SA Ballies Fire

Four of the five Saffas who took to the surf convincingly won their heats with Wayne Monk (East London) starring by posting a heat total of 14.57 out of 20, the highest in Grand Masters (Over 40) division.

Only Gary van Wieringen failed to finish in the top two, placing third in his Masters (Over 35) Qualifying Round 1 heat to drop into the gruelling Repercharge rounds from the outset of the eight-day event. The 39 year old from Warner Beach showed excellent form on the waves he rode, but could simply not find the waves that offered the higher scoring potential that his opponents caught.

Ironically van Wieringen went directly from Round 1 to the Grand Final through four Qualifying stream heats on his way to third place overall in the 2011 ISA masters event in El Salvador in 2011, but will have to battle his way through another six sudden-death heats to earn a medal this year.

Team SA’s challenge for the Eduardo Arena team trophy started with Carl Roux (Durban) marking his debut at this level with a victory in his Grand Masters clash before Monk produced his heroics.

Greg Emslie (East London) then ensured that the disappointment of van Wieringen’s uncharacteristic result didn’t affect team morale for long by delivering a sizzling display of high performance surfing in the long right-breaking waves. Combining powerful carves with a variety of progressive fins-free manoeuvres, the former ASP World Tour veteran racked up a heat total of 16.44, the second highest in the division, that left  2012 Masters champion Magnum Martinez (Venezuela) needing a near perfect nine point score for victory.

Andre Malherbe (East London), a perennial medallist in his previous four ISA masters events, wrapped up the South African’s day with yet another heat victory in his opening match-up in the Kahunas (Over 45) division.

When competition resumes, Malherbe’s brother David, the 1991 ASP World Pro Am champion, will start his challenge for another ISA Masters medal in the Kahunas. He will be followed by three-time gold medallist Chris Knutsen (Durban) in the Grand Kahunas (Over 50) and two-time gold medallist Heather Clark (Port Shepstone) in the Women’s Masters (Over 35).

More than 150 competitors from 20 nations are competing in the 2013 ISA World Masters Surfing Championships with the top four teams and the top four individuals in each of the five divisions awarded gold, silver, bronze and copper medals. The national team accumulating the highest point total across all divisions has their country’s name engraved on the perpetual Eduardo Arena team trophy,which is named after the Peruvian who founded the ISF, the forerunner of the ISA, way back in 1965.

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Schedule of events for Day 2 (Monday) – SA names in brackets

Kahunas (over 45) Qualifying 1 (David Malherbe – Heat 10)
Grand Kahunas (over 50) Qualifying 1 (Chris Knutsen – H2)
Women’s Masters (over 35) Qualifying 1 (Heather Clark – H1)
Grand Masters (over 40) Qualifying 2 (Wayne Monk – H3 & Carl Roux – H4)
Masters (over 35) Qualifying 2 (Greg Emslie – H4)

Each day’s action gets underway with the morning show webcast at 7:40am (2.40pm SA Time) followed by the first heats at 8am (3pm in SA). Live webcasts, daily videos, photos, results and contest news in both English and Spanish can be found at www.isawmsc.com.

The SA Masters Team has been provided with kit by Quiksilver. Other support has been received from generous benefactors and fund raising efforts with the balance funded by the surfers themselves.