South African Bodyboarding Champs 2011 at Big Bay
The South African Bodyboarding Champs is on at Big Bay this week. Be sure to pop in and support the guys. I’ll be doing limited covering with pics this week when the swell picks up, hopefully Wednesday the 5th of October 2011.
Watch this space for some fun coverage and comment us if you’re keen to contribute.
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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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Kotze Takes Crown At 2010 Fox Surfer X
Some of the country’s top surf and motocross professionals descended on Durban this past weekend for what is widely regarded to be one of the highlights on the South African action sports calendar, the fourth annual Fox Surfer X.
In this unique, cross-over contest, participants show off their versatility and skills by competing in both a surfing competition on the Umhlanga coast and an MX race around the Springfield dirt race track. Points are given according to positions attained in the two contests and then those are added together to determine a contestant’s final ranking. The overall winner is the person who had managed to accumulate the most points.
In this case, the honours went to Plettenberg Bay boy Wihanne Kotze, who had a narrow win over Dylan Lightfoot to take home much of the R20 000 prize money and the title of 2010 Fox Surfer X champion.
The contest had kicked off on Saturday in idyllic surfing conditions. On Sunday, contestants were greeted by a powerful South Easterly wind and a shortened race course at the Springfield track. The wind made the race extremely challenging, with several crashes happening during the practice rounds.
But in the end, Wihanne Kotze’s performance during both events added up to victory in the Main Class, with Lightfoot in second place and Shaun Baker coming in third.
“Despite the challenging weather conditions at the track, this year’s Surfer X was as successful as we had hoped it would be,” said Jon Channing, Fox’s Marketing Manager. “The new format, with the introduction of the Pro Surf and Pro MX Class, made sure that all the races and heats were closely contested and provided more excitement for the spectators.”
The event was co-sponsored by Monster Energy and PS3.
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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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Flood of Enquiries To Help Break Earthwave Surfing Record
The founders of the Earthwave surfing and sustainable lifestyle festival have been inundated with enquiries from Capetonian surfers who wish to be part of a potentially record-breaking event.
The surfers want to help South Africa break the Guinness World Record for ‘most surfers riding the same wave’ at Muizenberg beach near Cape Town on 4 October. The attempt will form part of the two-day Earthwave global environmental festival held there on the weekend of 3 and 4 October.
South Africa wants to reclaim its 2006 Guinness World title when 73 surfers managed to ride the same wave at Muizenberg. Brazil snatched the title with 84 surfers breaking the record in 2007. In 2008, they broke their own record with 100 surfers.
Picture: Jim McLagan/Argus
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