SA Girls Stand Out

Competing in Round 1 of the Under 18 Girls’ division, both surfers used polished backhand manoeuvres in the 1.0 to 1.5 metre right-breaking waves at Caballeros to post several of the highest scores in the entire event.

Baum, 17, from Central KwaZulu-Natal, combined a series of radical, committed moves to record a near perfect 9.33 points out of a possible 10, the highest single wave score in any of the divisions to date. Buitendag’s 8.27 also features in the top 10 scores of the entire event as does the Eastern Province surfer’s two wave heat tally of 15.27 out of 20.

Fellow EP surfer Emma Smith kick-started the SA girls charge in Heat 6, accumulating rides of 7.33 and 6.0 to comfortably win her opening ISA World Junior Championships heat, leaving second placed local Vania Torres (PER) needing 8.60 points for victory.

Buitendag was next up for SA in Heat 10 and the lanky 17 year-old led from start to finish, opening with a 6.83 and adding her 8.27 at the halfway mark of the 20 minute encounter. This left her opponents in a combination situation where they needed to replace both their rides, which they ultimately could not manage.

By contrast Baum had a very slow start to her match-up, trailing in second place until the last minute before posting her sensational 9.33 point ride. The 17 year-old then found another ride as the buzzer sounded and scored 4.10 which boosted her heat tally to 13.43 with her closest rival needing 7.94 for victory.

Smith, Buitendag and Baum progressed directly to Round 2 of the Qualifying stream while Nikita Kekana, the fourth member of the SA U18 Girls squad, struggled to find waves with high scoring potential. Kekana finished third in her opening heat and dropped into the cutthroat Repecharge rounds where another finish outside the top two will result in elimination from the event.

Meanwhile the remaining eight heats in the U18 Boys Round 1 were held in glassy and still overhead left-breaking waves at Senoritas with SA top seed Mikey February joining his three compatriots who advanced to Round 2 in Sunday’s action after a nail-biting victory by 0.07 of a point over Brazilian Yan Darbekow.

In U18 Boys’ Qualifying Round 2, SA team captain Davey Brand secured a comfortable second place behind local standout Carlos Zapata (PER) to progress to Round 3 of the Qualifying stream along with David van Zyl and February. Steven Sawyer became the second SA team member to be relegated to the gruelling Repecharge rounds when he placed fourth in his Round 2 heat.

Van Zyl demonstrated cool-headed contest savvy by posting a second straight heat victory, this time over highly rated Peruvian Cristobal de Col in a low-scoring affair, while February earned a hard-fought 1.17 point win over Ramzi Boukaim, the sole Moroccan in the event.

Sawyer will rekindle his campaign in Repecharge Round 2 today and faces the daunting but not impossible challenge of having to compete in 10 consecutive heats where he cannot finish lower than second in order to qualify for the Grand Final of the U18 Boys division on Sunday.

Sawyer will take heart from the fact that the last time this was achieved, it was by a fellow South African. In 2006 an 18 year-old Jordy Smith not only qualified for the final after 10 heats in the Repecharge rounds, but went on to win the Men’s Open title at the ISA World Surfing Games in California!

The USA and Hawaii are the only nations to emerge from the second day of competition with all 12 of their team surfers still in the Qualifying stream. Hosts Peru have one team member in the Repecharge rounds, South Africa and France have two each and defending six-time team champions Australia have three, along with the likes of Tahiti and France.

Today’s program sees 12 heats of U16 Boys Qualifying Round 2 followed by 12 heats of U18 Girls Qualifying Round 2 in the lefts at Senoritas. A total of 24 heats of Repecharge Round 1 for U18 Boys, U16 Boys and U18 girls will be run in the rights at Caballeros.

All the action is webcast with English or Spanish commentary at www.isawjsc.com including live results from both podiums, video footage from previous days, an extensive photo gallery and news and results from previous days.

The Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships runs until Sunday 29 May when the top nations and the individual champions in the U18 Boys, U18 Girls and U16 Boys will be awarded gold, silver, bronze and copper medals.

The preparation, training and travel costs for the South African team were 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 (SSA) 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. The International Surfing Association (ISA) is recognised by the International Olympic Committee and is the governing body for World Surfing.