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.

Apart from determining winners in the U20 category, there will also be U16, U14 and U12 categories. The event will also determine the ASP Africa Pro Junior champions for 2009 and who will be selected for the ASP Africa squad that will be taking part at the Billabong ASP World Championships in Sydney in January – which is THE top event in junior surfing.

Surfers who will be taking part include Casey Grant (20) of Scottburgh, Shaun Joubert of Mossel Bay, Matt Bromley of Kommetjie, Brendon Gibbens (also of Kommetjie), Klee Strachan of Winkelspruit, Chad du Toit of Durban, Dale Staples and Nick Godfrey of Cape St Francis, Kyle Lane of Umhlanga and another Scottburgh surfer, Haydn MacNicol.

The girls include Victoria Bay’s Bianca Buitendag, Tarryn Chudleigh of Kommetjie, Sarah Baum of Athlone Park, Heidi Palmboom of the Bluff, Chantelle Rautenbach of Melkbosstrand, Tanika Hoffman of Kommetjie, Alice McGregor of East London and Faye Zoetmulder of Port Elizabeth.

The U16 boys event will see the likes of Michael February of Kommetjie, Dane Staples of St Francis Bay, Steven Sawyer of Jeffrey’s Bay, David van Zyl of Glenashley and Capetonians Jarred Veldhuis and Daniel Wilson in action.

The U14 boys are Daniel Buitendag of Vic Bay, Benji Brand of Kommetjie, Slade Prestwich of Park Rynie, Diran Zakarian of Melkbosstrand, Max Armstrong of Scarborough and Dylan Lightfood of Jeffrey’s Bay.

The U12 boys will include Shane Sykes of Salt Rock, Donovan of Marina da Gama, Jody Maree of Kalk Bay, Ethan Fletcher and Jonah Paarman – both from Kommetjie – Matthew McGillivray of Port Elizabeth, and Steffen Burrows of the Strand.

The event will coincide with the Von Zipper Air Show, where selected surfers will show off and be rewarded for their skill at performing aerial manoeuvres.

Travis Logie, one of the favourites in the competition, advanced to the next round by winning his heat yesterday morning.

The only other South African surfer to win his heat was Cape Town’s Royden Bryson.

“There were actually some fun waves out there, and I really enjoyed surfing in my heat,” said Logie after leaving the water. “It was quite inconsistent out there and I was in two minds if I should sit and wait for the good ones or just get some scores under my belt. In the end, I decided to just take off on anything half decent and went for the big turn option, and it seemed to pay off.”

The last South African to qualify to the next round yesterday was Durban’s Chad du Toit.  He placed second behind Logie to move in to the next round.

By far the biggest unpleasant surprise of the day was the elimination of reigning champion David Weare of Durban, who lost out to Tahiti’s Alain Riou and Hawaiians Jesse Merle-Jones and Mason Ho.

“I’m really bummed to be out of the event,” a clearly disappointed Weare said. “I really wanted to defend my title and I blew two waves that could have put me one step closer to it. I think I just too the wrong option going for that aerial on the second wave and it cost me. I blew a wave and lost a heat.”

Weare’s bitter disappointment is understandable. This event, which pits 136 of the world’s best surfers against each other, carries the highest possible ASP WQS rating as well as a very generous US$145 000 in prize money, with the winner pocketing US$20 000 as well as wracking up 3 500 ASP WQS ratings points.

Day 3 of the event is underway with the following South Africans surfing their heats today: Greg Emslie, Rudy Palmboom, Brandon Jackson, Manfred Adrio, Haydn Mac Nicol, David Richards, Paul Canning, Ricky Basnett, Daniel Redman, Kyle Lane, Keegan Nel, Shane Thorne, Antonio Bortoletto, Kyle Beach, Beyrick de Vries and Casey Grant.

Good luck, guys!

This is the most presitgious junior event in the world. It marks the culmination of the 2008 ASP Pro Junior Series where competitors from each of the seven ASP regions compete on their domestic tours for a chance at qualifying for the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships. A minimum of 13 countries will represent the seven ASP regions this January at North Narrabeen’s world-class beach breaks.

South African wunderkind Jordy Smith took the title in 2006, and some of the brilliant South African surfers hoping to follow in his footsteps will include Klee Strachan, Nick Godfrey, Shaun Joubert, Casey Grant, Rudy Palmboom Jr., Sarah Baum and Nikita Robb.

