Onshore is the new Offshore

When I write a daily report for a surf contest, I always have a moment of inspiration when I start typing, and furiously type away as fast as the thoughts come, not wanting to miss out on any synaptic connection that might be happening and might never happen again.

After writing what is often a fairly garbled few paragraphs, I go back and slowly edit the piece, add a comma in here, an apostrophe there, and do a spellcheck so that the paragraphs look nice and my inspiration is well-presented. Then I sit back and admire my work.

It is only much later that I realize that the task at hand is to report on a number of contestants, on the conditions, on the ramifications of this event if it is in a series, or if it is a team event. When this dawns on me I hastily scribble down a bunch of results, a few phrases describing the conditions, and add a few images in, and in the process totally denigrate my work, making it discordant and incongruous and of no service to my work output or of the people involved in the event. It’s a theme that I tend to follow, and it’s a shame.

To try and make matters better I had big plans for the day today, on what is day 2 of the Billabong SA Junior Champs at the Lower Point in JBay. I knew it was going to be a challenge because the waves were average to below average, the winds were blowing from the sea to the land, and there was a rip washing down the point.

It didn’t take long though, before the better part of the day started opening up. Local surfer Kirsty McGillivray, representing Nelson Mandela Bay, was looking good at her home break and won her U15 Girls round one heat with ease. Another surfer who was looking good was Sophie Bell, surfing for eThekweni in the U15 division, who also won her early heat to advance to round 2.

By the time the U13 Boys were preparing to head out, the conditions had altered slightly with the extreme low tide and the waves were breaking over the outside bank, allowing some room to move and for the lighties ample chance to throw their boards around. Tide-Lee Ireland from eThekweni was a stand-out, with the diminutive goofy-footer going upside down during the opening heat for a convincing win. Other surfers impressing on day 2 were Zoe Smith representing Nelson Mandela Bay, Declan Fiet from Cape Winelands, Dominic Southwood from eThekweni, and Brayden Bergset from eThekweni.

That, in essence, is the daily report. To make it work as a readable bit of content, I then generate a flowery ending, as the waves continued to pour through, the sun warmed the wet surroundings, and the wind slowly receded over a shimmering sea.  

The official word

Light onshore winds did little to affect the performance of the country’s top young surfers while waves continued to pump through the line-up at the Lower Point in Jeffreys Bay on Day 2 of the Billabong SA Junior Champs presented by BOS.

The girls took centre stage as Kirsty McGillivray (Nelson Mandela Bay) and Sophie Bell (eThekweni) in the U15’s and Kayla Verreynne (Eden) in the U17’s delivered excellent performances in the solid but lumpy one metre surf.

The day’s action started with Round 1 of the U15 girls and Sophie Bell set the standard with a strong performance in the first heat, carving bottom turns and linking vertical manoeuvres together seamlessly as she charged to victory and a pass directly to Round 3.

Jeffreys Bay local Kirsty McGillivray has seen the Lower Point in all its moods and used her wide repertoire of radical turns to clinch the highest heat score of the round, counting 8.0 and 9.0 rides for a heat tally of 17.0 out of 20.

“It looked a little messy from the beach but there were actually some really fun sets coming through," said McGillivray. “I did some turns that I was happy about and the board that I am riding felt really good under my feet.”

Next came the opening round of the U13 boys and Tide-Lee Ireland (eThekweni) stood out for his vertical attack on what for him were well overhead waves. York van Jaarsveldt (Cape Town) blasted the lip in his heat and Aye Gericke (Eden) also clinched a deserved heat win.

Kelly Fenton (Nelson Mandela Bay) and Kayla Noguera (eThekweni) shone in the U13 girls before Round 2 of the U17 boys took to the waves and the first surfers were eliminated from the event.

Rewaldo Abersalie flew the flag for the host Nelson Mandela Bay district, while Gabriel Fernandes (Cape Town), Cullum Carlson (Uthungulu) and Cody Coetsee (Ugu) all ensured they stayed in contention for higher honours by winning their encounters.

Kayla Verreynne (Eden) was outstanding in her Round 2 heat of the U17 girls and was joined by her sister Michelle as the they advanced to Round 3 where they will meet up with the third member of their team, Taghiti Gericke, who advanced directly from Round 1 yesterday.

“It’s been a really good contest so far - really great conditions,” said Vangie Boettger, Billabong Women’s Marketing Manager. “Coming into Day 2 the girls showed some dynamic surfing and we’re really stoked that Kirsty and Crystal came through from the Billabong Team riders side and Olivia and Sophie Bell showed some great backhand surfing.”

The Billabong SA Junior Champs presented by BOS runs until Sunday when the winners in the U17, U15 and U13 boy’s and girl’s divisions will be crowned the 2015 SA Junior Champions. The district team accumulating the highest point tally across all divisions will be awarded the highly prized Freedom Cup and the winners of the U17 and U15 divisions will be awarded national team blazers.

The event also offers specialty awards totalling more than R20 000 for both surfers and their teams. These include the Billabong / Bad Billy’s Tag Team Paddle Battle, BOS Highest Heat Score, VonZipper Airshow, DaKine Most Progressive Manoeuvre, Skull Candy Stay Loud Team Spirit and the Zigzag Blowing Up awards.

As part of Surfing South Africa’s commitment to transformation, the South African Development Academy team is participating thanks to a grant from Sport and Recreation South Africa.

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Contest format and results will be posted daily on The Billabong SA Junior Champs presented by BOS is proudly supported by DaKine, VonZipper, Skull Candy, Neff and Zigzag Surfing Magazine.