Swallow-tailed Bee Eater – Photo Of The Day
The swallow-tailed bee eater photo is by Clive Wright photography
Further reading: Saddle Up – The FOSTER Jol Rides Again!
Seal Point Boardriders Club: Building Surfing from the Sand Up
The Seal Point Boardriders Club isn’t just a local surf club; it’s arguably the biggest and most active boardriders club in the country. Based in Cape St Francis and centred around Seal Point, the club has built a strong, inclusive surf community. It champions young talent, promotes ocean awareness, and maintains high local stoke levels all year round.
The club runs around ten grom comps and coaching sessions held annually, run by Luckyfish Surf School, a club championships, an AGM, and a legendary fundraiser party to wrap up the season. The club runs one of the most consistent and ambitious grassroots surfing programs in South Africa. It’s a well-oiled, volunteer-powered machine that offers something for everyone. From first-time groms learning to paddle out, to experienced juniors fine-tuning their contest strategies.
Club Chairman
The club is currently headed up by the very capable Dan Thornton. His calm leadership and tireless enthusiasm have helped shape its growing reputation. Under his guidance, the club continues to evolve, while keeping its core values of community, sportsmanship, and stoke firmly intact.
Crucially, the Seal Point Boardriders Club is able to do all this thanks to the generous support of its key sponsors: Billy’s Beach and Rotary St Francis. Their backing means contest entry remains accessible, events are professionally run, and the groms get to compete in a properly supported environment.From rash vests and T-shirts to prizes, wax, equipment and infrastructure. This kind of support is deeply appreciated, especially by the young surfers and their families who are at the heart of the club.
Friday beers and barrels
Whether it’s a mellow Sunday comp at the beach, Friday barrels, beers and boerie-rolls at the carpark, the AGM where new plans are hatched, or the big end-of-year jol where funds are raised and stories are swapped, the Seal Point Boardriders Club continues to grow. In numbers, in energy, and in impact.
The club has its own clothing range. Funky and popular, it is worn proudly by club members at other surf events around the country.
With a couple of lekker waves in the hood, a supportive community behind it, and the future of South African surfing emerging from the junior club ranks, we are all proud to be part of it.
Club Champs are upcoming. Look out for details
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Read more: Seal Point Boardriders Grom Comp and Coaching Session A Great Success
Field Narrowed at the O’Neill SMTH Shapes Rookie Rippers at Willard Beach
Ethan Schermbrucker © Dave Lindemann
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Although the field narrowed, it was another great day of surfing at Willard Beach for Day Two of the O’Neill SMTH Shapes Rookie Rippers junior event, with awesome waves rolling through in glassy, windless conditions.
The waves at Willard Beach are a perfect canvas for these young surfers to display their skills and prowess to the Surfing South Africa judges.
Young Ethan Schermbrucker put other contestants on notice in the third heat of the day with a scintillating performance, earning him 16.83 out of a possible 20 points for his U12 Boys Quarterfinal heat.
The U18 Boys Quarterfinals saw some of the best male junior surfers in the country battle it out, with Josh Malherbe, David Emslie, Ben Esterhuyse, Levi Epenetos and Clayton Turrell all winning their respective heats. It’s interesting to note that Malherbe was the only natural footer, with all the other heat winners being goofy footers in the predominantly right-breaking waves of Willard Beach.
Field Narrowed
Another goofy-footer, Loghan Tilsley, put on a fine performance in his U16 Boys quarters, with the highest heat total of the round of 14.00 points. Other surfers to excel in this division included Ashton Sangster and the two St Francis Bay surfers Jesse Moulang and David Moussouris.
The lunchtime high tide put a slight wobble on the conditions, but with the wind forgetting to blow on the north coast, the conditions remained highly contestable throughout the day, offering consistent great rides throughout the day’s competition.
Another Schermbrucker, young Emma, also surfed exceptionally well in her U14 Girls Semifinal to advance through to the finals. Coco Ho, Wanyu Chen and Maya Malherbe will join her in the finals tomorrow.
