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.
While he continues to rip his way across the surf of the world, Jordy Smith has decided to finally make his presence felt in the world of virtual surfing as well.
Just days ago, he launched the official Jordy Smith website.
The slick site features video clips of Jordy in action as well as photos and a blog. There is also a news section that will keep interested parties in the loop about where in the world Jordy is and what he is up to. (Currently he is taking part in the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast presented by LG Mobile in Australia.)
Find Jordy’s profile, biography, as well as his growing list of sponsors on the site, all to the sound of some his favourite tunes.
Impressive, Jordy! We’ll definitely make a point of including it in our list of stops on our daily virtual surfing session of the web!
New inventions get patented daily. Some ideas are so awesome, they become manufactured products that we use on a daily basis and eventually can’t fathom life without.
On the other hand, some of the other ideas are best left in someone’s head… where it ought not to be granted a second thought or even remain a memory.
We’d like to know what you guys (and gals) think about this one: A surfboard with a viewing window. The idea, patented in 2005, has been subjected to mixed reviews.
One reviewer – a South African surfer no less – didn’t particularly like the view he saw through the window when he took the board out for a spin: a Great White Shark swimming below him…
Now, we agree with him that in these terrifying instances ignorance might definitely be more blissful, but the knowledge did give him the upper hand and he was able to get out of the water quickly and safely.
Other reviewers don’t necessarily ascribe to the idea that ‘less is more’. Some have suggested that, instead of merely having a smallish window at the one end of the otherwise solid board, the entire board should be clear. An entirely clear acrylic board will leave no mystery as to what lies ahead or underneath the surfer.
What do you think? Cool idea or not?
My roommate’s immediate reaction: “How on earth will an entirely clear board be visible in the water?”
She makes a clear point! And she doesn’t even surf!
And that isn’t our biased opinion. Okay, wait… let us rephrase: It isn’t merely OUR biased opinion.
Our riders have been doing so well over the past few years, they’ve wracked up enough medals to give us third place in the recently published International Surfing Association’s (ISA) country medal standings! Australian and Brazilian surfers hauled in the most and second most medals respectively.
Since 1996, South African surfers have won no less than 41 medals while representing the country at all World Championships events organised by the ISA.
South Africa’s medal total comprises fifteen Gold, seven Silver, eight Bronze and eleven Copper. The Golds include overall team victory in the 2002 World Surfing Games held in Durban, and in the two Masters events run in Puerto Rico in 2007 and in Peru last year.
Clinton ‘Gigs’ Celliers is SSA’s most successful representative, having won the WSG kneeboard title in 1992, ‘94’, ’96 and ’98 (although it has to be noted that only the ’96 and ’98 medals are included in the table) and also taking Silver in 2000 and 2002.
Jordy Smith, Matthew Moir and Chris Knutsen have each won two Golds. Smith earned the Under 16 crown in Durban in 2003 and the Open Men title at the WSG in California in 2006, where Moir also clinched the Longboard title which he successfully defended in Portugal last October. Knutsen won the Kahuna’s (Over 45) title in Puerto Rico and then the Grand Kahuna’s (Over 50) in Peru.
Individual Gold’s have also been won by Travis Logie (Open Men) and Warwick Wright (Under 18) in Durban in 2002 and by Mark Wright (Grandmasters / Over 40) and Heather Clark (Women’s Masters / Over 35) in Peru. The SSA Junior team took Gold in the ISA Cup (tag team) event in Brazil in 2006.
“Considering South Africa’s small surfing population, the number of medals won by our surfers is exceptional,” says proud SSA General Manager, Robin de Kock. “It is a tribute to the talent of the athletes and also the hard work and dedication of the coaches, managers and administrators in this country.”
We couldn’t agree more! Which is why we’ll be keeping our eyes on our surfers during these future events:
The Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships at Salinas in Ecuador (March 28 – 5 April) followed by the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games (July 31 – 8 August) and the World Masters in Chile later in the year.
Our advice to our South African surfers would be to pack light! Because at the going rate, they’ll be paying loads in excess baggage fees for all those medals that they are going to bring home!
