South Africa netted three gold, a silver and two bronze medals. Team South Africa’s hopes of scoring a third consecutive gold in the team event was dashed by a mere 260 points when Australia beat us 10456 to 10196.

But individually, Chris Knutsen and Heather Clark did us proud by defending their titles in the Grand Kahunas and women’s Masters respectively. Andrew Banks from Port Shepstone won his first ISA world title in the Masters event. “I feel extremely happy. This is the reason I came here.”

Andre and David Malherbe, the two brothers from East London, were responsible for the bronze medals, with Andre coming third in the Grand Masters and David in the Kahunas.

Clark’s achievement is all the more remarkable considering that she was in a life-threatening car accident less than a year ago.

East Londoner Wayne Monk placed equal ninth overall in the Masters division, Rob Moore-Boyle from Durban came seventh in the Grand Masters and fellow Durbanite and SA team captain Marc Wright, placed sixth overall in Panama.

Well done, everyone!

- 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

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.

When East Londoner Greg “The Foot” Emslie emerged as the winner of the O’Neill Cold Water Classic South Africa in Cape Town yesterday, he became the first South African to do so in home surf in the entire history of the event.

With Emslie beating Australian Dion Atkinson at Kommetjie’s Long Beach, it means that the recent South African surfing winning streak continues.

“Jordy (Smith) won the other two local events and now I’ve won the third,” Emslie said after the event. “I was thinking to myself, ‘I beat Jordy in this event, now I can’t let the guy down and lose the final’. We’ve got to keep all the trophies at home, so I’m stoked I managed to do that.”

It was close though. As the Mercury reports, Emslie’s victory over Atkinson came down to a final wave in the dying minutes of the contest.

By accomplishing this amazing feat, during which he defeated Australia’s Adam Melling in the last round, the 22-year old also managed to secure the top spot on the ASP World Title Race Rankings, knocking the legendary Kelly Slater from his perch as the world’s number one surfer.

“This is the best day of my life,” Jordy said from the podium. “The crowd on the beach has been supporting me the last few days and hearing the cheers and the vuvuzelas just get me fired up to perform. It feels like they’re pushing me along. I couldn’t have done it without them.

“I knew the swell was dying and I had to take advantage of every wave that came through.” Referring to Adam Melling, he said: “[He] is such a dangerous surfer. He’s been in form all day and I knew that if he got the waves, he would get the scores. I went out there knowing I had to open up strong.”

Adam said: “The ocean didn’t cooperate with me in the Final so that’s a shame but I couldn’t be happier. We had amazing waves and to get the best result of my career is huge. I came into Jeffreys with a long road ahead if I were to make the mid-year cut-off, and now that I’m 19th, I feel like I have a bit of a buffer heading into Tahiti. I worked really hard to get here and I want to stay here.”

The next stop on the 2010 ASP World Tour is the Billabong Pro Tahiti from August 23 through September 3, 2010.

Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay Final Results:

1 – Jordy Smith (ZAF) 17.93
2 – Adam Melling (AUS) 10.00

Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay Semi-final Results:

SF 1: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.83 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 14.40
SF 2: Adam Melling (AUS) 14.00 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 10.67

Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay Quarter-final Results:

QF 1: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 16.43 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 9.20
QF 2: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.17 def. Sean Holmes (ZAF) 11.83
QF 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) 11.00 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 3.66
QF 4: Adam Melling (AUS) 16.43 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 5.67

Current ASP World Title Race Top 5 (after South Africa):

1. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 28500 pts
2. Taj Burrow (AUS) 24750 pts
3. Kelly Slater (USA) 23500 pts
4. Dane Reynolds (USA) 20000 pts
5. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 19500 pts
6. Mick Fanning (AUS) 19250 pts
7. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 18750 pts
8. Bobby Martinez (USA) 16500 pts
9. Jadson Andre (BRA) 16000 pts
10. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 14750 pts

That is just one of the many reasons why the O’Neill surf rider is up for Men’s Health Magazine’s “Best Men 2010” awards.  The surfer is nominated in the category “The Game Changer”, who the magazine defines as “… the man who is turning an industry on its head by inventing new and creative ways of working… and playing.”