The forecast for tomorrow is promising, with a fine day predicted along with some clean swell lines. The call is for the event to start with the U18 Girls Quarterfinals at 7:30 sharp. Please keep an eye on the schedule on LIVEHEATS to check for any changes.
The O’Neill SMTH Shapes Rookie Rippers is the first surf event to take place as part of the Ballito Pro presented by O’Neill Festival. For more information, visit
Click HERE for the full Ballito Pro festival calendar.
Willard Beach is a high-performance, predominantly right-breaking wave that provides the perfect canvas for competitors to impress the Surfing South Africa judging panel and win valuable rating points and prize money. The judging criteria comprise speed, power and flow, and judges are always looking for combination moves and progressive surfing techniques.
The Rookie Rippers comprises U12, U14, U16, and U18 Girls and Boys divisions, with all divisions competing for contest results, prizes, and rankings on the SAST. The Rookie Rippers contest is a premier SAST event, with 1,000 points awarded to the winners and prize money in line with all premier events.
Challenger Series Adds Pipeline and Newcastle to 2025-26 Schedule
Image: Tour Manager Travis Logie at Pipe back in the day © WSL/Cestari
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Press Release
LOS ANGELES, Calif., USA (Sunday, June 1, 2025). The World Surf League (WSL) today announced that the Challenger Series Adds Pipeline and Newcastle to 2025-26 Schedule. This will be to help decide the qualifiers for the 2026 Championship Tour (CT). Pipeline will be added to the schedule as the penultimate event. Newcastle will return as the seventh and final event of the season.
With the recently announced changes to the Championship Tour schedule and format, this season’s Challenger Series season will now run from June 2025 to March 2026. The last two events being held at Pipeline in January and Newcastle in March. It will be the first time since 2022 that a wave on the North Shore of O’ahu in Hawai’i has counted for Challenger Series points. Also, the first time since 2020 that Pipeline has contributed to a surfer’s CT qualification.
Pipeline is one of, if not the most, important waves in surfing, playing host to some of the biggest moments in the culture and the sport. Its addition to the Challenger Series schedule will give the next crop of CT surfers a taste of competition at one of the most perfect and intense waves on the planet. This will ensure each batch of qualifiers is being prepared for the intensity of the Tour.
Pipeline and Newcastle
“The WSL is super excited to announce that Pipeline and Newcastle will be the last two stops of the Challenger Series this season,“ said WSL Senior Tour Manager Travis Logie. “Pipeline is the ultimate proving ground and one of the most perfect yet challenging waves on the planet. For the next crop of CT surfers to get the opportunity to compete out there is a huge step forward for the Challenger Series. Not to mention incredibly exciting for our fans to enjoy two major events at Pipe in just a couple of months. To then finish the season and decide our CT qualifiers at the iconic Newcastle SURFEST is amazing. It’s an event with so much surf history. The whole town gets behind it. To see our CS surfers realize their dreams in front of thousands of fans at Merewether will be a huge moment.“
In 2026, the iconic Newcastle SURFEST will celebrate its 40th anniversary. This will cement the event as one of the longest-running professional surfing competitions in the world. Born from one of the most passionate and talent-producing towns in Australian surfing, Newcastle SURFEST has been won by the biggest names in the sport. This includes Kelly Slater, Stephanie Gilmore, Tom Curren, Layne Beachley, Mick Fanning, Frieda Zamba and Mark Occhilupo. With so much history to celebrate, it will be a fitting location to decide the qualifiers for the 2026 Championship Tour.
Pictured: Challenger Series Adds Pipeline and Merewether, which will host the final event of the Challenger Series. It will decide the qualifiers for the 2026 Championship Tour. Credit: WSL
2025-26 WSL Challenger Series Schedule:
- Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia: June 2 – 8, 2025
- Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: June 30 – July 6, 2025
- Huntington Beach, California, USA: July 29 – August 3, 2025 (US Open festival window: July 26 – August 3)
- Ericeira, Portugal: September 29 – October 5, 2025
- Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: October 11 – 19, 2025
- Pipeline, Hawai’i, USA: January 28 – February 8, 2026
- Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia: March 8 – 15, 2026
At the end of the season, the top 10 men and seven women from the Challenger Series Rankings will earn a spot on the 2026 CT. The best five of a possible seven results count towards each competitor’s end-of-season ranking.