Bloubergstrand’s BigBay recently played host to the 2009 Oxbow Big Bay Classic. Known as the most outstanding windsurfing event in Africa, it annually attracts top riders from around the world to compete in two windsurfing disciplines: the IFCA Slalom World Championships and the WSA Open Wave Championships.
From 5 to 10 January, over 40 local and international competitors, including South African slalom stars Peter Lumley, Cameron Bruce and Mark Durham, battled it out against Great Britain’s Ross William’s, Italy’s Alberto Menegati, France’s Benoit Moussilmani and Belgium’s Wolfgang Verlaeckt.
It is no surprise that BigBay is the chosen venue for this world class event. Consistent summer winds sweeping across the bay makes this arguably the best windsurfing spot in the world!
So the fact that the famous CapeDoctor wind took its sweet time to show up during this year’s event was merely a fluke. When it finally did arrive about four days into the event, it made for a spectacular show. Ben Van der Steen from the Netherlands secured the World Title slalom. But it was the last jump in the wave final, in which Great Britain’s Phil Horrocks set a double forward, that secured him the overall victory in the 2009 Open African Championships. Matthew Swart performed the best among the South African men, ending up in fifth place.
The South African women did exceptionally well, taking the top three spots in the ladies wave. Natasha Petersmann won, Katja Streih came in second place, and third place was tied between Sam Smithson and Maria Lyness-Bosing.
A new South African magazine aimed specifically at local surfers have seen the light, just in time to usher in 2009. It’s called BOMBsurf Mag and one major way in which it is bound to surely make a splash in these trying economic times is that subscription to its quarterly print edition is free to South Africans! Readers only have to pay for the postage it will cost to get it delivered to them.
The magazine is published by Big Ocean Media Bros, a start up media business with a focus on innovative and relevant content delivery to the South African surf and beach culture niche. The company co-founders and owners are John McCarthy and Iain Evans, two South Africans who, between them, have wracked up a lot of experience in the world of surf and publishing. Both were instrumental in the rebirth of the highly acclaimed SA Paddler magazine and the subsequent publication of the ‘Reflections – Paddling in South Africa’ Coffee Table book. They have played an instrumental role in the creation of events and media platforms that cater to the youth and action sports markets in South Africa.
They founded the magazine and its accompanying website (on which the contents of the entire magazine can be read in full and also for free) because they have always felt that the surfing industry requires a legitimate, relevant and credible series of media platforms to assist in both the growth of the sport of surfing as well as the lifestyle that is associated with it. South African surfers and those interested in surf and beach culture want specialised and relevant local surf content on the media channel of their choice. They want to be informed, entertained and inspired by a global outlook but with an afrocentric bias. And that is exactly what BOMBsurf aims to do.
After glancing through the first issue, which is jampacked with fascinating features penned by some of South Africa’s most legendary wave riders (such as veteran Shaun Tomson and Twiggy Baker), we think that they are definitely succeeding in their quest!
For more information, and to read the first issue in full online, click here.
The world’s best junior surfers will battle it out at the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships from January 3 – 10, 2008 at Sydney’s North Narrabeen Beach in New South Wales, Australia.
This is the most presitgious junior event in the world. It marks the culmination of the 2008 ASP Pro Junior Series where competitors from each of the seven ASP regions compete on their domestic tours for a chance at qualifying for the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships. A minimum of 13 countries will represent the seven ASP regions this January at North Narrabeen’s world-class beach breaks.
South African wunderkind Jordy Smith took the title in 2006, and some of the brilliant South African surfers hoping to follow in his footsteps will include Klee Strachan, Nick Godfrey, Shaun Joubert, Casey Grant, Rudy Palmboom Jr., Sarah Baum and Nikita Robb.
