Four Down, Eight to Go

After the epic earlier surf, which proved that California does get good sometimes though apparently not very often, tricky conditions with inconsistent waves and onshore winds made life difficult.

SA team captain Shane Sykes is now the only South African left in the main event. He placed second in his U18 boys’ Round 3 heat to advance to the last 16. Joshe Faulkner, Teal Hogg and Olivia Izzard clinched runner-up berths in their Repercharge Round 2 encounters in the U16 boys’ and the U18 and U16 girls’ divisions respectively.

Hopefully they will stay on track for the finals, alhough the 15 minute cut-throat repercharge heats are gruelling. The longer they stay in the event, the more points will accumulate for South Africa in the team standings.

Ntando Msibi fell away in Round 3, and now finds himself in Repercharge Round 4, as did Sebastian Williams, Luke Malherbe and Adin Masencamp, from their U16 heats.

The other four South Africans dropped out after losing in the repercharge. These were U18 boys Richard Kidd and Michael Monk. They placed equal 49th overall but at least contributed 240 points each towards SA’ total. Chanelle Botha (U18 girls) and Sophie Bell (U16 girls) placed equal 33rd and added 320 points each to the tally.

South Africa has also dropped to 10th place in the provisional team standings.

Better surf has been forecast, and if the remaining four surfers get into the finals, there is still chance of a medal, although it's increasingly unlikely.