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.

Having a home surf advantage certainly seemed to pay off, because the host province even surfed off with the President’s Cup.

Southern KZN team members Gavin Roberts and Heather Clark won the Men’s and Women’s titles respectively.

According to reports, this past Sunday’s weather in St Mikes was fine and conditions were near perfect with 3 – 6 foot surf.

Roberts beat 2007 SA Champion Devyn Mattheys of Border, pushing him into second place with Dan Redman of KZN coming in third. Eastern Province’s (EP) Ryan Payne came fourth and was crowned Surfer of the Contest for 2009.

Clark successfully defended the title she won at Victoria Bay last year. Nikita Robb of Border was second, Tammy Lee Smith of KZN came third and Faye Zoetmulder of EP was fourth.

The under 20 set also saw KZN surfers rising to the top. Shawn Dennis took the title with fellow KZN boy Kyle Lane in second. Bertie Stuurman of EP came third. Chris Leppan, also from KZN, came fourth.

Despite stitches to her face from an injury sustained when her board hit her in the face during the semi-final, Tarryn Chudleigh of Western Province (WP) still managed to take the Under 20 Girls title.

Sarah Baum of KZN was second, Alice McGregor of Border came third and Lauren Colberg of Boland was fourth.

KZN’s dominance in all four divisions secured them the Presidents Cup which they last won in 2005. Southern KZN came second, Border was third, Eastern Province – who was last year’s champion – came fourth, Western Province was fifth and Boland came sixth. The 2009 South African Surfing Championships were presented by Surfing South Africa, hosted by Southern KZN Surfing Association and sponsored by South Coast Tourism.

]]> http://www.beachbum.co.za/beachblog/surf-industry-news/kzn-tops-at-2009-sa-surfing-championships/feed/ 0 http://www.beachbum.co.za/beachblog/surf-industry-news/brazilian-beats-all-to-take-title-at-2009-quiksilver-pro-durban/ http://www.beachbum.co.za/beachblog/surf-industry-news/brazilian-beats-all-to-take-title-at-2009-quiksilver-pro-durban/#comments Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:50:59 +0000 surfer http://www.beachbum.co.za/beachblog/?p=171 Brazilian Jadson Andre has taken the win at the 2009 Quiksilver Pro Durban at Ansteys Beach on Durban’s Bluff over the weekend, defeating Australian ripper Owen Wright after putting on an amazing display of backhand power surfing.

Jadson walked away with US$20,000 in prize money and 3,500 WQS ratings points for the win. With a heat score of 18.00 out of a possible 20, the highest score of the entire event, Andre proved the surfer of the event and deservedly took home the title.

In clean four foot conditions and a pushing tide, the Brazilian goofy-footer was in amazing form, blasting some inverted backhand vertical moves on his way to victory. After two early waves, Andre officially announced his intentions when he logged a 7.00 to take an early lead. Wright quickly answered back with a 5.00, but as Andre arrived back in the lineup he found himself sitting directly in the path of a heaving right. Flying off the bottom, Andre squared up and went vertically up the face to smash a huge
re-entry, sending kilo-litres of spray flying into the air. Racing down the line Andre then backed up his initial cracker with two additional turns to secure a near perfect 9.33 out of a possible 10 and leave Wright needing a combination of scores to usurp the Brazilian’s lead.

Not one to lie down, the plucky Australian paddled into a solid left-hander that walled up perfectly for him as he boosted a beautiful aerial move to pick up an 8.33 and close his required score down to 8.10. With just nine minutes to go Wright found a similar looking left and again boosted a huge 360 aerial, but unfortunately came unstuck on his second move, a vicious forehand layback, and scored only a 6.83.

In the 32nd minute of the 35 minute final, Andre put the nail in Wright’s coffin as he paddled into a big left and smashed two powerful forehand turns as the crowd on the beach showed their appreciation and the judges awarded him an 8.67 to effectively end Wright’s hopes of taking home the title.

“I’m really happy to have won this event,” said the elated victor after spraying the crowd with champagne, “and I’d just like to thank all my friends and everyone who was on the beach today supporting me. When I was out in the water I just concentrated on surfing as well as I could and I am really happy to have won such a prestigious event.”

