It would be pretty safe to refer to Rosanne Hodge as South Africa’s top female surfer these days. And should anyone try to dispute it, you now have some concrete evidence to back it up.
At the recent Billabong ISA World Surfing Games in Costa Rica, the East London native became the star of the South African team when she won the silver medal in the women’s division – the only Saffa to win a medal in the event. Despite that, the team did well enough to earn South Africa an overall fifth place in the event – an improvement to last year’s seventh place finish in Portugal.
According to a report in the Daily Dispatch, Rosanne “started the final day confidently, posting rides of 6.20 and 7.0 out of 10 to win her heat in Round 5 of the Qualifying stream and advance directly into the women’s final along with second placed Sage Ericson (US).”
In the end, though, the gold went to American Courtney Conlogue.
But even though she didn’t score the top medal, to us, Rosy is definitely SA surfing’s golden girl. Congrats, Rosy! We’re very proud of you.
The South African team who will be competing in the 2009 International Surfing Association (ISA) World Surfing Games has been announced by the Surfing South Africa (SSA) Board of Directors.
The Games will take place in Playa Hermosa near San Jose in Costa Rica in August.
The 2009 South African Surfing Team consists of four men, two women, two male longboarders, three coaches and a manager. The surfers in the men’s team are Brandon Jackson and Damien Fahrenfort, who are both from Durban, Rudy Palmboom from Bluff, and 2008’s SA team captain, Ryan Payne from Cape St Francis. Llewellyn Whittaker from Mossel Bay is the non-travelling reserve.
The Women’s team members are East London chick surfers Rosanne Hodge and Nikita Robb. Tarryn Chudleigh of Kommetjie will be the non-travelling reserve.
The longboarders are South Africa’s current Longboard champion Justin Bing from Noordhoek, and his runner-up Michael Hill from Cape St Francis.
Mike Sheppard will be the team’s manager. Graham Hynes will be head coach, Ant Brodwicz will be deputy coach and Kevin Olsen will be the assistant/technical coach.
Cyril Nel from East London has been appointed by the ISA as one of two head judges for the event. Another Saffa, Sandile Mqadi, will be part of the international judging panel.
South African surfer Jordy Smith continued his run in the Rip Curls Bells Beach Pro presented by Snickers in Victoria, Australia, yesterday when he defeated Damien Hobgood of the USA in waves described as “inconsistent but near perfect two metre[s]” to advance to the third round of this second stop on the 2009 ASP World Tour.
Despite seven lay days since his dominant performance in Round 1 and despite a minor back complaint, the 21-year old Durbanite managed to record scores of 7.50 and 5.50 to beat Hobgood.
“I think there were only three sets all heat and luckily I got two of them,” Smith said after only riding a total of three waves in the 30 minute heat. “I feel lucky to get through to the next round. When I woke up this morning it looked really good and I’m sure throughout the day the waves are just going to get better.”
In the third round, Smith will be pitted against giant-killer and wildcard, 19-year old Australian Owen Wright. Wright caused a huge upset when he beat nine-time ASP World Champion and defending Rip Curl Pro Champion, Kelly Slater. Wright handed the American surfing legend his second successive 17th place finish and increased the pressure on Slater’s bid for an unprecedented 10th world title.
Smith’s fellow Durbanite, David Weare – who is the only other South African still in the event after Greg Emslie from East London was eliminated in Round 1 – has yet to complete his Round 2 heat against Hawaiian Frederick Patacchia.
The Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach presented by Ford New Fiesta was completed on Sunday with Silvana Lima from Brazil claiming her maiden ASP Women’s World Tour crown by beating reigning two-times ASP Women’s World Champion, Australian Stephanie Gilmore, in the final.
South Africa’s Rosanne Hodge placed ninth in the event after she was ousted by Sofia Mulanovich from Peru in Round 3.
Rosanne Hodge, South Africa’s only representative on the 2009 ASP Women’s World Tour, has gone through to Round 3 of the opening event of the year, the Roxy Pro Gold Coast presented by LG Mobile, which is taking place in Australia right now.
