Lower Point, JBay.
Presented by SMTH Shapes
Supported by Dept of Sports, Art and Culture.
Powered by TCS WiFi
Day 1 – 5th October 2022
Surfers from all parts of South Africa are in JBay for the 25th Edition Of The Sea Harvest SA Junior Championships presented by SMTH Shapes.
The SA Junior Championships will showcase the best junior surfers from all over the country who have qualified for this prestigious tournament via demanding selection trials run by their respective organisations.
Luke Van Wyk (Cape Town Surfriders) © Mike Ruthnum
At stake are individual national titles for Under 12, Under 14, Under 16 and Under 18 boys and girls, along with the coveted Freedom Cup, which is awarded to the District whose team members accumulate the highest points totals across all age divisions.
The day’s first wave was ridden by U18 surfer Dan Emslie from Buffalo City. It was a long ride. Dan banked a 5.17 to open the scorecards for the event. He soon followed it up with an even better 6.67 and went all the way to win the day’s opening heat.
JBay is a historic venue and has hosted many successful surfing competitions. From Championship Tour events and national longboarding contests to this event, the Sea Harvest South African Junior Surfing Championships. It is a surf location that is an idyllic venue for a tournament. Lower Point delivers long, highly contestable right-handers conducive to high-performance competitive surfing. It is one of the most consistent surf locations on the coast.
Other top performances in this U18 round were James Ribbink (EThekwini Surfriders Association) 11.50, Joel Dace (Nelson Mandela Bay Surfriders)10.33, Luke van Wyk (Cape Town Surfriders) 13.67, and Kyra Bennie (Cape Winelands), 11.73.
Kyra Benni (Cape Winelands) © Mike Ruthnum
For the U16 Boys division, an onshore southerly wind started puffing, and the waves remained highly contestable throughout. Top surfers in this division included Simon Winter (Cape Town Surfriders) 14.44, Joel Fowles (Buffalo City) 10.50 and Nate Colby (Ethekweni Surfriders) 15.50.
The highly competitive U14 Boys heats hit the water as the wind turned back to offshore southwest, and there were some flawless waves to be had in the high tide conditions. Josh Malherbe (Buffalo City) won his heat convincingly, and Rory Dace (Nelson Mandela Bay) was another stand-out.
Christian Venter (Cape Winelands) © Mike Ruthnum
The long day’s surfing finished off with the first round of the U12 Girls. The perennial stand-out Leah Lepront (UGU) won the first heat with relative ease. After that, Mikayla Jefferis (Ethekweni) took out the win in the day’s final heat.
In addition to the Freedom Cup and individual titles, several speciality awards are up for grabs. These include the Loud and Proud Team Spirit award, awarded to the Team that shows the most spirit at the event. A male and female Surfer of the Contest will also be announced at the Award Ceremony on Sunday, October 9th.
The entire event is being streamed live via the Supersports School app. Find the app on your app store and register.
It can also be viewed via the website – https://live.supersportschools.com/home.
You must first register to watch the live feed (which takes about one minute). All heats are available for replays.
The event results and schedule can be tracked via Live Heats here – https://www.liveheats.com/events/53342/schedule
TCS WiFi has supplied high-speed Internet for organisers and officials, as well as a complimentary hot spot for competitors and spectators.
Complimentary high-resolution images are available for media outlets on request.
Distributed by Truth Collective
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About Surfing South Africa
Surfing South Africa is the official National Federation for surfing in South Africa. SSA is a member of the South African Confederation of Sport and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) and is recognised as the governing body by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture. Surfing South Africa is responsible for the development of the sport, the hosting of National tournaments, the sanctioning of International events and the selection of National teams in all the disciplines that are part of SSA.
SSA is one of the 109 members of the International Surfing Association (ISA), the World governing body for the sport. For more information about Surfing South Africa, go to www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za or find Surfing SA on Facebook.
About SMTH Shapes Surfboard
SMTH Shapes is an established surfboard manufacturing company that prides itself on innovation and manufacturing premium quality surfboards. At the heart of SMTH is Jordy Smith, a renowned performer in the World of professional surfing whose vision is to inspire future youth in intelligent surfboard design.
About TCS WiFi
The Computer Shop (TCS) is an IT service provider focusing on the internet, communications, consulting and support of IT and its core infrastructures. They have all the tools, skills and consulting experience to provide a complete service offering for your IT environment.
