Beachbum Beachblog

South African women’s surfer Roseanne Hodge received the Most Improved Female Surfer award at the prestigious ASP World Champions’ Crowning event, where the best professional surfers in the world are honoured.

The 22-year old East London native has qualified for her fourth consecutive season on the ASP Women’s World Tour after finishing in the top ten (she’s ranked at No. 9) at the end of 2009. Hodge also got to rub shoulders with surfing’s elite.

Other honorees at the event, which took place at the Gold Coast Convention Centre in Queensland, Australia, last Thursday evening, were Gold Coast natives duo Mick Fanning (28) and Stephanie Gilmore (22) who were officially crowned ASP World Champion and ASP Women’s World Champion respectively.

Another Australian, 28-year old Joel Parkinson and Brazilian Silvana Lima (25), received the 2009 ASP World Runner-Up and ASP Women’s World Runner-Up respectively.

Former nine-time ASP World Champion and current ASP World No 6, 38-year old Kelly Slater also attended the event and was on hand to give Fanning the ASP World Title trophy.

Billabong has recently announced that it is re-signing one of South Africa’s most talented young female surfers.

Tarryn Chudleigh, the 20-year old surfer from Kommetjie in the Western Cape, has been with the brand’s Girls’ Surf team since she was a tender twelve years old and she is thrilled to have their continued support. “I’m super excited to have re-signed with Billabong again this year. I feel confident going into the New Year backed by such a supportive and strong company.”

Apart from backing her surfing, the former women’s surfing champion has also collaborated with Billabong’s design department to design a co-op signature t-shirt. The shirt will form part of Billabong’s 2010 range and will be available in November. “I’ve had so much fun working on my signature tee,” Tarryn said. “It’s been a dream of mine to have something I designed from Billabong and I can’t wait to see it in store.”

Starting on the 4th of March, Tarryn will also grace our television screens in the reality series Billabong Girls Get Out There Tour. The show, which debuts on 4 March on the Vuzu channel on DStv, details Tarryn’s road trip with seven other Billabong ambassadors as they travelled from South Africa’s surfing Mecca Jeffreys Bay to Durban and on to Cape Town all along the South African coastline in a bright pink bus.

However, Tarryn won’t be hanging about on the couch to watch herself on TV. Come mid-March, she’ll be jetting off to West Australia to compete in the first World Qualifying Series contest. “My goals for 2010 are to make the Top 6 on the ‘Q.S and qualify for the 2011 world circuit.”

Go, girl! If anyone can meet those goals, you can!

A South African surfer managed a miraculous victory in a surf contest held in treacherous, wipe-out conditions in the U.S. over the weekend.

Chris Bertish, a 35-year old surfer from Cape Town, raked in $50 000 (about R3.85 million) when he came first in the invitational Mavericks Surf Contest at California’s Half Moon Bay on Sunday – the same event where massive rogue waves swept dozens of spectators from a sea-wall, causing serious injuries. According to the judges and the competitors, the 40- to 50-feet high waves were the biggest they have ever witnessed in a paddle-in surfing competition.

Chris, who is part of the O’Neill South Africa surfing team, became the rather unlikely champion - not merely because he emerged even after being hammered by several brutal wipe-outs, but also because he wore a borrowed wetsuit. In fact, he had even borrowed the money to pay the airfare to get to the States. Part of his winnings, he said, will be spent on paying back his brother and the friends he had loaned the money from. Fellow South African, Grant “Twiggy” Baker, was eliminated during the semi-finals.

American surfer Shane Desmond from Santa Cruz came second.

An overwhelming outpouring of support has flooded in for South Africa’s top female surfer Heather Clarke. The reigning International Surfing Association (ISA) world master’s surfing champ sustained serious injuries following a car crash near her home in Port Shepstone last October.

With the surfer and her family facing mounting medical costs, and with Heather’s loss of income due to the accident and the lengthy recovery process taking her out of commission from her other job as swimming instructor and surfing coach, it didn’t take long for members of the global surfing community (and their friends and supporters) to jump into action and find ways to help.

From virtual calls for donations on the web, to a recent fundraiser in Bournemouth in the UK, the support has been amazing.

Heather and her family have expressed their gratitude in a letter that was published on Surfline.com today:

“Heather and her family are very touched by the awesome love and support shown by everyone all over the world. A huge thank you to all of you who have contributed towards the fund - thank you so much!

The hospital costs are already quite formidable and they require most of the costs upfront which is a daunting prospect for the family. Heather was also supposed to have started her swimming school next week and now will not be able to do so, which means a loss of income for her. Please help where you can and spread the word - every little bit, no matter how insignificant you might think it would be, WILL help. Your contributions despite the economic recession mean a great deal to Heather and her family.”

If you would like to help by contributing to the JettyGirl Benefit for Heather Clarke, you can do so by going here.

Cape Town Disaster Management has issued a warning to surfers and swimmers to be on the look-out for great white sharks at the city’s surrounding beaches.

According to the warning, great whites are known to frequent this part of the coast this time of year. Although shark spotters have indeed noticed them at False Bay and between Sunrise Beach and Fish Hoek, no sharks have been seen coming close to the beaches or near swimmers.

However, surfers and swimmers are urged to heed the safety warnings of shark spotters.

“The appearance of white sharks is normal during peak summer months in Cape Town near in-shore areas, as these sharks are known to hunt and feed along this stretch of coastline at this time of year,” Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, spokesperson for Cape Town Disaster Management, told News 24.

No need to panic, but just be careful out there!

Entries for the prestigious, by-invitation-only 2010 Quiksilver Goodwave event to take place in Durban is now open at the event’s new and official website.

