Wawa Wooden Surf Boards
It’s time to go back to basics…
Check out these wooden surf boards at www.wawawave.com and see the video below of the Alaia being ridden at Supertubes, Jeffrey’s Bay. The boards are made in Muizenberg, Cape Town, South Africa and their makers are as chilled as the riding style itself.
Somehow these are just beautiful to me, but I think the level of difficulty will be high on this specific board. They also have Paipo’s (hollow board with a single fin) and Handslides (these are SICK for bodysurfing!) Go check it out right now! Can’t wait to get my grubby surfer webs on one…
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Countdown to SA Surfing Awards Begins
Cape Town surfer Brendon Gibbens is one of the contenders for the new award "best use of social media" at the upcoming South African Surfing Awards presented by Zigzag surfing magazine. Gibbens was nominated for his blog http://brendongibbens.tumblr.com/ blog and his Innersection video clip. The SA Surfing Awards will take place on 9 July at Suncoast Casino and Entertainment World in Durban. Photog: Alan van Gysen
The countdown to the 1970′s themed South African Surfing Awards presented by Zigzag has begun. The event, which takes place on 9 July at Suncoast, will see the honouring of our Surfing South Africa Pro Surf Tour (PST) and ASP Africa champions and several sought after individual accolades such as SA Surfer of the Year.
One of the most anticipated aspects to the evening is the inductions of South Africa’s golden oldies to the “Legends” and “Hall of Fame” Honours boards. The legends are those who have advanced South African surfing through the contribution to the industry, administration or some other pioneering aspect of our sport, while the Hall of Fame contenders are those who earned their stripes out in the water or through competitive surfing.
The lists read like a who’s who of South African surfing. Max Wetteland, Shaun Tomson, Jonathan Paarman, Gavin Rudolph, Mike Larmont, Tony van den Heuwel, Spider Murphy, Errol Hickman, Mike Ginsberg, Peers Pittard, Graham Hynes, Baron Stander, Peter Burness, Ernie Tomson and John Whitmore are some of the names that those outside of surfing may recognise.
The “Surfer of the Year” award has been dominated by Jordy Smith (Durban) over the last few years. Smith is undoubtedly South Africa’s most successful surfer on the international stage since Wendy Botha won the women’s world title in 1987. Grant Baker has been the only surfer able to break Smith’s stranglehold on this accolade when he took the award after dominating the Red Bull Big Wave Africa and Billabong XXL in 2008.
This year the Surfer of the Year will be split into Men’s and Women’s categories. Smith will be a front runner for the Men’s award once again, having finished runner up to the world title crown last year, the highest Men’s year end ranking by a South African for almost quarter a century. The Women’s award will be a closer fought affair, with Rosy Hodge and Nikita Robb (both East London) enjoying top step international experiences, while exciting young surfers Sarah Baum (Amanzimtoti) and Bianca Buitendag (George) have dominated local contests and ISA events.
Three new exciting awards introduced this year are “best use of social media”, “team performance of the year” and “moment of the year”.
Zigzag, Paarl Media KZN and Carling Black label are once again proud supporters of the South African Surfing Awards. Only a few of the 250 tickets remain. Tickets sold out long before the ticket booth closed last year, so those wishing to attend the event are advised to log on to www.computicket.com to book.
SRC: Zigzag / Olivia Jones Communications
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SA Gives Masterful Performance In Panama
Saffa surfers did it! Team South Africa rakes in the medals at the ISA World Masters surfing championship in Santa Catalina in Panama last weekend.
South Africa netted three gold, a silver and two bronze medals. Team South Africa’s hopes of scoring a third consecutive gold in the team event was dashed by a mere 260 points when Australia beat us 10456 to 10196.
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Round-Up: Masters Update, Billabong Junior Series, Fun & Games
So much going on on the surf scene at the moment, so here’s a quick round-up of events:
- According to the latest update from Panama, all of our surfers are still alive in the competition at the Panama ISA World Masters Surfing Championship! This means that South Africa is tied for first place with Brazil and Australia. The winners will be determined tomorrow, 4 September 2010. Good luck, guys and gal!
- In the mean time, back in home surf, the Billabong Junior Series has gotten underway in Herold’s Bay, near George, after organisers made the decision to relocate the event from Victoria Bay in search of better waves. The move paid off and now South Africa’s top junior surfers, including the likes of Dylan Lightfoot, Sarah Baum, Bianca Buitendag, Tarryn Chudleigh, Alice McGregor, SA Open champion Chantelle Rautenbach, Kirsty Delport, Benji Brand, Steven Sawyer, Mikey Venter, Jarred Veldhuis and Slade Prestwich are all vying for the title and one of three spots in the inaugural ASP World Junior Tour to take place in Bali at the end of October.
