The Mossel Cracker

Once again the Billabong Jnr Series heads out into the wide world that is the South African coast, and sets up itself as the premier junior series in the country. This year the venues have had a bit of a shake-up, with East London and Durban off the list, but Mossel Bay as a new location, along with Cape Town and Seal Point for the finale. The Billabong Junior Series continues to be the most important and influential junior series in the country, with over 48 events already run off, and nearly one million Rand handed over in prize money to date. That’s some serious coin for the lighties.

The first event to get a run will be the first event at Mossel Bay this weekend. With Outer Pool as the primary venue and Inner Pool in there as a secondary event, there are bound to be some cooking waves for the kids to enjoy and for the parents to cheer and support. “Mossel Bay is a cool venue for an event like this,” said Billabong marketing dude Chad D’Arcy. “There are a couple of good waves in the Point area, and the Mossel Bay community is always hospitable and embracing.”

Less embracing would be the fact that the competition is predicted to be pretty cut throat this year, with everyone fighting for the prizes and points over the series. If you want to be the next Jordy Smith or Travis Logie or Bianca Buitendag you need to start off by winning the Billabong Jnr Series. As sponsorships become somewhat more inaccessible these days and with so many hot surfers out there, the series has a good platform for our young groms to solidify and to start building branding images and platforms.

One such surfer who is in the event and who has made a name for himself recently is young Joshe Faulkner from Pellsrus in JBay. Joshe was the highest placed South African in the recent ISA World Junior Games in Ecuador and impressed all and sundry with his polished and determined surfing, and he is set for a bright future.

The forecast for the contest looks promising. There’s a whiff of offshore, a trace of swell, some fine weather and most definitely contestable conditions. The juniors are going to be all over it, busting fins and trying to impress contest director Cyril Nel, head judge Wade Botha and the rest of the judging panel. Might be a few fins off on the rocks, and a few grazed feet and hands on the Inner Pool rocks, but it’s going to be loads of fun.