50th SA Champs

The short

eThekwini won the Presidents Cup (U20 and Open Divisions), Buffalo City won the Masters Cup (Over 30 Women to Over 60 Men) and the once off Celebration Shield (most points across all divisions) was won by eThekwini. In a fitting end to the 50th Anniversary of the SA Champs, and Women's Month, women dominated the final day. All but two final heats featuring female surfers. eThekwini surfer Nicole Pallet posted a 9.94 ride in her U20 final to secure the title and Surfer of the Contest. Davey Van Zyl of eThekwini won the Open Men’s. Tasha Mentasti of the Presidents Team won the Women Over 30s. Heather Clark of Ugu (South Coast) won her 8th national title in Open Women’s. SA junior team member Joshe Faulkner of Nelson Mandela Bay dominated the U20 Boys Final. Manfred Adrio of eThekwini won the Over 35 Men’s. Wayne Monk of Buffalo City defended his Over 40 Division title. Rob Moore Boyle of eThekwini won the Over 45 Men's. David Malherbe of Buffalo City won the Over 50 Division. Chris Knutsen of eThekwini reclaimed his Over 55 crown. Dave Fish of Buffalo City won the inaugural Over 60 Division.

The long

eThekwini surfer Nicole Pallet posted a 9.94 ride in her U20 final to secure the title and Surfer of the Contest. Gina Smith of Nelson Mandela Bay was the runner up in this division with Chanelle Botha of Ugu winning the bronze medal and Jade Story of hosts uThungulu, taking fourth place.

Tasha Mentasti of the Presidents Team gave a determined performance in the Over 30 Division to win her second South African Over 30 Women’s title in three years, beating local favourite and three time SA Champion Tamarys de Maroussem into second place by a mere 14 points. 2014 Champion Heather Clark of Ugu was third and Bianca Bosman of Buffalo City came fourth.

South Africa’s most successful female surfer of all time, Heather Clark, powered her way to an eighth National title in the Open Women’s Division beating national team member Faye Zoetmulder of Nelson Mandela Bay into second place while 2014 Under 20 champion Emma Smith of Nelson Mandela Bay took third. Tasha Mentasti came fourth.

Talented Davey Van Zyl of eThekwini became the 50th South African Open Men’s Champion with a fine performance in an exciting premier final beating Simon Fish of Buffalo City into second place. A deserving Craig Johnson of Cape Town was third and Chris Frolich of eThekwini came fourth.

South African junior team member Joshe Faulkner dominated the U20 Boys Final to secure the U20 Championship title and Nelson Mandela Bay’s only gold medal at the event. The 17 year old beat Devin Whitehead of eThekwewni into second and Cape Town’s Brandon Benjamin into third. Ntando Msibi of eThekwini, one of Faulkner’s team mates in the SA Junior team which leaves for the World Championships in October, was fourth.

At the Award Ceremony both surfers were presented with cheques for R15000 to assist them in their bid to get to the ISA World Junior Championships thanks to the  generosity of local businessman and uThungulu surfer and team member, Kenneth Hodgson.

In one of the major upsets of the 2015 SA Championships Manfred Adrio, a late replacement in the eThekwini team, beat defending champion and current ISA World Masters Champion Greg Emslie of Buffalo City by 70 points to win the Over 35 Men’s Title. Justin Maisch of Ugu took third and Llewellyn Whittaker of the Presidents Team was fourth.

Wayne Monk of Buffalo City, one of the outstanding surfers at this year’s championships, successfully defended his Over 40 Division title. Carl Roux of Ugu was second with Vince King of uThungulu third and Justin Emslie of Buffalo City fourth. Monk, Roux and King were all members of the 1992 South African team that competed in the ISA World Surfing Games in France.

After competing in 34 South African Championships without ever winning a gold medal Rob Moore Boyle’s perseverance paid off on Sunday when he won the Over 45 title, beating Andre Malherbe of Buffalo City into second place by less than a point. 2014 SA Champion in this division, Gareth Sepp of Buffalo City, was third and Mike Burness of Ugu came fourth.

David Malherbe of Buffalo City, one of South Africa’s toughest and most determined competitors over two decades, won the Over 50 Division title by 27 points in the last seconds of this final beating former ISA World Champion Marc Wright of eThekwini into second place. Nick Pike of Buffalo City was third and Peter Lawson of the Presidents Team took fourth.

Four time SA Open champion, multiple national champion in other age divisions and four time ISA World Champion Chris Knutsen of eThekwini reclaimed his Over 55 crown in fine style at the weekend beating Judge Oliver of Ugu into second place, 1981 South African team captain Barry Campbell returned to competitive surfing after a long absence with a third place in this final while Hans Kamhoot of Cape Town was fourth

Dave Fish of Buffalo City won the inaugural Over 60 Division title when he edged out Chris Morris of eThekwini in the final moments of this final. Mush Hide of Nelson Mandela Bay took bronze and local favourite Ray Harris of uThungulu was fourth.

The Over 30 Women to Over 60 Men’s Divisions compete for the Masters Cup which was won for the ninth year in a row by Buffalo City with 29982 points with eThekwini (27318) second, Ugu (26732) third, uThungulu (25304) fourth place, Nelson Mandela Bay (20630) fifth, Cape Town sixth (19895) and the Presidents team (11652) were seventh.

The Presidents Cup winners were decided from the combined points in the U20 and Open Divisions. This year eThekweini won the Presidents Cup with 24668 points, Nelson Mandela Bay were second (21300), Buffalo City came third (20660), Ugu took fourth (20090), Cape Town were fifth (197600m uThungulu placed sixth (16596) and the Presidents Team were seventh (10136).

When the points for all eleven divisions were tallied the once off Celebration Shield was won by the powerful eThekwini Team followed by Buffalo City, Ugu, Nelson Mandela Bay, uThungulu, Cape Town and the Presidents Team. The Celebration Shield was presented to the Mayor of Richards Bay as a gesture of appreciation by the winning team and Surfing South Africa.

The 50th South African Surfing Championships were sponsored by Citroen SA and supported by Sport and Recreation SA, the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, Reef Wetsuits, Zigzag, the  Zululand Observer, the uMhlatuze Community Tourism Organisation, the City of uMhlatuze and Monster Energy.

Heats contest schedule and photos for the 2016 Citroën SA National Championships are on www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za