilgrimage by the elite and not-so-elite alike each May. The Ocean ski-racing world championships are held in Hawaii, starting on Kalua Koi beach on the western side of the island of Molokai, travelling westwards for 55-ish kilometres (depending how straight you track) with the trade winds and prevailing swell towards the volcanic mass of Oahu.

We've added a videos section to our site, with the aim of inspiring all you out there in cyber land to get out onto the water. We hope to be able to post videos from others out there, but for now, the first taste is from Deano's epic expedition in August 2007, Ningaloo Dreaming.

Thanks from us at Oceanpaddler for all of you who came along to the Doctor in Fremantle. It really was a great day/weekend for all involved and we hope to see you all back next year with a bigger and better event ... Meanwhile, the national press has taken an interest, with a number of leading newspapers reporting prior to and after the event on a number of competitors.

When you think of screaming downwind conditions and 4 foot swell you could be forgiven for immediately thinking Hawaii, Perth or Tahiti. Who would have thought that the best downwind conditions of the summer came last weekend along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. The Outlaw #9 downwind classic was not only the best conditions of the season, it was on-par with Perth in terms of the course and quality of organisation.

The resurgence of Australian surfski paddling continued today in Perth as Aussies took first and second place in near perfect racing conditions. Three time Olympic medalist Clint Robinson won by an extraordinary distance with Jeremy Cotter (Aus) and Dawid Mocke (SA) dicing for second and third.