- 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

Western Province, the hosts, took second place and the visitors from Reunion Island came third. The Emergin South African team came fourth and Boland came in at fifth place.

The U18 Boys Final title was snatched up by South African junior team member David Brand, who managed to beat current SA champion Matt Bromley of Western Province, pushing him down to second place. Hugo Dubosc of Reunion Island came third and Mikey February, another member of the South African team, came fourth.

This victory has managed to distinguish Brand as the top seed in the U18 SA Team when they compete in the ISA World Junior championships in New Zealand in January 2010.

The U18 Girls’ Final title went to Sarah Baum of the SA Team. She beat Camilla Davila of Reunion Island, who came second. Heidi Palmboom of the SA Junior Team came third and current U18 Girls’ champion Alice McGregor of the Emerging SA Team ended up in fourth place.

The U16 Boys’ finals saw the title going to Daniel Wilson of the Western Province. South African team members Steven Sawyer and Jarred Veldhuis came second and third. Fourth place went to another WP surfer, Benji Brand.

The U14 Boys’ Final victory also went to a WP surfer: Max Armstrong. He beat SA Emerging team member Benjamin de Castro. Lucas Jannier of Reunion Island came third and Brandon Benjamin of the Emerging SA Team came fourth.

The Reunion team members have been spending this past week training in Durban, where they will take on the SA team again, as well as a team from Central KwaZulu-Natal and Southern KwaZulu-Natal in Durban tomorrow and Saturday. The Reunion Islanders return home on Sunday, but they’ve already promised to host a reciprocal event on their home turf next year.

Well done Junior SA Team! Hopefully this weekend’s challenge against Reunion Island and the KwaZulu-Natal teams will see a stellar repeat performance!

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.

Excellent head high waves marked the finals which took place at The Point at Jeffrey’s Bay on Saturday.

The home team from the host province, Eastern Province, clinched the coveted team title by beating defending champions Western Province by quite a large margin. Newcomers Southern Cape took the impressive third place and KwaZulu-Natal came fourth overall.

On the individual side, the premier Open Men’s division saw a new champion being crowned when Justin Bing from the Western Province – who was the junior champion last year, beat a trio of Eastern Province competitors: Michael Hill, 2006 Open champion Dylan McLeod and Ludie du Toit.

Despite suffering a serious and shockingly unexpected stroke earlier this year – which almost cost him his life – defending champion and two-time ISA World Longboard champion Matthew Moir (Southern Cape), remarkably managed to reach the semi-finals before being eliminated. The 31-year old Moir has astonished everyone with his swift recovery and return to the surf.

Eastern Province’s Steven Sawyer and Phillipa Hill managed to successfully defend their 2008 titles (boys’ and senior women’s respectively). Other Eastern Province riders who won are Greg Smith (Senior Men) and John McLeod (Super Legends).

Apart from Justin Bing’s victory, the Western Province also produced 2009 SA champions in Simone Robb (Open Women), her husband Alan Robb (Grandmasters) and Mark Hoyle (Veterans), while KwaZulu-Natal delivered SA champions in Scott Lefevre (Juniors), Brad Weare (Masters), Hugh Thompson (Super Vets) and Mike Larmont (Legends).

The Southern Cape’s sole individual title went to Bianca Buitendag in the Girls division.

The full results are:

Team Standings
1.  Eastern Province            137 780
2.  Western Province           121 200
3.  Southern Cape               109 290
4.  Kwazulu-Natal                  93 400

Open Men
1.  Justin Bing (WP)
2.  Michael Hill (EP)
3.  Dylan McLeod (EP)
4.  Ludie du Toit (EP)

Open Women
1.  Simone Robb (WP)
2.  Michelle Hill (EP)
3.  Bianca Buitendag (SC)
4.  Roxy Towill (SC)

Junior Men (16-18 years)
1.  Scott Lefevre (KZN)
2.  Saul Bernstein (EP)
3.  Grant Beck (EP)
4.  Aaran Simmons (EP)

Masters (31-35)
1.  Brad Weare (KZN)
2.  Greg Heasley (EP)
3.  Ryan Anderson (EP)
4.  Michael Grendon (WP)

Grandmasters (36-40)
1.  Alan Robb (WP)
2.  Craig Cuff (EP)
3.  Glen Thompson (SC)
4.  Tim Ball (WP)

Senior Men (41-45)
1.  Greg Smith (EP)
2.  David Stubbs (WP)
3.  Craig van Greunen (EP)
4.  Deon Bing (WP)

Veterans (46-50)
1.  Mark Hoyle (WP)
2.  Steven Hair (SC)
3.  Fred Le Roux (KZN)
4.  Andrew Lenton (EP)

Super Vets (51-55)
1.  Hugh Thompson (KZN)
2.  Des Sawyer (EP)
3.  G.Byram (WP)
4.  Gavin Seaman (EP)

Legends (56-60)
1.  Mike Larmont (KZN)
2.  Greg Stokes (WP)
3.  Ken Saddington (KZN)
4.  Mush Hide (EP)

Super Legends (61 and over)
1.  John McLeod (EP)
2.  Mike Patterson (KZN)
3.  Mike Hornsey (SC)
4.  Terry Dean (SC)

Boys (15 and younger)
1.  Steven Sawyer (EP)
2.  Daniel Buitendag (SC)
3.  Chaim Simmons (EP)
4.  Galad Smith (EP)

Girls (15 and younger)
1.  Bianca Buitendag (SC
2.  Faye Zoetmulder (EP)
3.  Jessie Goodman (WP)
4.  Tess Saunders (SC)

Senior Women (35 and over)
1.  Phillipa Hill (EP)
2.  Bernie Shelley (WP)
3.  Margot Sanders (EP)
4.  Therese Russell (WP)

The Under 18 Boys team members are: Nick Godfrey (Eastern Province), Shaun Joubert (Southern Cape), Matthew Bromley (Western Province), and Dale Staples (Southern Cape). Brendan Gibbens (Western Province) is the non-travelling reserve.

The Under 18 Girls group will consist of Bianca Buitendag (Southern Cape), Sarah Baum (KwaZulu-Natal), Tanika Hofmann (Western Province) and Kirsty Delport (KwaZulu-Natal). Heidi Palmboom (KwaZulu-Natal) is the non-travelling reserve.

The surfers who will compete in the Under 16 Boys division are Michael February and David Brand (Western Province), Dane Staples (Southern Cape) and Slade Prestwich (KwaZulu-Natal). Steven Sawyer (Eastern Province) is the non-travelling reserve.

The fact that brothers Dale and Dane Staples (both from Jeffreys Bay) both made the 2009 South African Junior Team is not only a proud moment for their family, but also a historic moment for South African surfing as they become the first set of brothers to represent South Africa at a Junior World Championship.

The Junior Championships will involve over 30 countries from five continents. The annual tournament determines the World Junior Team Champions, the World Junior ISA Tag Team Champions and medalists in the Under 18 Boys and Girls and Under 16 Boys Divisions.