Champions crowned

TOP OF THE PILE: Jake Elkington won the overall U18 junior series. Photo Ian Thurtell

The 4th and final event of the series finished in glassy 3-4' waves, and Jake Elkington (Kommetjie) and Sophie Bell (Salt Rock) clinched the premier U18 boys’ and girls’ Billabong Junior Series titles which earned them each a trip Bali thanks to All Aboard Travel. The same pair topped the World Surf League (WSL) Africa Junior regional rankings lists and are the 2017 WSL Africa Junior champions.

The U16 boys’ and girls’ series titles were won by Angelo Faulkner (Jeffreys Bay) and Tayla de Coning (East London) respectively despite neither of them winning any of the four events. Ceara Knight (Cape Town) and Daniel Emslie (East London) each secured two event victories on their way to the U14 girls’ and boys’ series titles while Kyra Bennie (Vredehoek), the U12 boys’ series champion, won three of the four events in 2017.

KAI THE BELOVED COUNTRY: Kai Woolfe won the 4th and final event of the series. Photo Thurtell

The seven finals today produced phenomenal surfing with Ford van Jaarsveldt (Kommetjie) capturing his first Junior Qualifying Series (JQS) victory after defeating Calvin Goor (Salt Rock). The lanky 18-year-old Capetonian posted a near perfect score of 9.0 plus a backup of 7.87, and his heat total of 16.87 left Goor still needing a 9.76 when time ran out.

Former Jeffreys Bay local Kai Woolf, now for New Zealand, won the JQS (U18) women’s event and the U16 girls’ division, delivering heat totals in the mid-teens in both finals. Woolf finished ahead of Taghiti Gericke (Wilderness) in the one-on-one JQS final while Olivia Izzard (La Lucia), Summer Sutton (Kommetjie) and Tayla de Coning (East London) challenged her throughout the U16 final.

Visiting French teenager George Pittar won the U16 boys’ title, relegating last year’s U14 boys’ winner Tide Lee Ireland (Durban) to the runner-up spot while Luke Thompson (Durban) and Zoe Steyn (East London) dominated today’s U14 boys and girls finals respectively.

FORDING AHEAD: Ford van Jaarsveld won the event, and got 2nd overall. Photo McGregor

Brazilian Ryan Kanailo was outstanding in the U12 boys’ final, earning a near perfect heat total of 18.70 out of 20 that left all three of his opponents needing to replace both their highest scoring rides in order to overtake him.

The highly anticipated VonZipper Air Show was staged after the finals and provided Calvin Goor (Salt Rock) with the chance to shine as he clinched the R2,000 winner-takes-all prize purse for landing the best aerial manoeuvre.

Full results for all divisions can be found at www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za and the heat scores, images and more JQS U18 men’s and women’s events can be found at www.worldsurfleague.com. The Billabong Junior Series presented by All Aboard Travel is supported by BOS, VonZipper, Zigzag, Surfing South Africa and the World Surf League.

SEALED OFF: Seal Point is one of those archetypal east coast pointbreaks. Photo McGregor

{gallery}SLIDESHOW/2017/october/billabong-juniors-prize-giving{/gallery}

Billabong Junior Series Final Rankings

U18 Boys
1st Jake Elkington (Kommetjie)
2nd Ford van Jaarsveldt (Kommetjie)
3rd Max Elkington (Kommetjie)

U18 Girls
1st Sophie Bell (Salt Rock)
2nd Summer Sutton (Kommetjie)
3rd Kayla Nogueira (uMhlanga)

U16 Boys
1st Angelo Faulkner (Jeffreys Bay)
2nd Saxton Randall (Durban)
3rd York van Jaarsveldt (Kommetjie)

U16 Girls
1st Tayla de Coning (East London)
2nd Kayla Nogueira (uMhlanga)
3rd Summer Sutton (Kommetjie)

U14 Boys
1st Daniel Emslie (East London)
2nd Mitch du Preez (East London)
3rd Luke Thompson (Durban)

U14 Girls
1st Ceara Knight (Cape Town)
2nd Zoe Steyn (East London)
3rd Caroline Brown (Cape Town)

U12 Boys
1st Kyra Bennie (Vredehoek)
2nd C-Jay Posthumus (Port Elizabeth)
3rd Kai Hall (Durban)

Billabong Junior Series Event #4 of 4

U18 Boys
1 Ford Van Jaarsveld (Kommetjie) R8 000
2 Calvin Goor (Salt Rock) R4 000
=3 Luke Malherbe (East London) R2 500
=3 Mitch du Preez (East London) R2 500

U18 Girls
1 Kai Woolf (Jeffreys Bay) R4 000
2 Taghiti Gericke (Wilderness) R2 000
=3 Summer Sutton (Kommetjie) R1 000
=3 Tayla de Coning (East London) R1 000

U16 Boys
1 George Pittar (France) R2 000
2 Tide Lee Ireland (Durban) R900
3 Ryan Lightfoot (Jeffreys Bay) R600
4 Angelo Faulkner (Jeffreys Bay) R500

U16 Girls
1 Kai Woolf (Jeffreys Bay) R2 000
2 Olivia Izzard (La Lucia) R900
3 Summer Sutton (Kommetjie) R600
4 Tayla de Coning (East London) R500

U14 Boys
1 Luke Thompson (Durban) R2 000
2 Mitch du Preez (East London) R900
3 Daniel Emslie (East London) R600
4 Nate Spalding (Durban) R500

U14 Girls
1 Zoe Steyn (East London) R2 000
2 Lhea Johnston (East London) R900
3 Caroline Brown (Cape Town) R600
4 Jesse Powell (Scottburgh) R500

U12 Boys
1 Ryan Kainalo (Brazil) R1 000
2 Kai Hall (Durban) R450
3 Kyra Bennie (Vredehoek) R300
4 Nathan Plomaritis (Port Elizabeth) R250

VonZipper Airshow - R2 000 Calvin Goor (Salt Rock)