Men’s Health also acknowledges Jordy for his invention of his ground-breaking “Rodeo Flip” aerial surfing manoeuvre. But apart from his undeniable skill on the board, he also gets our vote for revealing and breaking out his inner musician during a song writing and performance collaboration with local group Goldfish, in which he proved that he’s not even a fish out of water in the recording studio. The result of Jordy’s combined efforts with Goldfish is the track “Flying Stealth – Jordy Smith vs. Goldfish”, which can be heard and downloaded over here.

We also think Jordy deserves the title for his do-gooder side, which he displayed when he recently lent his support to the Surfrider Foundation’s “Oil and Water don’t Mix” t-shirt campaign to stop oil companies from drilling in the world’s oceans. The campaign was launched in order to prevent another catastrophic environmental disaster, such as the current BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, from happening ever again.

“From growing up in South Africa and travelling on the Tour, I’ve been given the opportunity to surf some of the nicest beaches around the world. So when I see what’s happening in the Gulf Coast, it’s a sad reminder how badly offshore oil drilling can damage our oceans and marine life. Hopefully this t-shirt will help bring more awareness to the issue and keep oil companies away from the waters we love,” Jordy said.

The limited edition t-shirt is available for US$20 from O’Neill. Funds will be contributed towards the clean-up efforts in the Gulf.

To join us in lending your support to Jordy, you can vote for him here. Go on! We honestly can’t think of a more deserving dude.

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.

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!

Following the conclusion of the mid-year international surfing contest season in South Africa, 26-year old Bryson – formerly of East London and now residing and surfing in Cape Town – clinched the title after being in dominant form in the four ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) events staged in South Africa this year.

By winning the 1-Star-rated Lizzard Nandos Pro in Durban, finishing as runner-up in the 5-Star O’Neill Cold Water Classic in Cape Town and placing equal 17th in both the 6-Star Prime-rated Quiksilver Pro Durban and the 6-Star Mr Price Pro Ballito, Bryson managed to accumulate 4263 points. That’s nearly 700 more than ASP Africa runner-up Travis Logie, from Durban. Bryson also set a prize-money record by pocketing R102 350, more than double that earned by any of the other 96 ASP Africa members.

After losing their places among the top 45 ranked surfers on the ASP world Tour at the end of last year, Bryson and Logie are hoping to requalify for the 2010 Dream Tour.

Since there was only one event – the Mr. Price Pro Ballito – no ASP Africa women’s champion will be crowned this year. The 2009 ASP Africa Pro Junior men’s and women’s U20 titles will be up at the Billabong Pro Junior events at Victoria Bay at the end of September.

The event, in which prize money of R15 000 is up for grabs, has been turned into a truly international contest with the inclusion of two surfers from the island nation of Reunion, Johanne Defay and Canelle Bullard. The week-long contest kicked off on Monday, the 4th of May 2009 and will continue until next Monday.

In attendance is the reigning champion, Port Shepstone’s Heather Clark. She is vying for the winner’s pot of R10 000 against the likes of 2009 Roxy Wahine Cup winner Tarryn Chudleigh from Cape Town, and East London girls Nikita Robb and Alice MacGregor.

Competitors also include SA junior surfing team members Kirsty Delport (Durban), Tanika Hoffman (Cape Town), Bianca Buitendag (George) and Durbanite Sarah Baum, who is fresh from her victory at the Oakley Pro Junior that took place in Port Alfred over the weekend.

Faye Zoetmulder (Port Elizabeth) and Tasha Mentasti (Durban) are also competing.

For more information, visit http://www.roxy.co.za/invitational