SA Quad On Fire

Bianca Buitendag was again one of the standouts, racking up the third best heat tally of the girls’ division – 14.66 points out of a possible 20. Competing in 1.0 to 1.5 metre left-breaking waves at Senoritas, Buitendag used her patented forehand attack to earn scores of 7.83 and 6.83 (each out of 10) which left her three opponents combo’ed and needing to replace both their highest scoring rides.

“This competition is always difficult, but my coach tells me to have confidence in myself,” said Buitendag. “All the girls are surfing amazing but I stayed calm and focused on what I was doing. This is my first time in Peru, I love it and I am very happy with my results and the waves.”

Buitendag was joined in U18 Girls Qualifying Round 3 by teammates Emma Smith and Sarah Baum, both of whom comfortably progressed to the last 24 in the winner’s bracket with second place finishes yesterday (Tuesday).

Smith shot out of the blocks in her heat, recording an excellent 8.33 point ride in the first two minutes and leading throughout before being overtaken by Kulia Doherty (USA) who, needing 6.14, produced a 6.60 point ride in the dying seconds.

Baum also led for more than half of her wave-starved heat thanks to a solid 6.17 point ride before being overtaken by Chelsea Tuach (BAR) with three minutes remaining. Baum still finished 3.13 points ahead of the third placed Brazilian who needed 6.40 points to avoid dropping to the repecharge rounds.

Meanwhile in U18 Girls Repecharge Round 1, SA’s Nikita Kekana bounced back from her third place finish on Monday with a confidence-boosting showing in the rights at Caballeros. The teenager from Southern KZN included rides of 8.33 and 5.10 in a heat tally of 13.43 to win her heat and move through to Repecharge Round 2.

Diran Zakarian and Dylan Lightfoot maintained Qualifying stream status in the U16 Boys division thanks to hard-fought second place results in Round 2 while Benji Brand and Slade Prestwich both finished third yesterday and were relegated to the gruelling Repecharge rounds.

Brand produced a pair of 4.27 point rides in the lefts at Senoritas but was ousted by Elivelton Santos (BRA) and Taylor Clark (USA) who both earned heat tallies exceeding 11 points. Prestwich also only totalled just over eight points and ended third behind heat-winner Deivid Silva (BRA) and 13 year-old Italian surprise package, Leonardo Fioravanti.

Team captain Davey Brand, Mikey February and David van Zyl, all of whom are through to U18 Boys Qualifying Round 3, had a lay day yesterday and will also not compete today when only Repecharge round heats will be run.

Steven Sawyer will be in action in Heat 7 of the U18 Boys Repecharge Round 2 at approximately 5pm this afternoon, and hopefully again later tonight in Round 3.

Benji Brand will be in Heat 4 of the U16 Boys Repecharge Round 2 at approximately 4pm, followed by Slade Prestwich in Heat 6 about 40 minutes later.

Nikita Kekana will be hoping to take another step towards the U18 Girls final when she competes in Heat 10 of the Repecharge Round 2 at around 9.40pm SA time.

None of the 27 nations still have all 12 team members remaining in the winner’s bracket. Hawaii, Brazil and USA each have nine surfers in the Qualifying stream while Australia and South Africa have eight and Tahiti, France and Peru follow with seven.

All the action from the event 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.