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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World’s Top Surfers in J-Bay For Billabong Pro
The world’s top pro surfers, including nine time world champ and current number one ranked Kelly Slater (USA) and number three ranked local Jordy Smith, are convened in Jeffrey’s Bay where they are participating in what is probably the most prestigious surfing event in South Africa: the Billabong Pro.
The 25th Billabong Pro kicked off in pristine conditions in this Mecca of South African surfing yesterday, Thursday 15 July 2010. Smith, Slater, 2007 Billabong Pro winner and Aussie Taj Burrow and and reigning ASP World Champ Mick Fanning, also from Australia, all proceeded to qualify for the third round yesterday.
Fanning, who was the top scorer of the day, posting rides of 8.83 and 7.87 (out of 10) to amass a total of 16.70 (out of 20), said it was important to take every heat seriously this year. “There are so many threats and even the rookies can do damage. I feel like I’ve been surfing well all year and I’m just focusing on every heat, and hopefully that takes me to a solid result.”
The Billabong Pro will continue until 25 July 2010. For more information, visit the event’s official website. 
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KG Longboard Classic At Jongensfontein
South Africa’s top longboard surfers are descending on Jongensfontein, near Stilbaai in the Southern Cape, to participate in the KG Longboard Classic this weekend, 19 and 20 June 2010. The event is part of international World Surfing Day celebrations.
The Classic is the first of five events that form the South African Longboard Surfing Association (SALSA) Longboard Tour, of which the last event will be at next year’s SA Championships in Durban. More than 80 surfers are expected to compete in the Open division’s Ladies, Juniors, Over 50’s and Divas (Ladies over 35) categories.
Competitors for this weekend’s event include big names such as Brad Weare from KwaZulu-Natal, Justin Bing from Western Province, Michael Grendon and Port Elizabeth competitor Dylan McLeod. Last year’s winner, Ludi du Toit from Jeffreys Bay, will be returning to defend his title.
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Surfing Community Mourns Death of South African Surfing Pioneer
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.
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J-Bay Billabong Pro: And The First Saffa To Qualify
… to the next round of the Jeffrey’s Bay Billabong Pro is?
Sean Holmes!
After being off to a reportedly ‘nervous start’, the local favourite became the first local surfer to qualify for the next round of the Billabong Pro when he beat Hawaiian Dustin Barca.
Sean told KFM that surfing in front of the enthusiastic home crowd made him so nervous in the beginning that his legs felt like jelly.
But obviously that feeling passed, and we couldn’t be happier about it!
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