HUGE SURF WREAKS HAVOC AT THE DOLPHIN COAST CHALLENGE

Hank McGregor and Michelle Burn have claimed dominant victories at the Dolphin Coast Challenge in Durban – but perhaps they were upstaged by the incredible images captured by Anthony Grote.

On top of racing for more than three hours across the weekend, competitors were also forced to negotiate solid surf at both start and finish, making for some spectacular spills.

Browse the full gallery of images at the bottom of the article.

McGregor finished the two days and combined 45 kilometres in a time of 2 hours, 52 minutes and 27 seconds – some 15 minutes ahead of Herman Chalupsky in second and Barry Lewin in third.

“I managed to get out clean and come in clean so really stoked to win the race overall and both stages.” McGregor said.

“It was just 24 kays of downwind and it was an awesome day out with the sun coming out towards the end of the race.”

Impressively, newly crowned ICF Ocean Racing World Champion Michelle Burn finished sixth overall in a time of 3 hours, 15 minutes 48 seconds.

That was around 20 minutes clear of Junior World Champion Saskia Hockly in second, while sister Valmajean Hockly was a further 13 minutes back in third.

Burn produced a searing run in Sunday’s second stage to surge up the leaderboard, taking advantage of the assistance that was on offer.

“I was really glad to have some downwind conditions today after yesterday’s long, hard slog,” Burn said.

“I got a pretty clean start but had to take a few waves at the backline getting out, but once I was out there it was everyone for themselves.

“I was able to link some nice runs together today and took a pretty shallow line but I didn’t see many people along the way and raced my own race today.”

For the full results, click here. 

Check out some of the thrilling action in the gallery below. Images taken by Anthony Grote.