Dale Staples © Van Gysen
St Francis Bay surfer Staples emerges victorious at the inaugural Namakwa Challenge
The Namakwa Challenge was based on the old Billabong Challenge events that ran in Australia in the Nineties. The concept was taking top competitive surfers, along with some hard-charging free surfers and a few young rising stars, to a remote and wild destination, with very testing but perfect waves. The First South African Pro Surfing event since Covid began undoubtedly ticked all these boxes.
After a Covid Outbreak, the organizers were forced to move the event two weeks before the waiting period began to the remote and isolated Namakwaland Beachbreak.
The event ran Round 1 on the first day of the waiting period in some large and testing conditions. After that, the surfers and crew had to wait till the last two days of the week-long waiting period before getting to finish the semi-finals and finals in absolutely epic 6-8ft conditions.
Contest venue © Van Gysen
Northern Cape Tourism and the Department of Arts, Culture and Sports brought 6 youngsters from Hondeklip Bay to check out the free surfing and meet the surfers. After a morning with their host, Angelo Faulkner, they were all very enthused with surfing. However, they could not wait for the Amandla Surf Foundation team to return to Hondeklip Bay later this year to do surf clinics with them.
“My anxiety levels were growing every day as we watched the ocean going mental, and the charts kept changing. At one point on the second last day, we even tried to test another slab point. Adin Masencamp and Joshe Faulkner, the two surfers, who paddled out to test it, told us it was way too big and crazy. They thought that they might get into serious trouble out there. That afternoon we got a slim chance of epic conditions for the final morning, so we decided to surf the second round in slightly onshore and massive conditions at the beach. It was the perfect call as we woke to grooming offshore breezes and absolutely firing waves.” Kai Linder, Event Director.
Monster Energy surfer Matt Bromley found some gems in the early rounds © Van Gysen
The first semi-final had some testing moments as the waves were still cleaning up. The Contest Director and Head Judge made the call for no Jetski Assist. The surfers had to paddle for their 35-minute heats, with many having 5-10 minute slogs against the massive white water and currents.
The stand-out surfers were Dale Staples and Koby Oberholzer, who found massive tubes that had the crew screaming from the dune. Slade Prestwich and Steve Sawyer rounded out the final with them, which ran over 40 minutes.
Steven Sawyer, World Longboard Champion, had one of the longest paddles of the event in the final after an early wave. He almost gave up at one point as he made zero ground. He made it back out, though and managed to snag a few more waves but finished in 4th place. Koby Oberholzer managed to find some waves but had really gotten his best in the semi-finals.
Slade and Dale went wave-for-wave for the entire final, and both had incredible tubes across the beach. Dale found two intense barrels, a left and a right, and these helped him take the lead, which he held onto to take the win and the first winner’s cheque of the Namakwa Challenge.
L-R Staples, Oberholzer, Prestwich. © Van Gysen
“This was one of the best events I have ever been to,” said Dale Staples. “This is one of my favourite places on the planet, and to have a contest here, coming for the week with such a great crew of people, was truly a blessing. I came here to win the event, and I am beyond happy to have achieved that goal. I was blown away by some of the younger surfers, who I thought would be intimidated by this wave. Joshe Faulkner (Amandla Surf Foundation Star) especially, as I have seen him ripping in QT events and at home in Jbay, but here he did not hold back. He was one of the surfers of the event, in my opinion. I just want to thank all the sponsors, organizers and especially the people of the Northern Cape for having us, and I really hope this stays as an annual event. We need more events in this format in South Africa.”
It was a very happy crew of surfers driving in convoy through the wildflowers out of the Namakwa, and everyone wants to go back next year.
Final Results:
- 1st: Dale Staples – R45000
- 2nd: Slade Prestwich – R20000
- 3rd: Koby Oberholzer – R10000
- 4th: Steven Sawyer – R5000
Event sponsors:
- Northern Cape Tourism
- Billabong Adventure Division
- Thrifty/Britz/Maui vehicle rental
- The Coffee Guy.
Big thanks to:
- Braam and his wife on the farm the event was based on for all their help
- Local Police
- Police Search and Rescue
- All the locals who supported and helped at the event.
All Images – Alan van Gysen
Complimentary high-resolution images are available for media outlets on request.
Competitor’s list: Adin Masencamp, Jordy Maree, Slade Prestwich, Luke Slijpen, Liam De Villiers, Luke Thompson, Mitch du Preez, Brad Scott, Steven Sawyer, Dale Staples, Matt Bromley, Joshe Faulkner, Andrew Laverge, Angelo Faulkner, Ryan Payne, Remi Peterson, Chad du Toit, Jordan Alexander, Karl Steen, Koby Oberholzer
Video: Surfing: Dale Staples Wins The Experience Northern Cape Namakwa Challenge, presented by Billabong Adventure Division
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