The names of the other countries’ Billabong ASP World Junior Championships qualifiers whom the South Africans will be competing against are:
ASP North America – Cory Arrambide (USA)
– Nat Young (USA)
– Andrew Doheny (USA)
– Travis Beckmann (USA)
– Blake Jones (USA)
– Christa Alves (USA)
– Courtney Conlogue (USA)
ASP Hawaii
– Kai Barger (HAW)
– Kiron Jabour (HAW)
– Casey Brown (HAW)
– Sebastian Zietz (HAW)
– TBA (HAW)
– Coco Ho (HAW)
– Leila Hurst (HAW)
ASP Japan
– Shota Nakamura (JPN)
– Nobuyuki Osawa (JPN)
– Kaito Sekimoto (JPN)
– Keito Matsuoka (JPN)
– Koki Nakamura (JPN)
– Nao Ohmura (JPN)
– Sayuri Hashimoto (JPN)
ASP South America
– Alex Ribeiro (BRA)
– Alejo Muniz (BRA)
– Ricardo dos Santos (BRA)
– Alex Lima (BRA)
– Magno Dias (BRA)
– Jadson Andre (BRA)
– Diana Cristina (BRA)
– Gabriela Leite (BRA)
ASP Europe
– Maxime Huscenot (REU)
– Marc Lacomare (FRA)
– Medi Veminardi (REU)
– Jatyr Bersaluce (EUK)
– Pierre-Valentin Laborde (FRA)
– Jules Thomet (FRA)
– Alizee Arnaud (FRA)
– Pauline Ado (FRA)
ASP Australasia
– Stuart Kennedy (AUS)
– Heath Joske (AUS)
– Tamaroa McComb (PYF/AUS)
– Jayke Sharp (AUS)
– Lincoln Taylor (AUS)
– Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
– Tyler Wright (AUS)
– Laura Enever (AUS)
ASP International Wildcards – Andres Wurst (PER)
– Dusty Payne (HAW)
– Owen Wright (AUS)
– Charley Martin (GLP)
– Luciana Heremoana (PYF)
– Sage Erickson (USA)
– Bethany Hamilton (HAW)
Billabong Wildcards
– Granger Larsen (HAW)
– Arini Mason (NZL)
– Paige Hareb (NZL)
Von Zipper Trialists (Top 2 into Billabong ASP World Junior Championships)
– Richard Christie (NZL)
– Nick Riley (AUS)
– Madison Williams (AUS)
– Mitch Crews (AUS)
– Julian Wilson (AUS)
– Nick Vasicek (AUS)
– Craig Anderson (AUS)
– Heifara-Peter Tahutini (PYF)
– Israel Surfer (ISR)
– Israel Surfer (ISR)
– Torrey Meister (HAW)
– Local North Narrabeen Surfer (AUS)
– Raditiya Rhondi (IDN)
– Kolohe Andino (USA)
– Peterson Cristanto (BRA)
– Brent Savage (AUS)
South African surfing champion Sean Holmes has just been re-signed by Billabong, Kustom and VonZipper to extend his role as one of their team riders for another three years.
The 31-year old is best known for his incredible surfing at Supertubes in Jeffreys Bay and particularly his feats as an uber-wildcard in the Billabong Pro ASP World Tour event where he twice eliminated former three-time World Champion, Hawaiian Andy Irons in Round 3, earning him the nickname of ‘The Nemesis’. Sean also gained international acclaim by winning the Red Bull Big Wave Africa event at Dungeons in 2000.
“Sean is one of South Africa’s greatest surfers and he has not reached his full potential on the world stage,” said Billabong South Africa CEO, Ernest Bendeman. “With the way the world ranking system is evolving the timing for Sean is perfect – he is surfing better than ever and he could cause some major upsets. He is truly an asset to our team.”
Sean who is a former Billabong SA marketing manager and now the marketing manager for a national restaurant chain, is looking forward to raising his game, competing internationally and assisting with the Billabong Adventure Division where he and big wave chargers Grant Baker and Greg Long will challenge some of the world’s biggest waves that batter the coastline of the Cape Peninsula every winter.
The Capetonian says he is looking forward to his future big wave exploits. “I’ve never really put my mind to competing in big waves but I’ve been free-diving for training and feel that my mind is now in the right place.”
“I’ll also be trying to get into the 6-Star rated Cold Water Classic events in big, hollow waves in Cape Town, Scotland, Canada, Tasmania and Santa Cruz,” added Holmes. “And of course I’m looking forward to contesting the VZ Wildcard Trials at Supers again and hopefully the trials of a couple of other World Tour events, as well as specialty contests like the Billabong Cloud Nine in the Philippines and the Quik Goodwave in Durban.”
