The tournament, touted to be the greatest event in Masters surfing, is scheduled to get underway on August 27 in Santa Catalina, on the north Pacific coast of Panama. Competitors from all over the world will get a chance to prove once again that age ain’t nothing but a number, and that you don’t need to hang up the board and retire just because you’ve spent 35 years or more on earth.

The “old” toppies (and one chick) who will be representing South Africa at the Masters are:

Wayne Monk (Border), Andrew Banks (Southern KwaZulu-Natal), and their non-travelling reserve Gary van Wieringen (Southern KwaZulu-Natal), who will surf their stuff among the Over 35 (Masters) competitors.

The Over 40 (Grandmasters) representatives are Andre Malherbe (Border) and Robert Moore Boyle (Central KwaZulu-Natal), with Gareth Sepp (Border) as the non-travelling reserve.

David Malherbe (Border), Marc Wright (Central KwaZulu-Natal) and non-travelling reserve Mike Brent (Border) are the Over 45 (Kahunas).

If you’re over 50, watch out for South Africa’s Grandkahuna, Chris Knutsen (Central KwaZulu-Natal).

And the rest of the world’s women over 35 will have to know their stuff to compete against Heather “Fergie” Clark (Southern KwaZulu-Natal). This girl has been on such a roll since recovering from a terrible car accident last year. We couldn’t be prouder of her!

Coach Antoni Brodowicz echoes our opinion that this is a great team: “The masters team is the most successful surfing team to ever leave our shores,” he told theBOMBsurf.

With an impressive three out of the eight going to Panama defending their current individual world championship titles, we agree that this is definitely a team to be reckoned with.

Winter in the gorgeous KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa means… well… sun, surf and the world’s top surfers battling it out at the Mr Price Pro Ballito from 1 – 11 July 2010.

The province of almost eternal summer is home to one of this week-long, 5-star rated surfing event, which forms part of the Association of Surfing Professionals’ (ASP) World Tour and the ASP Africa circuits is also widely regarded to be one of the longest running professional surfing events in the world.

But the top surfers are lured by more than just the historical significance of the event or the ASP ratings points that can be racked up. The R1 million prize money definitely holds an allure as well.

Among the local surfers who will be vying for that significant loot includes Durbanite and former ASP World Tour competitor Ricky Basnett, Greg Emslie from East London, Capetonian Royden Bryson, Durbanites Antonio Bortoletto, Brandon Jackson, Rudy Palmboom and Shane Thorne. Other Natallers competing in the event will include Frankie Obherholzer, Gary Van Wieringen and Gavin Roberts. One of the undisputed star attractions at this year’s event will be Jordy Smith, who is currently ranked number 3 in the world.

This year the Mr Price Pro Women’s event will be added, with the likes of Stacy Guy from Melkbosstrand, Sarah Baum from Athlone Park, Bianca Buitendag from George, and Tanika Hoffman from Kommetjie taking part. In the Pro Junior division, Beyrick De Vries from Umhlanga will battle it out against Davey Brand from Kommetjie, Matthew Bromley from Cape Town and Jaco Steyn from Melkbosstrand.

Apart from the sun and surf, some of South Africa’s greatest musical acts, like Prime Circle and Farryl Purkiss, will also be performing on the nights of the 9^th and 10^th of July. For more information, visit www.mrpricepro.com

The guys showed that years have not diminished their skills. Especially the guys from East London, who managed to nab the Masters trophy for Border for an impressive third year in a row! Central KwaZulu-Natal had to contend with second place. Western Province came third, host province Southern Cape came fourth, Eastern Province fifth, Boland sixth and Southern KwaZulu-Natal came seventh.

As far as individual winners are concerned, Llewellyn Whittaker from the Southern Cape scored the highest winning margin for the day in the Senior (Over 30) final. Craig Els from Southern KwaZulu-Natal came second, Paul Proctor of Border came third and Graeme Field from Western Province (WP) came fourth.

In the over 35 Master’s Andrew Banks from Southern KwaZulu-Natal beat defending champion Wayne Monk from Border. Gary van Wieringen of Southern KwaZulu-Natal came third and Stephan Lindeque of Boland came fourth.

David Malherbe, last year’s defending Grandmaster’s champion, managed to retain his title. Rob Moore from Central KwaZulu-Natal came second, André Malherbe and Gareth Sepp, both from Border, came third and fourth respectively.

In the Kahunas division (over 45) Nick Pike of Border came first, Western Province’s Sean Jerram came second, Michael Brent of Border came third and Trevor Hansen of Eastern Province came fourth.