Rosanne finished behind Australia’s Stephanie Gilmore, the reigning and two-time ASP Women’s World Champion.
Organisers relocated the opening day of the event from the primary venue of Snapper Rocks to nearby Duranbah Beach. There, in small 0.7 metre waves, Rosanne recorded rides of 6.0 and 6.03 out of 10 to secure automatic qualification to Round 3.
Despite a ligament injury to his left knee that prevented him from competing in the season-ending Billabong Pipeline Masters in Hawaii, South Africa’s Jordy Smith still managed to qualify for a second year on the elite ASP World Tour!
While current ASP No. 4 Joel Parkinson recorded only the second perfect 20 out of 20 heat score in ASP World Tour history on Day 2 of the event, the last of the 12 competitors who could have overtaken Smith was eliminated, leaving the 20 year-old rookie Durbanite amongst the top 27 on the rankings who automatically re-qualify for the following year.
His chances of a second year on the dream tour looked bleak when his doctor advised him to withdraw from the Pipeline event.
Global Surf News reports that, although Jordy’s final ranking position will not be known until the event is completed, he is now guaranteed to finish in the top 27, particularly if Hawaiian Bruce Irons, who has qualified ahead of Jordy for 2009, follows through with his decision to retire from the ASP World Tour after the Pipeline event.
Jordy will be joined on the 2009 ASP World Tour by David Weare (Durban) and Greg Emslie (East London) who finished Nos. 7 and 10 respectively in the 2008 ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) rankings. Travis Logie (Durban), Royden Bryson (East London) and Ricky Basnett (Bluff) finished the year outside the top 27 on the World Tour and failed to re-qualify.
In the mean time, another South African, Rosanne Hodge, demonstrated her affinity with the classic waves of Honolua Bay on the Hawaiian island of Maui when she reached the quarterfinals of the Billabong Pro Maui event on Wednesday, the first time this year that the East Londoner has advanced past Round 3 in an ASP Women’s World Tour event.
The 21-year old recorded her career best result in the 2007 event at Honolua Bay, advancing to the semifinals before being ousted in equal third place by eventual event winner Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
Although she has already qualified for her third year on the ASP Women’s World Tour via her No. 3 ranking on the 2008 ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS), Rosanne will be determined to better her previous best and improve her current World Tour ranking of No. 15.
Some of South Africa’s top professional surfers are in Hawaii to compete in the career-deciding Reef Hawaiian Pro, the first of the Hawaiian Triple Crown series of events which kicked off in Haleiwa on the north shore of the island of Oahu yesterday.
This event forms part of the series which will determine the 2008 men’s and women’s ASP World Champions as well as the qualifiers for the 2009 ASP World Tours.
South Africans David Weare (Durban) and East Londoners Greg Emslie and Rosanne Hodge, along with the rest of the SA contingent in the event, are facing notoriously powerful surf, predicted to reach five metres on the Hawaiian scale (seven metre faces).
According to this report, the SA trio are at a career crossroads, as they are on the cusp of qualifying for the prestigious and lucrative top tiers of world surfing next year.
And although they may well have done enough on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) during the year, there are enough points at stake in the remaining events to see them overtaken in the ratings and relegated to competing on the ‘Grind’, as the WQS is referred to, in 2009.
They’ve already had close calls on the circuit. Emslie, an eight year veteran on the ASP World Tour before narrowly missing out at the end of last year, and Weare, who spent an injury riddled 2007 at surfing’s top table, currently occupy the number eight and nine positions in the ratings, well within the top 15 cutoff for qualification.
However, with the bulk of the world’s top 45 ranked surfers and a host of notoriously competitive Hawaiian locals in the mix for the Reef Hawaiian Pro (12-23 November) and the O’Neill World Cup at Sunset Beach (24 Nov-6 Dec), and a massive 3 000 points on the line in the two 6-Star Prime rated events, the South Africans will be determined to improve their points tallies to protect their positions.
Good luck, guys and gals! We’ll be rooting for you!
