Where the Wild Things Are

Cape Town: Carnage ruled on the second day of the O’Neill Cold Water Classic South Africa as favourites fell in the heavy surf of a dredging lefthand reef on the Cape Peninsula.

Brutal 8 foot sets bomb-blasted the Outer Kom, while stiff southeast winds whipped the surfers into, or out of, shape. Among those to fall was Tasmania winner Stuart Kennedy. He had been sitting in joint first place on the rankings with Royden Bryson. Stuart finished behind Nick Godfrey (ZAF) and Indar Perez (EUK).

“Here in Cape Town, you are often not competing against the three other surfers in your heat, you are competing against the elements,” said Royden Bryson, who is yet to get in the water in this competition to try and take the CWC Series lead. “There is a lot of hype about the series leader,” said Royden, “but I try to shove it to the back of my mind.”

Also knocked out in the round of 64 were last year’s semi-finalist, Jarrad Howse, and South African star Casey Grant. But not all the surprises were negative. Among the most positive was the heat win of 14 year old local surfer Benji Brand, who with a 16.34 heat score, achieved the highest of the day.

“I’m really stoked. I surf here a lot at Outer Kom. It’s a really fun wave,” said Benji Brand. “There was quite a bit of kelp today but I managed to get 2 good scores. I’ve been surfing 9 years. I’ve lived in Hawaii as well as just on the point here, which I think helped.” 

The only part of today that didn’t come as a surprise at this 4 Star ASP event were the conditions.

Typical O’Neill Cold Water Classic conditions were back with a vengeance here in Cape Town South Africa. Despite a delay this morning because of wild winds and swell, everything came together to create a spectacular day.

Board selection was the topic of conversation on the rocks as surfers watched the heats, readying for their own. “I came down with a car packed full with everything from 6”8, 6”6, 6”4, 6”2, and 6”0 and a couple of short boards as well,” said Royden Bryson assessing the wild conditions.

While all on the shore were waiting to see the South African current World Number One Jordy Smith in action, the suspense continues as wild conditions forced the competition off at the end of heat 9 in the round of 64.

Jordy will be in the seventh heat of the day tomorrow – the time and location to be decided at this mobile event at the next call - tomorrow, July 28th at 8am

Spike from Wavescape has predicted even bigger surf for Wednesday, with some 10-12' sets due to push all day, backed by deep ocean energy.

Day 1

Clean 3-4 foot waves, light winds, perfect blue sky and a spectacular mountain backdrop all set the stage for the first day of the O’Neill Cold Water Classic South Africa 2010.

It was essentially only the 12-degree water, which reminded the competitors that they were at an O’Neill Cold Water Classic event here on the Cape Peninsula.

The first day of the O’Neill Cold Water Classic South Africa saw the Round of 80 as well as Heat 1 in the round of 64 completed at Noorhoek beach just North of the competition’s base at Kommetjie on the Cape Peninsula.

“There’s not many events in the world now where you can take a few gazebos and have a choice of about 10 different world-class waves,” said O’Neill South Africa Marketing manager Paul Canning.

“The event last year was awesome,” said Paul. “We had a great last day at Kalk Bay and we’ve started off in the same way this year with a perfect first day at the Dunes. It’s such a scenic spot to run an event.”

Whilst local talent, Ian Armstrong was knocked out in the first round, brothers Haydn and Devan MacNicol stormed through top of their heats. As did fellow South African Shaun Joubert – straight off his wildcard entry at J-Bay - in the first and only heat surfed today in the round of 64, giving the local crowd reason to celebrate.

“The world cup was unbelievable here and it really unified the whole country,” said Paul. “Everyone is still in that celebration mode, so this event still has a lot of that enthusiasm and positivity around it.”

Whilst conditions were atypical of this 5-event CWC series, according to local forecaster Spike at wavescape.co.za, this is only the beginning. “Tomorrow looks like it’s picking up with 6 to 8 foot swell with bigger sets in the afternoon,” said Spike. “By Wednesday it really is a Cold Water Classic as temperatures plummet and we are looking at 10 to 12 foot surf in strong SSE winds.”

Tomorrow not only brings the swell but it also brings the drama as current World Number One, Jordy Smith will be looking to get into the water for this third South African competition in a row he hopes to win. And O’Neill CWC Scotland winner, Royden Bryson and the 2010 CWC Tasmania winner Stuart Kennedy battle to take the Series ratings lead to get closer to that $50,000 prize money.