The Whale Coast Paddle Marathon, which saw 40 paddlers race from Port Fairy to Warrnambool, will be resurrected on Saturday.

Warnambool Kayak Club president Ben Johnson said the hope was to make it a regular event from here on in.

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He will be among the field at Warrnambool Surf Lifesaving Club on Saturday morning ready to brave the sea.

He'll take on the challenge in a ski at 10.45am. The stand up paddle boarders are set to get going at 10.30am.

"It'll be a bit of a spectacle if people want to come down and watch," he said.

"We're hoping for about 40 to 60 competitors."

Johnson said ski racing two nautical miles off-shore came with risk and there were plenty of safety measures in place.

Warrnambool coast guard, Port Fairy coast guard and three jet skis will travel with the race.

WSLC and Port Fairy Surf Lifesaving Club will be keeping an eye on each end of the 20-kilometre course.

"Every paddler has to paddle with a flare and mobile phone for location," Johnson added.

He said they would also have a life jacket and be tied to their boat with a leg rope.

"It makes it sound a bit intimidating but it's actually good fun," Johnson said.

"It's a beautiful coastline and I think there's the challenge of making a distance like that.

"It's incredibly peaceful because you are working very hard.

"It's lovely to be in the middle of the ocean with a boat and riding waves."

Johnson said Geelong-based race director Peter Currie had been keen to bring back the race.

He explained Currie had started an event called The Impossible. It ran for the sixth time in November.

It's from Torquay to Barwon Heads and goes past Point Impossible.

Johnson said the race was originally going to start at Port Fairy but that changed on Friday given weather conditions.

He explained a south-east breeze was expected Saturday which better suited a Warrnambool start.

The kayak club president said it would likely take the top competitors about two hours to complete the course.

He said he usually tried to hit the waves in his ski three to six times a week.

Peter Rowarth won the race back in November 1983.

Johnson said kayak club members had been able to hit the water all but two weeks of this year.

He explained kayaking was banned for a fortnight but then state body Paddle Victoria lobbied the state government to make kayaking one of the permissible forms of exercise. It got the tick of approval.

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