Andre has been in great form the entire event, eliminating a host of big name surfer on his way to the final, among them world tour stalwart Victor Ribas (Brazil), superbly talented Kirk Flintoff (Australia) and Bluff local
Rudy Palmboom.

“I’ve had a great time here in Durban,” said runner-up Wright at the prize-giving, “and I’m super stoked to have made the final. This is the second final I’ve surfed against Jadson, so I guess now it’s one all buddy!”

Both semi-finals were close fought affairs with each of the winners only sneaking through on the siren. In the first semi-final new school standout Julian Wilson took on compatriot Wright. Starting off slowly Wilson was behind for most of the heat until a huge forehand 360 aerial saw the judges award him an 8.00 to push him into the lead. Needing a low six to take back the lead, Wright found a meaty looking left right on the siren, milking it all the way to the beach where he finished with his own 360 air to post a 6.33 and knock his 21 year old compatriot out of contention.

In the second semi-final Australian Matt Wilkinson found himself having to contend with an in-form Andre who had put on a phenomenal display of aerial surfing in the quarter finals to eliminate Ireland’s Glenn Hall. But as the tide pushed in, Andre changed tact and began using his rail as he carved some beautiful turns. Andre had a terrible start to the heat, breaking his board on his opening wave and losing time as he had to swim in and get a back-up of the beach. In the mean time Wilkinson went to work and began to build a lead over the unfortunate Brazilian.

Andre began his fight back but in the dying seconds Andre found himself in second and facing elimination. Needing a low score, Andre paddled into a medium size left-hander and carved it up all the way to the beach, ending in the shorebreak before stepping off his board and running on to the sand. When the commentator announced his wave score, a 5.23, enough for him to advance to the final, a clearly elated Andre punched the air with his board.

Durban’s favourite surfing son Travis Logie bowed out of contention in the quarter finals of the event as Australian surfers came to the fore and dominated the round. Fresh off a win in the Mark Richards Pro in Newcastle, Australia, Logie bowed out to a rampant Owen Wright (Australia) and was clearly disappointed at the defeat after showing great form throughout the event. Nevertheless, the fifth place finish saw the 29 year old pocket US$2,950 in prize money and 2275 points for his efforts, a substantial boost to his 2009 WQS campaign.

Logie had been one of the dominant forces through the course of the week, but found himself up against a rampant Owen Wright (Australia) in the first of the quarter finals. Wright has also been in great form this week, posting some of the highest scores of the contest in his lead up to the heat with Logie, and threw down the gauntlet in the quarters. Despite starting out the heat with a classic tube-ride, Logie came unstuck on several of his follow-up waves and was unable to answer back to Wright’s 15.57 heat score.

Another highlight of the day was the final of the Quiksilver Pro Junior which took place as a curtain-raiser to the main event’s final and saw Umhlanga Rocks surfer Kyle Lane take on Hawaii’s Kiron Jabour. Lane was
quick out of the starting blocks, finding himself in his element in the running four footers to take an early lead. Lane’s backhand attack proved too much for the young Hawaiian and as the timer ticked down Jabour found himself short of the South African’s 14.83 when the siren sounded. Lane’s win saw him walk away with US$2,500 in prize money.

“It’s been a nerve-wracking week waiting to surf the final,” said Lane after leaving the water, “so I just surfed and trained as much as I could and I guess it paid off in the end and I’m really stoked.”

The Quiksilver Pro Durban was contested by some of the world’s best surfers and carried the highest possible WQS rating and US$145,000 in prize money.

- Issued by Gorilla Creative Media on behalf of Quiksilver

Dorin Bambus and Barry Tuck

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!

The Association of Surfing Professionals Grade 2 junior event is due to take place from April 17 – 26 2009.

With a generous prize pot of $10 000 (about R91 000) and several points up for grabs, the contest is attracting every major name in South African junior surfing, as well as an impressive line-up of international surfers.

Leading the local contingent will be South African junior team top seed and one of the most dominant forces on the local junior surfing circuit, Nick Godfrey of St. Francis.

Dale and Dane Staples, defending champion Klee Strachan (of Winklespruit) and Kyle Lane (of Umhlanga) will also be part of the action.