In the Grandkahunas (over 50) final, Chris Knutsen beat fellow Central KwaZulu-Natal surfer Grantley Read. Jeremy Zinn of Western Province came third and Nick Krone of Southern Cape came fourth.

Glen Bowles of Eastern Province won the Veterans (over 55) final. Leonard Giles came second, John Elliott of Eastern Province came third and Heinie Meiring of Border came fourth.

Congratulations to all of them!

This is the first time ever that a national inter-provincial surfing tournament will be held in Mossel Bay, reports Surfing South Africa.

More than 100 surfers from seven provinces will compete as individuals across six age divisions. Which province ends up winning the Inter-provincial team trophy will be determined by a combination of all the team members’ scores.

Some of the Over 30 Senior Men division surfers will include guys like Paul Procter and Philip Malherbe of Border, Craig Els from Southern KwaZulu-Natal, Graeme Field of Western Province (WP), Llewellyn Whittaker of Southern Cape and Michael Moore of Boland.

The Over 35s Masters will see the likes of defending champion Wayne Monk of Border, who will try to retain his title against guys like Gary van Wieringen and Andrew Banks of Southern KwaZulu-Natal, Carl Roux and Mike Frew of KwaZulu-Natal, Robert Pollock of Southern Cape and Andrew Preen of WP.

The Over 40 Grandmasters division will see 2007 and 2008 Grandmasters champion David Malherbe and his brother, fellow SA Masters team member Andre, compete against Gareth Sepp of Border.

The Over 45 Kahunas will see Steven Hair of Southern Cape, David Stubbs and Glen Row of WP, Mike Brent of Border, Mickey Duffus of Boland and David Hansen of KwaZulu-Natal.

SA Surfing reckons that current Over 50 World and SA champion Chris Knutsen of KwaZulu-Natal won’t have a lot of competition, although they acknowledge that his competitors in the age division, such as Brian Heathcote of Border and Grantly Read of KwaZulu-Natal, could come up with surprising performances in this Grand Kahunas division round.

The Veterans Over 55 division will see Dave Fish of Border going head to head with Leonard Giles of the Southern Cape.

The event will be presented by Ocean and Earth. Good luck, gentlemen!

Surfers were protected by three battery operated shark shield devices which were attached to buoys at the backline of Nahoon Reef. Local Lifeguards replaced the Shark Shield batteries every four hours which means that the electronic force field produced by these devices were in place during every heat. The devices were not used because there was any threat of shark activity during the event, but merely as added protection. According to a report on Global Surf News, Surfing South Africa plans to use these devices during sanctioned events at appropriate surf spots around the country in the future.

With the added protection in place, the surfers were free to focus on delivering their best performances. Focus and a home surf advantage and therefore intimate knowledge of the Nahoon Reef certainly seemed to pay off for Wayne Monk. The 40-year old former two time South African champion rose to victory, blowing younger competitors such as fellow East Londoner Clinton Gravett, Klee Strachan of Winkelspruit and Gary Van Wieringen (Scottburgh) out of the water to clinch his first Pro Surf Tour title.

Klee Strachan grabbed his chance at victory during the under 20 junior division rounds. The former Capetonian surged to victory ahead of Nick Godfrey from Cape St Francis, Jaco Steyn of Melkbosstrand and Chris Leppan of Umhlanga.

The women’s division title went to talented teen Bianca Buitendag of George. She beat current SA Champion Heather Clark of Port Shepstone, Chantelle Rautenbach of Melkbos and Tarryn Chudleigh, who came fourth.

The event, set to take place in the Cape Peninsula tomorrow and Sunday (6 and 7 June 2009), is also drawing other big-name surfers such as Gavin’s fellow KwaZulu-Natal surfer, Gary van Wieringen.

The Cape’s wild wintry weather  probably won’t deter the 32 guys who will compete in the Men’s Division. That lineup includes surfing talent such as Capetonian Ian Armstrong, Matthew Bromley from Kommetjie and Shaun Joubert of Mossel Bay.

The girls will also be well represented by South Africa’s U20 Women’s Champion Tarryn Chudleigh from Kommetjie, Nikita Robb of East London, Tammy Lee Smith of Salt Rock, and Melkbos surfers Stacey Guy and Chantelle Rautenbach.

Brendon Gibbens, Mikey February and Matthew Bromley from Kommetjie, Jaco Steyn of Melkbos, Shaun Joubert and Somerset Wester Jacob Mellish, Chad du Toit of Durban and Chris Leppan of Umhlanga will surf in the Pro Junior field.

The weather is expected to kick up the swell to an excess of 15 foot this weekened, so these pros should have a lot of fun.