“It was an easy decision to make as I received a huge amount of support from the SA surfing fraternity to start competing again,” commented Holmes. “I’m going to free up more time at work, spend a lot more time in the water and it’s going to be exciting giving it another go.”
Last Tuesday, history was made in South Africa when more than fifty of the country’s top male, female and junior stand up paddlers descended upon Canal Walk near Cape Town to participate in the first ever stand up paddle boarding event in Africa.
This sport, once practiced by ancient Hawaiian kings, might be new to the continent, but that didn’t make the stand up paddlers participating in the Men’s Health Canal Challenge (presented by Coreban Hawaii) any less competitive. It was intense racing to the end as athletes used special one sided paddles to attain speed.
But the fierce competition among the stand up paddlers was all for a good cause, proving them all to be upstanding citizens too. All proceeds from the event were donated towards Ikahya Le Themba, a non profit organisation supporting Aids orphans.
“The great thing about the event was that the athletes really wanted to use this unique event to give back to the community,” said Ivan van Vuuren, contest organiser.
Greg Bertish ended up taking home first place honors in the men’s pro division, with Tracey Heard beating the rest of the ladies.
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.
Capetonian and madly skilled chick surfer Stacey Guy has been chosen by Island Style International to head up their 2009 Pro Girl’s Surf team.
“Yay, I’m so stoked to be on the team, really happy with the deal!” said Stacey of her new sponsor. At just 24 years old, Stacey is the number two women’s surfer in South Africa.
Despite her young age, Stacey has already wracked up a long list of achievements and accolades, and she is already regarded as one of South Africa’s most formidable female competitors.
She earned her South African Junior colours in 2002 and 2003 and was WP Champion in every year from 2002 until 2007. She is apparently just as at home in front of the lens as she is in the surf, because she has already been featured on the cover of no less than five major international surfing publications, including Saltwater Girl Surf (twice), Liquid Girls Surfing Magazine, SurfGirl Europe (twice).
“Stacey is an awesome personality to have on board,” said Kyle Mclaren, Island Style’s Marketing Manager. “She is well respected by male and female surfers the World over and has been a formidable entity in the South African surf scene and on the local and international competitive calendar – her results definitely speak for themselves.”
A South African surfer made a splash recently in the art world when he shelled out a cool R17 000 for a surfboard.
So yes, granted, it wasn’t just any board. It was a two metre ‘wavescape’ meticulously decorated by underground comic artist Andy Mason.
A stunned Mason said he was “speechless” by the amount of money paid by avid surfboard art collector Glen Thompson. Thompson, who is a surfing historian, also bought Mason’s last two boards in 2005 and 2006. The amount Thompson bid for the “egg surfboard” is believed to be the highest paid in South Africa for a surfboard decorated by an artist.
The sale was part the third annual Wavescapes Surfboard Art Exhibition and charity auction to raise funds for the NSRI and Shark Spotters.
Of the R125,000 raised at the event, R18,500 came from five signed photographs of sharks by a top marine photographer from the Save Our Seas Foundation, Thomas Peschak. A famous image of a great white following a man in a kayak sold for R5,000.
The Wavescapes Film Festival, which kicked off at the Labia in Cape Town yesterday and will run until Sunday, 14 December, also forms part of the event.
The Board of Directors of Surfing South Africa has named the surfers who will represent South Africa at the 2009 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Championships taking place in Salinas, Ecuador from March 28 to April 5 2009.
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.
This year is not ending on a good note for Jordy Smith.
The young, talented South African surfer badly injured his left knee during last week’s O’Neill World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach. We’re all waiting with baited breath to see if his #25 ranking will hold up following the year-end Pipeline Masters to secure him a 2009 spot on the Dream Tour.
Just last week, Jordy was still on a roll, delivering a playful yet skillful performance at Sunset Beach. But then the unthinkable happened. ”I was bottom turning on my first wave and my foot slipped to the nose and I did the splits and I just felt my knee go. I tried to feel it out on the next wave and straight away I could tell that my knee was done.”