-For those of us who aren’t quite as skilled on the board, here’s your chance to conquer the biggest waves in some of the world’s top surf spots – including South Africa’s very own J-Bay – simply by using your fingers when you play a new game called Billabong Surf Trip. The arcade-simulation surfing game, which was developed by Billabong and Biodroid, a Portuguese game developer, can be played on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Featuring some of the best professional surfers in the world, such as Andy Irons, Taj Burrows, Joel Parkinson and Tiago Pires, players will be able to experience super-realistic waves from Billabong Surf Trip destinations such as Mundaka in Spain, Pipeline in Hawaii and many others.
The surf-art style graphics create super-realistic visuals, and the game has many highlights that create a whole world inside the surfing culture. Future platforms will include Sony PSP, Wii Ware, Xbox 360
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Kotze Takes Crown At 2010 Fox Surfer X
Some of the country’s top surf and motocross professionals descended on Durban this past weekend for what is widely regarded to be one of the highlights on the South African action sports calendar, the fourth annual Fox Surfer X.
In this unique, cross-over contest, participants show off their versatility and skills by competing in both a surfing competition on the Umhlanga coast and an MX race around the Springfield dirt race track. Points are given according to positions attained in the two contests and then those are added together to determine a contestant’s final ranking. The overall winner is the person who had managed to accumulate the most points.
In this case, the honours went to Plettenberg Bay boy Wihanne Kotze, who had a narrow win over Dylan Lightfoot to take home much of the R20 000 prize money and the title of 2010 Fox Surfer X champion.
The contest had kicked off on Saturday in idyllic surfing conditions. On Sunday, contestants were greeted by a powerful South Easterly wind and a shortened race course at the Springfield track. The wind made the race extremely challenging, with several crashes happening during the practice rounds.
But in the end, Wihanne Kotze’s performance during both events added up to victory in the Main Class, with Lightfoot in second place and Shaun Baker coming in third.
“Despite the challenging weather conditions at the track, this year’s Surfer X was as successful as we had hoped it would be,” said Jon Channing, Fox’s Marketing Manager. “The new format, with the introduction of the Pro Surf and Pro MX Class, made sure that all the races and heats were closely contested and provided more excitement for the spectators.”
The event was co-sponsored by Monster Energy and PS3.
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Jordy Smith Knocks Kelly Slater From No 1 Perch After J-Bay Win
Jordy Smith managed to become the first South African to win an ASP World Tour event since Shaun Tomson back in the ‘80s when he was crowned the Billabong Pro J-Bay 2010 champion at Jeffreys Bay on Sunday.
By accomplishing this amazing feat, during which he defeated Australia’s Adam Melling in the last round, the 22-year old also managed to secure the top spot on the ASP World Title Race Rankings, knocking the legendary Kelly Slater from his perch as the world’s number one surfer.
“This is the best day of my life,” Jordy said from the podium. “The crowd on the beach has been supporting me the last few days and hearing the cheers and the vuvuzelas just get me fired up to perform. It feels like they’re pushing me along. I couldn’t have done it without them.
“I knew the swell was dying and I had to take advantage of every wave that came through.” Referring to Adam Melling, he said: “[He] is such a dangerous surfer. He’s been in form all day and I knew that if he got the waves, he would get the scores. I went out there knowing I had to open up strong.”
Adam said: “The ocean didn’t cooperate with me in the Final so that’s a shame but I couldn’t be happier. We had amazing waves and to get the best result of my career is huge. I came into Jeffreys with a long road ahead if I were to make the mid-year cut-off, and now that I’m 19th, I feel like I have a bit of a buffer heading into Tahiti. I worked really hard to get here and I want to stay here.”
The next stop on the 2010 ASP World Tour is the Billabong Pro Tahiti from August 23 through September 3, 2010.
Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay Final Results:
1 – Jordy Smith (ZAF) 17.93
2 – Adam Melling (AUS) 10.00
Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay Semi-final Results:
SF 1: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.83 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 14.40
SF 2: Adam Melling (AUS) 14.00 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 10.67
Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay Quarter-final Results:
QF 1: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 16.43 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 9.20
QF 2: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.17 def. Sean Holmes (ZAF) 11.83
QF 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) 11.00 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 3.66
QF 4: Adam Melling (AUS) 16.43 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 5.67
Current ASP World Title Race Top 5 (after South Africa):
1. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 28500 pts
2. Taj Burrow (AUS) 24750 pts
3. Kelly Slater (USA) 23500 pts
4. Dane Reynolds (USA) 20000 pts
5. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 19500 pts
6. Mick Fanning (AUS) 19250 pts
7. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 18750 pts
8. Bobby Martinez (USA) 16500 pts
9. Jadson Andre (BRA) 16000 pts
10. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 14750 pts
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