Both the Challenger and CT schedules are transitioning into their new looks and seasons. Therefore, as a one-off, for the 2025-26 season, the Burton Automotive Newcastle SURFEST will count twice in the one season. Merewether will host the opening and closing events of this year’s Challenger Series.
The regional Qualifying Series (QS) will continue as a year-round series in each of the seven WSL regions, with a specific number of surfers from each region graduating from the top of the QS rankings to the Challenger Series each year.
Blue Cheese on Wheels: A Surf Dad Story
I Just Wanted a Few Waves
I hadn’t surfed in weeks. Work. Kids. Stuff. My brain was mush. I needed water. Salt. A few waves. Just that.
I grabbed the big blue 9’0 soft top. The Log Model. The one everyone disenjoys me riding, A superior paddle machine.
My friends don’t mind. I’m not selfish in the water. I’m too unfit to be inconsiderate.
The others, though. They glare. They mutter, and they don’t greet. Don’t acknowledge. Don’t shake hands.
They also don’t catch many waves. They ride ego-driven, superlight, narrow pro models. The boards have great turning but no paddle power.
The ultimate quest in surfing is finding the marriage between paddle power and turning ability. You can’t have optimum levels of both.
I don’t care too much about turning. I just want a few waves. Just a few. No one dies. Everyone gets wet.
The Wave. The Surfer. The Air.
Late afternoon. Golden light. Long shadows. Wind going slack. That clean hush before dark.
I paddled out to join my daughter, Brin. Twelve-years-old. And her best friend, Summer. Also trouble.
Got one. An absolute bomb. Swung and went. It stood up just right. Smooth wall. My feet found the sweet spot.
But the sun. Right in my eyes. Blinding. Like fire. And then, a blur. Some young guy. Blue wetsuit.
He was paddling straight up the face. A wrong move. Should have paddled into the whitewater and ducked under. A golden rule. I saw his head too late. Too close.. Point blank range.
Instinct took over. I bunny-hopped. On a 9’0. Full credit card air. Not easy with 90 litres of volume.
A full leap of faith. Board went light. I lifted off the water. Floated. Briefly.
Somehow, I cleared him.
No thud of fins to head. No scream and no blood.
He popped up blinking.
I carried on riding.
Blue Cheese on Wheels
Brin and Summer screamed from the channel.
Someone hooted from the car park.
Someone whistled. A long, single-tone whistle, indicating a ‘shew, that was close‘ vibe.
In the distance, a dog barked.
I paddled back out to the guy. A little bit shaken. Apologised for giving him a scare. Gave him a thumbs up. He was fine. Still blinking. But fine.
He went straight in after that. Paddled in. Over the rocks. Driven over by a tanker. Enough for one day.
Brin reappeared as I paddled back to the top of the point.
Summer was with her.
Pirates
They paddled straight at me. Grinning like pirates. Both punched me solidly on the shoulder.
“Blue Cheese on Wheels!” they shouted.
And burst out laughing.
Not about the kid in the blue wetsuit.
About some arb blue car in the car park.
If you see a blue car, you can punch some and shout, ‘blue cheese on wheels.”
It’s just a game they play.
“But I nearly killed someone,” I said.
“I know,” said Summer. “That was rad. I always wanted to punch you with blue cheese on wheels.”
“That was cwazy,” said Brin, adding the speech impediment for special effects.
She turned. Paddled. Caught an inside wave. Moved on to the next thing in front of her eyes.
Her wave was watched over by the blue car in the car park. Same place it had been all afternoon.
The end./
Further reading: Seal Point Boardriders Club Grom Comp Great Success
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