It was the first time in 27 years the contest was held in Mossel Bay and about 200 surfers, accompanied by their families and friends, descended on our beautiful harbour town.
Eden Soul Surfers were the hosts of the event. The regions represented were Western Province, Eastern Province, Eden (ESS) and KwaZulu-Natal. Tiletoria was the title sponsor. The waves at one stage on Thursday reached an enormous eight feet.
Competitors participated in 16 divisions over the seven-day period in age groups ranging from the youngest at the age of 11 up to the oldest at 69.
Longboarding has become extremely popular with youngsters and their agility on the massive waves as they performed their manoeuvres, was nothing less than spectacular.
Many spectators gathered at the Point to witness this event.
This sport is one of few where all family members can compete and during this year’s event the local Shaw and Wilmot families demonstrated this. Wade Shaw (grand masters), his daughter Chanel (girls U16) and son Jaryd (men's open) all participated as did Emslie Wilmot and his son Juandré (men's open).
According to Gregg Clark, the president of SALSA (South African Longboard Surfing Association), the seven days of waves and sun shared with good friends (and 19 broken boards), were one for the record books, topping the Durban 2006 contest. Bobby Briddlecombe, a surfer and spokesperson for the title sponsor, Tiletoria, reiterated that by saying: "To have the size waves we had over the last seven days, made this the premier event to date."
Kay Holt, who won the Diva Championship title for the seventh time this year, said that conditions were challenging and testing but extremely rewarding and she absolutely loved Mossel Bay as a venue for this event as it brought surfer, spectator, judge and business together.
Deon Bing, a legendary surf reporter from Cape Town radio station KFM, said he always loves coming to Mossel Bay as the people are friendly and the restaurants and coffee shops are of the best in the Western Cape.
Some of the competitors were more scared of the infamous "Peanut" (a rock that is only visible at low tide) than the humungous waves! No serious injuries other than some bruised egos were sustained during the championships.
Competing was judged by seven world-class judges and four judges per heat judged the difficulty of the manoeuvres and overall surfing while four "scribes" tabulated the results.
The organisers and competitors would like to thank the local Mossel Bay surf community for sharing their favourite spot for the duration of the event. It is not often that surfers are keen to share their waves but the friendly Mossel Bay crowd happily moved over to Outerpool for the week.
Results
The results were as follow:
1st - Western Province - 105 765 points
2nd - Eastern Province - 99 711 points
3rd - ESS - 71 540 points
4th - KZN - 60 223 points
1st - Kye Mcregror (EP)
2nd - Alex Townsend (WP)
3rd - Simankele Rooi (WP)
4th - Warren Weidemann (EP)
1st - Christy Gilmore (KZN)
2nd - Kelly Fenton (EP)
3rd - Caroline Brown (WP)
4th - Angelica Schon (WP)
1st - Ryan Lightfoot (EP)
2nd - Jake Schoeman (WP)
3rd - Tristan Torr (EP)
4th - Fabian Marais (KZN)
1st - Crystal Hullet (EP)
2nd - Michelle Verreyne (ESS)
3rd - Kia Fenton (EP)
4th - Rachel Wood (KZN)
1st - Tristan Lev (WP)
2nd - Sam Christiansen (KZN)
3rd - Paul Chudleigh (WP)
4th - Seth de Boer (WP)
1st - Roxy Davis (ESS)
2nd - Angela Craemer (ESS)
3rd - Charley Pollard (WP)
4th - Deborah Patterson (EP)
1st - Thomas King (WP)
2nd - Mike Grendon (WP)
3rd - Ross Lahana (ESS)
4th - Tyrone Jensen (ESS)
1st - Taryn King (WP)
2nd - Roxy Davis (ESS)
3rd - Angela Craemer (ESS)
4th - Taryn Chadleigh (WP)
1st - Steven Sawyer (EP)
2nd - Grant Beck (EP)
3rd - Tristan Lev (WP)
4th - Thomas King (WP)
1st - Brad Weare (KZN)
2nd - Gregg Clarke (EP)
3rd - Robin Somagnari (WP)
4th - Dirk Tolken (ESS)
1st - Duncan Scot (EP)
2nd - Ralph Renny (EP)
3rd - Paul O’Connell (WP)
4th - Toby Murphy (WP)
1st - Dave Jenkins (WP)
2nd - Steve Harcourt-Wood (WP)
3rd - Dave Mc Gregor (EP)
4th - Craig van Greunen (EP)
1st - Grant Gilmour (KZN)
2nd - Deon Bing (WP)
3rd - Sean Newton (ESS)
4th - David Stubbs (WP)
1st - Steven Hair (ESS)
2nd - Gavin Seaman (EP)
3rd - Ketith Kelly ( WP)
4th - Gavin Rother (EP)
1st - Kay Holt – (EP)
2nd - Charmaine Adams (WP)
3rd - Jackey Partridge (ESS)
4th - Lynn Robertson (WP)
1st - Peter Randal (WP)
2nd - Henry Dowling (ESS)
3rd - Dave Lipschitz (EP)
4th - Attie van der Pas (KZN)
Taryn King (WP) won the ladies' open title with her poise and superior skills. She is also the national SUP (stand up paddling) champion and only recently ended 5th at the Hawaii World SUP tour. Photo: Tersia Marais.
ARTICLE: TERSIA MARAIS, MOSSEL BAY ADVERTISER CORRESPONDENT
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