“I still want to surf the Pipeline Masters, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen,” he said.
Although his injury will eventually heal, the timing of it is really unfortunate – especially since he was on such a roll when it fell him.
We’ve heard it said before that, in order to get over one addiction, one needs to replace it with another, less destructive habit.
We don’t know if this is what the respected Tabankulu Recovery Centre, a rehab facility for recovering addicts in Cape Town, had in mind when they decided to implement surfing as part of their rehabilitation programme.
According to an article in the US based Christian Science Monitor, patients at the respected clinic are encouraged to take up the sport to help wean them off their various addictions and personal problems.
Once a week, an assortment of people struggling with alcoholism, drug addiction, bulimia, and other troubles pick up their boards and learn to surf in the waters around South Africa’s “Mother City.”
Their surfing instructor, Lenny Stolk, is himself a former heavy drinker and drug addict who kicked his habits seven years ago.
After his rehabilitation, Mr. Stolk returned to work, but was made redundant in June this year, which is when he thought about starting up LJ’s Surf Clinic.
“I spent 90,000 to 95,000 rand on the van and surfboards and spoke to the clinic,” says Stolk. “I did not want it to be a surf school.
“I wanted it to be a surf clinic to help addicts and people with problems,” says Stolk. “I’ve looked on the Internet and can’t find anywhere else that offers it.”
Since September, Stolk has taught about 20 people to surf.
Tabankulu offers a treatment programme in three different stages based on a 12-step recovery plan.
Most patients are from Britain and different parts of Africa, but it currently hosts people from Sweden, Holland, and Ukraine. They pay some R150 000 for a typical nine-month course of treatment.
Once a week, Stolk teaches two groups of five or six surfers, but he is keen to stress that it is seen as a “reward” for progression with other elements of the program.
“It takes my mind off drugs and my treatment,” says one of Stolk’s students. “It’s given me hope for the future.”
Cinic administrators say that surfing offers a new challenge for patients and fills a gap when they might otherwise be tempted to revert to bad habits. “It’s about having fun,” says Tabankulu director and owner Hugh Robinson. “The biggest task for a recovering addict is finding new enthusiasm for life. Surfing gives that – it gets the juices going, new excitement and passion. Also, when you get out into the sea on your board you realise how large the world is and how small you are.”
“It’s easy to say no and go back to drugging and drinking, but learning to surf gives you a real sense of achievement which is important,” says Stolk.
“I know what it’s like when you give something up,” Stolk adds. “It was okay for me because I’ve always surfed. But for those who’ve always drugged, you need something to fill your gap. It’s a good, clean sport and can be addictive!”
South Africa’s premier, stand-alone women’s surfing event, The Roxy Wahine Cup, is taking place at the gorgeous Suncoast Beach near Durban this weekend (29 & 30 November).
The best female surfers in the country are all going to be attending and competing in the event where they’ll be battling it out for a share of the generous prize money. Even newbies, with no previous event surf experience, will have a chance of competing in the Novice Division, in which an amazing one-year Roxy sponsorship is up for grabs.
Along with the surfing action, the Roxy Wahine Cup also offers a weekend-long festival of live music and fun on the lawns of Suncoast Beach.
Last years’s winner, Heather Clark, who pocketed R10,000 for her victory, is expected to be back to defend her title. She is bound to face tough competition from the likes of Tanika Hoffman, Tarryn Chudleigh, Nikita Robb, Kirsty Delport and Sarah Baum.
The Roxy Wahine Cup is a Surfing South Africa (SSA) event and forms part of the Pro Surf Tour.
The event is sponsored by Virgin Mobile and Resolution, and is supported by MXit, Supersport, Suncoast, Durban City, Clean & Clear, Nivea and Red Bull.
The Roxy Learn To Surf Tour, dedicated to teaching young girls the basics of surfing and ocean safety, is about to kick off its ’08 classes along some of South Africa’s premier beaches along the East and West coasts.
To date, the programme has taught more than 10 000 girls how to ride the waves. Last year alone, 1 000 girls took part.
