The concept, devised and coordinated by Peter Burness and Paul Botha, made corporates take notice. The beach lifestyle was booming and surfing was the major attraction. The South African surfing team was the first sporting code to compete under the new national flag at the world champs in Brazil in 1994.
Paul Canning was the first South African to qualify for the WCT (World Championship Tour) in the ASP’s new structure. Sharon Ncongo was the first development surfer to represent South Africa in Bali, at the grommet champs. Baron Stander opened the Time Warp Museum (South Africa’s first, and so far only, surf museum) in Durban. The mid to late 90s were marked by the quiet beginnings of tow-in surfing. In 1994, Capetonians Glen Bee and Pierre du Plessis, and about a year later Nico Johnson, started using a rubber duck in parallel to Laird Hamilton’s first flirt with ‘motor- assisted surfing’.
In 1995, Zigzag designer Garth Robinson broke away and launched African Soul Surfer, moving away from what he claimed was ‘punting contest surfing as a measure of a surfer’s worth’. Robinson wanted to provide surfers with ‘the choice to read something more cutting edge, which reflects the reality of our lifestyle and not the aspirations of those few who chase money on the “Tour”.’
It was a brave stand. However, despite the euphoria of democracy and new-found brotherhood symbolised by the Springboks’ Rugby World Cup victory, advertising failed to materialise. Advertisers quietly ignored the provocative young upstart as they would a precocious grom trying to break into the line-up at New Pier. Inclusive thinking has not always been a priority among the tightly knit South African surfing industry.
Innovations in weather forecasting and the rapid rise of the Internet began to impact positively on the surfing lifestyle. The wave prediction model Wavewatch II, and later the third generation version, became the surfer’s oracle. In 1998, the Wavescape surfing portal was launched and the first Spike surf report was sent to a small group of surfers.
In 1999, Cass Collier and Ian Armstrong cracked open the stereotype and thumbed their noses at disgruntled conservatives who had baulked at the idea of giving Springbok blazers to two dreadlocked Rastafarians whose lifestyle was so freely anti-establishment.
But the snipes were stifled when Collier and Armstrong stormed to victory in the ISA (International Surfing Association) Big Wave World Championships at Todos Santos in 1999 on their first attempt. They almost won it again in 2000, with Collier a standout. It was a proud moment.
The South African surfing industry was beginning to expand with a battle for supremacy between local affiliates of multi-nationals Billabong and Quiksilver. A hilarious signboard war broke out in J-Bay. The second Red Bull Big Wave Africa in 2000 saw Sean Holmes win in 20-foot surf, and the surfing world began to take more notice.
South Africa’s top-ranked woman surfer after Wendy Botha, Heather ‘Fergie’ Clark, broke into the 2000 WCT, and promptly won the 2000 Triple Crown of Surfing in Hawaii, the next best thing to winning the world title. Clark, who hails from Port Shepstone, had a string of earlier wins under her belt, including four South African Champs.
In 2001, Chris Bertish made history by being the only guy to paddle-surf Jaws in Hawaii. Bertish also won the XXL paddle awards (sponsored by Swell.com) that year. In a bizarre twist, Mike Parsons – the Biggest Tow-in winner – got the $60 000 prize because Chris could not get to the awards. Bertish got a $100 voucher. In 2004, he rode big Cribber in the UK and got the lead story in newspapers and TV news.
South Africa made a big come comeback in competitive surfing when they won the Quicksilver ISA World Surfing Games, held in Durban in 2002.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