Thirty-two talented surfers will be selected according to their skill level and invited to participate in this seventh edition of the event, where they will vie for the R65 000 first prize. All in all there will be R100 000 of prize money up for grabs, and all the contestants will receive a monetary reward for their efforts.

Since this is an extremely physical event, held in typically challenging surfing conditions (GlobalSurfNews.com describes it as “grinding barrels that constitute a good day of surfing in Durban”), hopeful entrants will be subjected to a strict selection criteria which will include the surfer’s previous event performances and barrel riding experience.

Hopeful entrants have all January to submit their entries at the new website. On the entry page, surfers can state their claim as to why they should be selected to participate, upload an image of themselves. There is even a space for them to recommend three other surfers for the event.

The waiting period for the one-day event will run from beginning February 2010 to the end of December 2010.

South Africa’s top junior surfers are all heading to Australia to compete in the Billabong World Junior Championships in January.

Representing us will be Klee Strachan from Winkelspruit, ASP Africa Pro Junior champion Chad du Toit from Durban, Casey Grant from Scottburgh, Beyrick de Vries from Umhlanga and another Durbanite, Kyle Lane.

This will be Klee’s third appearance at the event. “Last year I made round three but got knocked out by Julian Wilson (Australia) who is an unbelievable surfer, so I was not too bummed,” Klee said. “It’s an awesome event and all the surfers in the contest surf really well. I am definitely looking to do well this year. I’ve had three years to see how the standard is so I’ve been training to do well.”

Among the women who will represent South Africa are Sarah Baum from Athlone Park and Bianca Buitendag from George. They will try to beat defending champion, Pauline Ado from France.

The event will kick off at Sydney’s Narrabeen beach on January 9, 2010.

Day one of the Coreban Summer Stand Up Surfing (SUP) Series kicked off at Canal Walk in Century City near Cape Town yesterday with over 80 entrants from around the world battling it out on the gruelling 4 kilometre course around the Century City village’s canals and waterways.

The four day event, which includes sprint racing, wave-riding, Le Mans Formula 1 racing and endurance racing, began with long distance stand up paddle board racing.

The men’s event was won by German Andreas von Blottnitz. Jonathan Rosslind and Greg Bertish managed to do South Africa proud by coming in second and third respectively.

Germany took the ladies’ event as well, with Gabi Ott coming in first. Karina Figl from Austria tied with Natasha Pietersmann for second place.

The SUP series will continue until Saturday. If you’re in the area for holiday gift shopping, take some time out to see some of the worthwhile, upstanding action. Today presents the Le Mans Formula 1 surf slalom while the wave riders will battle it out on Friday.

Sixteen-year old Bianca Buitendag from George managed to win both the U20 and premier Open divisions of the 2009 Roxy Wahine Cup at Suncoast Beach near Durban this past weekend, snatching up R12 500 in prize money and one of the most prestigious titles in South African surfing.

“It was a bit stressful surfing two divisions,” Bianca said after the final. “Saturday wasn’t too bad, because I only had a couple of heats to surf, but making both finals [on Sunday] meant I had to surf five heats. So I had to really conserve my energy, especially with the Open final being the last of the day, because that’s the one everyone wants to win. Fortunately I was staying at the Suncoast Hotel, so I was able to go back to my room between heats and rest to maintain my energy levels through the day.”

By winning the Open division, Bianca managed to defeat defending champion Tarryn Chudleigh from Kommetjie, who came second. Chantelle Rautenbach from Melkbosstrand came third and Tanika Hoffman - also from Kommetjie - came fourth.

In the U20 finals, Bianca beat New Pier’s Kirsty Delport, reigning South African U18 champion Alice McGregor from East London (who came third) and Tarryn, who ended up in fourth place.

The U16 final was won by South African Junior Team member and Warner Beach native Sarah Baum. Sabrina Scott came second, and Emma Smith and Cara MacDonald tied for third.

The U14 youngsters who battled it out were Channelle Botha, who beat Gina Smith, Jordan Vanhoutte and Tahra Uren.

The Novice Division, open to girls who had never surfed a contest before, was won by Jelaine Hermitte, who managed to secure herself a year-long Roxy sponsorship. Jamie-Lee Glazer was runner-up, Holly Konig came third and Michelle Verreynne came fourth. We’re sure that we’ll be seeing more of these names in future!

The local surfing community is in mourning following the death of a local surfing veteran hailed by many as one of the country’s pioneers for the sport.

Shorty Bronkhorst died in Jeffreys Bay this past weekend. He was 73 years old.

According to the Weekend Post Online, Shorty began surfing in the summer of 1949 in Durban and was still doing it more than 50 years later at Super Tubes and Surfers Point. While working as a professional lifesaver in Durban, he surfed on 5m boards made out of plywood.

In 1956, at the age of 19, Shorty and a friend hitchhiked their way across Africa and eventually ended up in London. In the UK, he began building surfboards and was eventually invited to do promotions for a travel company. “Big tour buses full of spectators arrived to watch Bronkhorst and his friends from the long breakwater,” reports the Weekend Post. They were soon dubbed the “Hawaiian surferboard riders from South Africa”.

Shorty was a big advocate of keeping surfing a ‘noble’ sport. “We should try to keep it that way. Tell the youngsters to be polite in the water. Show some respect towards others and you will be appreciated much more than if you just drop in on everybody else,” he said.

“It’s unnecessary to sneak around the waiting surfers and catch a sly wave. Rather just get in line and wait your turn. The guys will think more of you if you do so.”

He is survived by his son Glen and daughters Kim and Lisa.

This coming Saturday, November 28, there will be a paddle-out at Surfer’s Point in Jeffreys Bay (Shorty’s home for the last 15 years) in honour of Shorty. All his friends are invited to participate. His ashes will be scattered in the sea off the beach where he did most of his surfing.