Countdown to SA Surfing Awards Begins
Cape Town surfer Brendon Gibbens is one of the contenders for the new award "best use of social media" at the upcoming South African Surfing Awards presented by Zigzag surfing magazine. Gibbens was nominated for his blog http://brendongibbens.tumblr.com/ blog and his Innersection video clip. The SA Surfing Awards will take place on 9 July at Suncoast Casino and Entertainment World in Durban. Photog: Alan van Gysen
The countdown to the 1970′s themed South African Surfing Awards presented by Zigzag has begun. The event, which takes place on 9 July at Suncoast, will see the honouring of our Surfing South Africa Pro Surf Tour (PST) and ASP Africa champions and several sought after individual accolades such as SA Surfer of the Year.
One of the most anticipated aspects to the evening is the inductions of South Africa’s golden oldies to the “Legends” and “Hall of Fame” Honours boards. The legends are those who have advanced South African surfing through the contribution to the industry, administration or some other pioneering aspect of our sport, while the Hall of Fame contenders are those who earned their stripes out in the water or through competitive surfing.
The lists read like a who’s who of South African surfing. Max Wetteland, Shaun Tomson, Jonathan Paarman, Gavin Rudolph, Mike Larmont, Tony van den Heuwel, Spider Murphy, Errol Hickman, Mike Ginsberg, Peers Pittard, Graham Hynes, Baron Stander, Peter Burness, Ernie Tomson and John Whitmore are some of the names that those outside of surfing may recognise.
The “Surfer of the Year” award has been dominated by Jordy Smith (Durban) over the last few years. Smith is undoubtedly South Africa’s most successful surfer on the international stage since Wendy Botha won the women’s world title in 1987. Grant Baker has been the only surfer able to break Smith’s stranglehold on this accolade when he took the award after dominating the Red Bull Big Wave Africa and Billabong XXL in 2008.
This year the Surfer of the Year will be split into Men’s and Women’s categories. Smith will be a front runner for the Men’s award once again, having finished runner up to the world title crown last year, the highest Men’s year end ranking by a South African for almost quarter a century. The Women’s award will be a closer fought affair, with Rosy Hodge and Nikita Robb (both East London) enjoying top step international experiences, while exciting young surfers Sarah Baum (Amanzimtoti) and Bianca Buitendag (George) have dominated local contests and ISA events.
Three new exciting awards introduced this year are “best use of social media”, “team performance of the year” and “moment of the year”.
Zigzag, Paarl Media KZN and Carling Black label are once again proud supporters of the South African Surfing Awards. Only a few of the 250 tickets remain. Tickets sold out long before the ticket booth closed last year, so those wishing to attend the event are advised to log on to www.computicket.com to book.
SRC: Zigzag / Olivia Jones Communications
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Jordy SA Surfer of the Year
Wow, but Jordy Smith really is riding a huge wave of success at the moment and that wave doesn’t appear set to come crashing down on the rocks any time soon.
If he doesn’t let up, this entire blog runs the risk of becoming all about him – but we won’t mind all that much. Just last week, we told you how the 22-year old South African professional surfer, who is ranked number two in the world after legendary Kelly Slater, is nominated for Men’s Health Magazine’s “Best Men of 2010″ awards and how he is using his name and fame to get involved in environmental issues.
On Sunday night, Jordy received the highest honour at the 2010 South African Surfing Awards when he was crowned South Africa’s Surfer of the Year. As Sports24 reports, the rapturous applause this announcement was greeted with solidifies “his growing reputation as one of the world’s most exciting surfers, as well as South Africa’s reputation as one of the leaders in world surfing.”
Another of the night’s honorees was Cape Town’s big wave rider Chris Bertish, who received the ‘Pushing the Boundaries’ title.
Three more surfers were inducted into the Surfing Hall of Fame. They are Peers Pittard, Christine Petrucci (1942-2009) and Hugh Roe. The late Christine’s children were there to accept the award on her behalf.
The Surf Photographer of the Year award was given to Durban’s Greg Ewing, whose prolific and skillfully executed body of work has established him as one of the country’s leading surfing photographers.
Umhlanga’s Beyrick de Vries received The Blowing Up Performer Award, given to the country’s most exciting up and coming junior surfer under the age of 20.
Cecil Solomon from Cape Town received the Agent of Change award for “spreading the stoke of surfing among all communities and at all levels” – which is a fitting description for the man who founded South Africa’s first non-racial surf club.
For a full list of the evening’s award recipients and honorees, read Sport24′s coverage of the event.
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