Named after the popular girlie surfing brand (and NOT after popular South African chick surfer Roxy Louw), the Roxy Learn To Surf Tour has four teams of qualified and professional coaches heading up each coastal tour. This year, places can be conveniently booked online at Computicket (we love surfing events that simplify our lives by employing the world wide web). Tickets are a steal at R120 and will include an insane Roxy goodie bag. Entries close the day before the bookings, or whenever the particular lesson is fully booked.
Bookings are already open. Check out the Roxy site to see when the tour will hit your nearest beach.
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!
With South Africa’s summer vacation looming just around the corner, Travel iAfrica compiled a helpful list of some of South Africa’s best beaches, including those where only surfers dare to tread.
Their list isn’t too much of a revelation – no surprises or major secret spots are revealed – containing just the usual suspects, like national surfing Mecca Jeffrey’s Bay and the hotspots along this stretch of coastline like Supertubes, Kitchen Windows, Boneyards and Bruce’s Beauties(actually at St. Francis). But it’s still a good and helpful primer, especially for foreigners or those new to the sport and the local surfing scene.
For the full list (which also includes best kid friendly beaches and the name of SA’s most trendy beach), surf to this link.
South African surfers have teamed up with marine scientists to launch a campaign for the conservation of sharks. The Wavescapes Surf Film Festival and Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF) will educate audiences about the global plight of sharks, which are being killed at the rate of 100 million a year.
Global head of the Foundation, Chris Clarke, said that the synergy was important “to create awareness for sharks and help pass on tips to reduce the risk of accidental encounters with the animals. We fear what we do not understand!”
Festival director Steve Pike said that a perceived irony about surfers coming out in support of their “traditional nemesis” was based on misinformed views. “Yes, surfers are at the frontline of the ocean. We aim
to prove that healthy shark populations benefit surfers, and are not a threat.”
Wavescapes, which runs from November 26 to December 14 in Cape Town, includes an outdoor screening on Clifton Fourth Beach on Friday December 5. Surfboards decorated by top comic, graffiti and other artists such as Konradski, Willie Bester and Mak1 will be auctioned by comedian Mark Sampson to raise funds for the Shark Spotters and NSRI.
The surfboards, on display at the VEO Gallery in de Waterkant from 26 November to 3 December, will be shown alongside the award-winning photographs of sharks by SOSF chief photographer and marine biologist Thomas Peschak. Several large-format, signed photographs will be auctioned with the
surfboards. The SOSF supports more than 72 projects in 30 countries, and has been active in South Africa for more than five years, recently opening the Save Our Seas Shark Centre in Kalk Bay.
Head of the shark centre, Lesley Rochat said: “Sharks are nature’s outcasts, they are feared and loathed, largely due to misperceptions, yet only one person in the world was killed by a shark last year. By Wavescape embracing our Rethink the Shark campaign we are confident that together we can make a
difference.” Scientists from the NGO have pioneered research on white sharks in False Bay and on tiger sharks in KwaZulu Natal. They are also responsible for satellite tagging and releasing ragged tooth sharks from the Two Oceans Aquarium as part of the SOSF M-SEA Programme. There is also a Save Our Seas Shark World exhibit at Iziko Museum, and a number of exhibits at the
aquarium.
Wavescapes – supported by African Surfrider magazine, Men’s Health, Wavescape.co.za and the Cape Times – will screen the film Zulu Surf Riders, the story of the Mqade brothers from Umzumbe on KwaZulu-Natal South Coast. The arty documentary Thread features the sand art of Jim Denevan, who uses the beach at low tide as a giant canvas for vast patterns. Sea Fever is a lyrical film about surfing in Ireland, including the giant waves of Aill n Searrach (Aileens).
“One of my favourites is Sliding Liberia, a beautifully made film about surfing in Liberia. We also have Out There, a call to surfers to protect our coastline, and a one-off screening of the Shaun Tomson film Busting Down the Door, among others,” Pike said.
The festival will screen the feature documentary Sharkwater and a short called Shark Angels, featuring Alison Kock, a SOSF white shark researcher. The first 500 festivalgoers who purchase tickets for the indoor screenings will receive a free surfing movie from surfing brand Hurley.
