Juniors Win Warmup

Competing in powerful 1.5 metre waves at Punta Rocas, just five kilometres South of the ISA contest venues, SA surfers won all three divisions with Mikey February taking the U18 Boys, Sarah Baum the U18 Girls and Benji Brand the U16 Boys.

The event was moved from the Punta Rocas beach-break to the more famous right-hand point-break when the waves proved more challenging than anticipated and SA Team captain David Brand broke his surfboard in Heat 2.

SA surfers dominated the U18 Boys division with February, David van Zyl and Steven Sawyer all qualifying for the four-man final and Brand just missing out after he broke a second surfboard and finished third in his semifinal. February shredded the long walls in the final to take victory over Ben Poulter (NZ) with van Zyl third and Sawyer in fourth.

Sarah Baum placed second in her opening encounter but won her semifinal and then the final ahead of Ella Williams (NZ), Bianca Buitendag (SA) and Alexis Poulter (NZ), who finished in that order. SA’s Emma Smith ended fifth overall with Nikita Kekana eighth.

Benji Brand was the only SA surfer to reach the final of the U16 Boys, and he had come through the Repecharge round after placing third in his Round 1 match-up. However the plucky 15 year-old from Western Province grabbed second spot in his repo and semifinal encounters before posting a big performance when it mattered most to win the final.

Brand’s U16 boys’ teammates Dylan Lightfoot and Diran Zakarian finished equal fifth overall with Slade Prestwich in seventh place.

The final points tally saw Team South Africa amass 8 653 points to 7306 for New Zealand.

The Lotto SANZ Challenge has been held annually since the inaugural ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in Durban in 2003 and is used by the two teams to hone their competitive skills in the lead up to each ISA World Junior Surfing Championships.

At stake are pride and a unique hand crafted trophy made from semi precious New Zealand stone and South African yellow wood. Team SA was the holder of the trophy having beaten their rivals in New Zealand in 2010.

The preparation of the South African team, training camps and the costs involved in sending them to compete in this premier International Surfing Association tournament have been made possible by a grant of R200,000 from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF).

Quiksilver South Africa, Skullcandy and Power Balance added their support to the team which represents the cream of South African Under 18 surfing.

Surfing South Africa is 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.