Saffa Youth Battle Wild Surf

The challenging double-overhead surf made contest surfing a lottery as competitors battled to find waves with scoring potential and many of the heats were won with scores of less than 10 out of a possible 20.

Team captain Beyrick de Vries was the only South African to master the conditions and remain in the qualifying stream of the U18 boys, placing a distant second to Tahiti’s Tamaroa McComb. The Umhlanga teenager counted scores of 5.0 and 2.97 for a heat total of 7.97 to McComb’s 13.17 (7.0 and 6.17).

Dane Staples (St Francis Bay) was again sent out in the first heat of the day and was unlucky to place fourth and slip into the cutthroat repecharge rounds. In a tightly contested encounter where all four competitors were separated by a single point, Staples posted scores 4.77 and 2.0 on the only two waves he rode in the 20 minutes and required just 2.61 points to grab second spot.

Mikey February suffered a similar fate, dropping to the repecharges when he placed third needing just 4.51 points for a berth in the next round of qualifiers while fellow Kommetjie resident Davey Brand, the bronze medalist in the U16 division in Ecuador last year, will also have to take the far longer route if he is to make the finals of the U18 division this year.

Brand accumulated 10.17 points (6.67 and 5.50), the highest of the SA quartet in action today, but still required a ride of 5.11 to grab second spot from Tahiti’s Poulou Jocelyn in the last heat run on the day.

For the second day in succession Brazilian prodigy Gabriel Medina was the top scorer in the U18 boys division, racking up individual wave scores of 6.67 and 8.0 for a heat total of 14.67 out of 20, which was 1.50 points better than the next best total of 13.17 posted by Tahiti’s McComb.

Competition is expected to continue tomorrow with U16 boys’ qualifying Round 2 and repecharge Round 1scheduled for the main podium and U18 boys’ repecharge Rounds 1 & 2 planned for podium two. The U18 girls’ heats are yet to get underway at the event which runs until Thursday 28 January.

2010 SA Junior Surfing Team

U18: Beyrick De Vries, David Brand, Dane Staples, Mikey February
U16: Diran Zakarian, Steven Sawyer, Dylan Lightfoot, Jarred Veldhuis
U18 Girls: Sarah Baum, Bianca Buitendag, Heidi Palmboom, Tanika Hoffman

Managers and Coaches: Graham Hynes, Josh Salie, Etienne Venter, Pax Nydoo

Surfing South Africa is the organisation recognised by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee, (SASCOC) Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) and the International Surfing Association (ISA) as the governing body for the sport in South Africa.