Little People, Big Hearts

The cream of South Africa’s surfing talent aged 17-and-under are charging giant two to three metre walls of water pouring down the iconic Lower Point in Jeffreys Bay on Day 4 of the Hurley SA Junior Champs today.

The powerful swell, with a 15 second interval and groomed to perfection by strong offshore winds, is providing a dramatic stage for the competitors, several not yet teenagers, who are posting near perfect scores as they catch the triple-overhead tubular waves and perform massive manoeuvres on the open faces.

With additional safety personnel in place and two jetskis in the water, the organisers sent Round 3 of the U13 Boys division into the surf first thing this morning. After deciding not to run any of the Girl’s heats, the U17 Boys were next up followed by the U15’s.

J-Bay local Angelo Faulkner won the first heat before Koby Oberholzer (KZNC) caught one of the biggest waves of the day and Max Elkington (WP) impressed by ripping into the set waves on his backhand.

Last year’s U15 champion and  ‘Surfer of the Contest’, Matt McGillivray (EP), cemented his reputation as a genuine contender for the U17 title this year by pulling into and emerging from a huge gaping barrel to the hoots of all on the beach and a massive 9.5 points out of 10 from the judges (see image below).

See the incredible waves at http://www.sajuniorchamps.co.za/wordpress/text/this-is-whats-going-on/ and follow https://twitter.com/sajuniorchamps to get all the results as they happen

The Hurley SA Junior Champs runs until Sunday 29 September when the provincial team accumulating the most points is awarded the coveted Freedom Trophy and the individual winners in the U17, U15 and U13 Boy’s and Girl’s divisions are crowned the 2013 South African surfing champions.