One might think South Africa has a monopoly on the world surfski championships with four wins from six editions, but Kenny Rice has made it a family affair too.
The 27-year-old’s victory in Portugal last week was the third men’s title for the Rice family, with older brother Sean winning the inaugural race in 2013 and again in 2019. Countryman Nicolas Notten took the crown last year.
Kenny’s triumph also made him the first man to have won all the age-categories, taking the under-18 title in 2013 and the under-23 in 2017.
That’s an impressive list of triumphs, but for Rice, paddling is a passion.
“Surfski paddling is very cool” he said from his St James home on the Cape Peninsula. “You get to see places from the water, seeing Table Mountain from the water, seeing Cape Point from the water, views that most people don’t see.
“I’ve had encounters with wildlife, sharks, whales, penguins,” he said, adding he had viewed fewer sharks in recent times. “There are no great whites in False Bay at the moment.”
And on the several occasions he happened upon sharks, he made it clear that he ventured into their territory, they didn’t come looking for him. “Doing the False Bay crossing, from Hangklip to Fish Hoek, you’re 20km from land. You’re going to see sharks.
“I’ve also had whales breaching around us, like 15 metres, 20 metres away. It was a little frightening, but it was amazing.”
And out on the ocean the swells that he catches can get massive. “They can get very big out there, I’ve seen them as tall as two, three-storey buildings ... maybe 10 metres,” said Rice, who works for a retail e-commerce company.
The swells they catch are called runs, and they can ride the larger ones for some time. And one only gauges their real size when looking over one’s shoulder.
“We have this thing we say to beginners, which is a bit of a joke: ‘Don’t look behind you.’ If you do you’ll shit yourself. Keep looking forward.”
Surfskiing gets Rice to do a fair amount of travelling. He won the Gorge Downwind Champs in Oregon three years in a row from 2017-2019 and finished first again this year, beating Notten and other countryman including brother Sean, who is now based in England.
In early November he’ll race in East London and at the end of that month head to Perth for another competition before returning home to compete in the Cape Point Challenge, a 52km epic that starts at Scarborough and swings around the peninsula to the finish at Fish Hoek.
He’s won that three times and finished second twice.
The Molokai Challenge in Hawaii, where Oscar Chalupsky has starred in the past, remains a dream for Rice, who enjoys some sponsorships which help to pay his way.
“I’ve never had the opportunity to race there. It’s an expensive trip to do — it’s more than R100,000. And it’s at the end of May which makes it difficult to train for in Cape Town.
“But it’s definitely on the bucket list.”
Rice, who also enjoys mountain-biking and road cycling, arrived home on Thursday morning after a chaotic return trip delayed by pilot strikes abroad, but he still planned to fit in a paddle after work.
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