Womans Day Surf Challenges across SA

Tanika Hoffman ripping some clean Long Beach in Cape Town (Photo: Surfing SA)

National Women’s Day is being celebrated yesterday by the surfing community through the holding of the second edition of the Women’s Day Surf Challenge presented by Surfing South Africa (SSA) and supported by Sport and Recreation South Africa.

Simultaneous events in Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town attracted the cream of the country’s past and present female surf stars who were vying for prize-money and points in the SSA Pro Surf Tour ranked events while dozens of aspiring surfers were using the opportunity to meet and mingle with their heroines and compete for valuable prizes in the Rookie division.

Each venue featured 1A rated PST events for Open Women, Under 20 and U16’s with
R2 500 in prize-money at stake in each division, while the Rookies, who have not previously represented their Province, took home plenty of prizes.

Durban Beach (Photo: Surfing SA)

Just three of South Africa’s legends surfing in the Durban event were reigning ISA and SA Women’s World Masters Champion Heather Clark, former multiple SA champion Kay Holt, who has represented SA on seven occasions, and national Under 20 Champion Sarah Baum.
Clark has just been selected to defend her title as a member of the 2011 SA Masters Team. The team will travel to El Salvador in October to participate in the ISA World Masters Championships. South Africa has won two and come second in the three ISA World Masters Championships held.

Julz Buchanan and Tanika Hoffman (Photo: Surfing SA)

Tanika Hoffman ripping her home break. (Photo: Surfing SA)

The Cape Town Women’s Day Surf Challenge took place at Long Beach Kommetjie, the same venue as last year. 2011 SA national team member Tanika Hoffman, 2010 winner Kerri Hodgkinson and finalist Stacey Guy as well as SA Championships and SA Masters Championships finalist Tasha Mentasti were the pick in the strong Women’s field.
Also competing in this division were top international campaigners Tarryn Chudleigh and Chantelle Rautenbach. Nicole Pallet is one of the up and coming stars in the Under 20 & Under 16 division along with Ruth and Holly Armstrong and Anoush Zakarian.

PE delivered some surf for the ladies. (Photo: Surfing SA)

Faye Zoetmulder charging. (Photo: Surfing SA)

The Port Elizabeth event where SA Champion Nikita Robb, Faye Zoetmulder and sisters Emma and Gina Smith were included in the event. Inge Mclaren, Cara Mac Donald and a host of East London, PE and J Bay girls were some of the young stars in the field. The contest took place at Pollock Beach .

The Women’s Day Surf Challenge was supported by Sport & Recreation SA while the website partner for the events is Gsport for Girls.

The Women’s Day Surf Challenge is proudly partnered by Skullkandy, Reef Wetsuits, Swatch Watches, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Power Balance and Zig Zag Magazine.
The heats and schedule for the Women’s Day Surf Challenge is available on Surfing SA.

Surfing South Africa is the governing body for the sport and is recognized by Sport and Recreation SA (SRSA). SSA is a member of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) and the International Surfing Association (ISA).

Very Cheesy Slide Show -
Womens Day 2011 - Surf and Beach Webcams, Wind, Swell and Tides for Cape Town

Mr Price Pro - the Wildcards are ready for the World

Greg "Foot" Emslie will give the foreigners a tough time in his heats. (Photo: ASP)

BALLITO, Kwa-Zulu Natal / South Africa (Tuesday, June 7, 2011) – Six talented South African surfers have been granted wildcard entries into the prestigious R1.7 Million ASP PRIME Mr Price Pro Ballito from July 4-10, 2011.
Greg Emslie (East London), Davey Brand (Cape Town) and Steven Sawyer (Jeffreys Bay) will make their way into the event courtesy of Mr Price wildcards while Klee Strachan (Winklespruit), Brendon Gibbens (Cape Town) and David Weare (Durban) will take on the worlds’ best courtesy of ASP Africa wildcards.
Slotted directly into the round of 96, these six surfers will take on the event’s top seeds right from their first heat where they will be guaranteed a minimum of R5000 (US$ 750) should they bow out early and an enormous R270 000 (US$40,000) should they win the entire event!
The Mr Price Pro Ballito’s exclusive 96-man field means only the top ranked surfers on the ASP World Rankings qualify for a place in the main event, making a wildcard entry invaluable for non ASP World ranked surfers.
ASP World Tour retiree Greg Emslie, who flew the South African flag for a record nine years at the elite level, knows just how exceptional an opportunity like this one is. The powerful natural-footer (left-foot forward stance) will have the hopes of South Africa on his shoulders as the most experienced of this year’s wildcard deck.
“I can’t wait,” Emslie said. “To have the chance to compete against the top surfers in the world is always special. I feel I am surfing better and more progressive than ever now that I am retired and I look forward to taking on the internationals in a few weeks time.”
Another skilled international campaigner is David Weare. Weare competed at elite level for two years in 2006 and 2009 and although now retired from international competition, Weare remains a fierce competitor capable of causing any number of upsets at this year’s event.
“I'm super excited to have made it into this event,” Weare said. “It'll be good to see all the crew again and get to surf against them again. I'm still a competitor at heart so I'll definitely be giving it my all at this event!”
Young, up-and-coming talent Davey Brand, 18, will attract plenty of attention when he hits the water for his first heat. Captaining the South African team to the ISA Quiksilver World Games to Peru recently where he placed third in the U18 division, Brand welcomes the opportunity to put his skills to the test against some of the ASP World Title Tour surfers.
“I am so gratefully for this opportunity,” Brand said.” I’m taking it on with a nothing to loose everything to gain attitude and will give it everything I’ve got to make it as far as I can in the competition.”
A total of seven South African surfers have also qualified for the main event via their ASP World ranking. They include World No. 2 Jordy Smith (RSA), former ASP World Tour campaigner Travis Logie (Dbn), Shaun Joubert (Mossel Bay), former ASP World Tour campaigner Royden Bryson (Cape Town), Brandon Jackson (Durban North), Rudy Palmboom (Bluff) and Dale Staples (St Francis Bay).
Eight South African surfers will compete in the trials for the remaining two spots into the main event. The trialists are Beyrick De Vries (Umhlanga), Chad Du Toit (Dbn), Kyle Lane (Umhlanga), Frankie Obherhozer (Scottburgh), Mathew Bromley (Cape Town), Alan Johns (Ballito), Sean Holmes (CT) and Dylan Lightfoot (Jeffreys Bay).
The eight trialists will compete in two, four man heats with the top two from each heat advancing into a four-man final. First and second place finalists will advance into the main event.
The Mr Price Pro Ballito includes an action packed beach festival including beach entertainment; extreme sports, dedicated children’s programmes and a lifestyle and retail area provide plenty of daytime fun. The ever-popular Mr Price Pro Music concerts will take place on the evening of 8 and 9 July at Salt Rock at no cost to festivalgoers.
For more information log on to www.mrpricepro.com or like us on facebook http://www.facebook.com/mrpricepro.

Casey Grant is one noticeable surfer missing from the line up. (Photo: ZigZag)

 I have to be honest, I am very surprised not to see Casey Grant in the Wild Card comp. He came second last year to Jordy Smith and was certainly one of the stand out surfers during the event. There has been no media or comment about this, but surely one of the ASP Africa wild cards should have gone to him? Not to say any of the chosen surfers are not deserving, but last years runner up, come on! I would love to hear your thoughts on this...