The names of the other countries’ Billabong ASP World Junior Championships qualifiers whom the South Africans will be competing against are:

ASP North America
- Cory Arrambide (USA)
- Nat Young (USA)
- Andrew Doheny (USA)
- Travis Beckmann (USA)
- Blake Jones (USA)

- Christa Alves (USA)
- Courtney Conlogue (USA)

ASP Hawaii
- Kai Barger (HAW)
- Kiron Jabour (HAW)
- Casey Brown (HAW)
- Sebastian Zietz (HAW)
- TBA (HAW)

- Coco Ho (HAW)
- Leila Hurst (HAW)

ASP Japan
- Shota Nakamura (JPN)
- Nobuyuki Osawa (JPN)
- Kaito Sekimoto (JPN)
- Keito Matsuoka (JPN)
- Koki Nakamura (JPN)

- Nao Ohmura (JPN)
- Sayuri Hashimoto (JPN)

ASP South America
- Alex Ribeiro (BRA)
- Alejo Muniz (BRA)
- Ricardo dos Santos (BRA)
- Alex Lima (BRA)
- Magno Dias (BRA)
- Jadson Andre (BRA)

- Diana Cristina (BRA)
- Gabriela Leite (BRA)

ASP Europe
- Maxime Huscenot (REU)
- Marc Lacomare (FRA)
- Medi Veminardi (REU)
- Jatyr Bersaluce (EUK)
- Pierre-Valentin Laborde (FRA)
- Jules Thomet (FRA)

- Alizee Arnaud (FRA)
- Pauline Ado (FRA)

ASP Australasia
- Stuart Kennedy (AUS)
- Heath Joske (AUS)
- Tamaroa McComb (PYF/AUS)
- Jayke Sharp (AUS)
- Lincoln Taylor (AUS)
- Matt Wilkinson (AUS)

- Tyler Wright (AUS)
- Laura Enever (AUS)

ASP International Wildcards
- Andres Wurst (PER)
- Dusty Payne (HAW)
- Owen Wright (AUS)
- Charley Martin (GLP)
- Luciana Heremoana (PYF)

- Sage Erickson (USA)
- Bethany Hamilton (HAW)

Billabong Wildcards
- Granger Larsen (HAW)

- Arini Mason (NZL)
- Paige Hareb (NZL)

Von Zipper Trialists (Top 2 into Billabong ASP World Junior Championships)
- Richard Christie (NZL)
- Nick Riley (AUS)
- Madison Williams (AUS)
- Mitch Crews (AUS)
- Julian Wilson (AUS)
- Nick Vasicek (AUS)
- Craig Anderson (AUS)
- Heifara-Peter Tahutini (PYF)
- Israel Surfer (ISR)
- Israel Surfer (ISR)
- Torrey Meister (HAW)
- Local North Narrabeen Surfer (AUS)
- Raditiya Rhondi (IDN)
- Kolohe Andino (USA)
- Peterson Cristanto (BRA)
- Brent Savage (AUS)

Various SuperSport channels are screening recordings of South Africa’s best junior surfers in action at the fifth and final event in the Billabong Junior Series in Jeffreys Bay.

See the action packed, high scoring, man-on-man final between eventual winner Dale Staples and defending series and event champion Rudy Palmboom in the R35 000 Grade 1 ASP Pro Junior (U20) event.  Watch as two of the country’s hottest junior girl surfers Sarah Baum and Bianca Buitendag fight out an intense duel for the sole invitation to the prestigious Billabong ASP World Junior Championships in Australia in January.

Jacob Mellish takes the biggest win of his career in the U16’s while the Jeffreys Bay pair of Dylan Lightfoot and Steve Sawyer battle for supremacy in the U14’s and Max Armstrong trumps the field in the U12’s.

And there is a feast of aerial manoeuvres as Casey Grant flies away with the Von Zipper Air Show title. All recorded and packaged by Silver Bullet Productions with a wide range of repeat broadcasts.

BILLABONG JUNIOR SERIES 2008  JEFFREYS BAY

Thu 30 October         3.00pm           SS2
Fri 31 October           4.00pm           SS1
Sat 1 November        8.30am           SS1