Buffalo City beats Cape Town to win the Freedom Cup at the 2024 Sea Harvest SA Junior Championships presented by SMTH Shapes

by SFT | Sep 30, 2024 | SA Surf Contest News

Great Surfing in JBay for first two days of the 28th Sea Harvest SA Junior Champs presented by SMTH Shapes

by SFT | Sep 27, 2024 | SA Surf Contest News

The best junior surfers in the country were greeted with perfect and clean three-foot waves and a light offshore to groom them perfectly, ideal for high-performance ripping.

This is the 28th edition of the Sea Harvest South African Junior Championships, which involves 180 girls and boys from eight districts. SMTH Shapes, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, Ocean Freedom, and True Technologies support this event.

Anastasia Venter © Kody McGregor

In the U18 Girls division, Gabbi Herbst (Ethekwini) scored the highest points, with a massive 14.74 out of a possible 20, to win her heat convincingly. Gemma Hanafey (Buffalo City) and Anastasia Venter (Cape Winelands) were top performers.

Gemma Hanafey © Kody McGregor

Remi Fourie (Buffalo City)was on fire in the U16 Girls First Round and won her heat convincingly. Others who excelled in this division included Taylor Emslie (Buffalo City), carrying the energy from her win in the Rip Curl GromSearch presented by Sea Harvest at Seal Point last weekend, and Maxine Kauffman (Ilembe). Also advancing out of this round was Zipho Mseleku (Ethekwini), who put on a spirited backhand performance to come in behind Emslie.

Remi Fourie © Kody McGregor

Maxine Kauffman © Kody McGregor

Zipho Mesleku © Kody McGregor

Charlotte Copson (Cape Town Surfriders) surfed amazingly in the U14 Girls First Round to take the win. Camilla Heuer (Buffalo City) also looked good, winning her heat. At the same time, Leah Lepront (Nelson Mandela Bay Surfriders) showed what she is capable of by posting a nearly perfect 9.67 for her top-scoring ride and the highest-scoring ride of the day up to that point.

Charlotte Copson © Kody Mcgregor

Chasing top-score honours for the day, Slayde Shooter (Nelson Mandela Bay Surfriders) was awarded a heat total of 17.84 for the combination of two excellent scores of 8.67 and a 9.17 for the day’s highest heat total. In this U12 Boys heat, Marcello Zedde (Ilembe) rode only two waves for a massive score of 14.67 but had to settle for second place behind Shooter and advanced into the next round. Another top performer was Liam Bonkolo (Cape Town Surfriders), who also advanced. 

At stake are individual national titles for boys and girls in the Under 12, Under 14, Under 16, and Under 18 age divisions, along with the coveted Freedom Cup. First introduced at the event in East London in 2003, it is awarded to the District whose team members accumulate the highest points across all age divisions.

The SA Junior Championships is back at Lower Point for the 11th year, with support from the Kouga Municipality. The teams competing this year are the defending champions Cape Town Surfriders, former champions Buffalo City Surfriders and eThekweni Surfriders, hosts Nelson Mandela Bay Surfriders, Cape Winelands Surfriders, Eden Surfriders, Ugu Surfriders and Ilembe Surfriders.

In addition to the Freedom Cup and individual championship titles, there is the Loud and Proud Team Spirit award, as well as the Surfing South Africa Junior Surfer Of The Contest trophy.

The event is being streamed live on SuperSport Schools. Register here or download the SuperSport Schools app.

Liveheats provides up to the second heat scores to all mobile devices daily. To access this information, go to www.liveheats.com/surfingsouthafrica.

Updates, photos and videos will be published on the Surfing SA Facebook Page and on the Instagram profile @surfing_south_africa_media.

Complimentary images are available for media outlets.

Contact Surfing South Africa Media Manager Craig Jarvis

The 28th Sea Harvest SA Junior Champs presented by SMTH Shapes

by SFT | Sep 25, 2024 | SA Surf Contest News

Lower Point, Jeffreys Bay – The forecast looks promising for the start of the 2024 Sea Harvest SA Junior Surfing Championships. This takes place at Lower Point in JBay, a world-renowned surfing location. With an offshore flow for most competition days (25th – 29th September) and a decent swell on the horizon, it’s shaping up to be a very exciting event.

This, the 28th edition of the Sea Harvest South African Junior Championships, involves 180 girls and boys from eight districts. It is supported by SMTH Shapes, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, Ocean Freedom and True Technologies.

One of the year’s most popular events, the SA Junior Championships, gives our young surfers a taste of what it is like to be a champion. Furthermore, it sets many young surfers up for further success in their surfing careers.

It will showcase the talents of South Africa’s top young surfers. They will compete in close to 130 heats over the next five days. The event will end on Sunday 29th September.

Individual National Title

At stake are individual national titles for Under 12, Under 14, Under 16 and Under 18 boys and girls. Also, with the coveted Freedom Cup, which was first introduced at the event in East London in 2003. It is awarded to the District whose team members accumulate the highest points across all age divisions.

The teams competing this year are the defending champions Cape Town Surfriders, former champions Buffalo City Surfriders, eThekwini Surfriders, hosts Nelson Mandela Bay Surfriders, Winelands Surfriders, Eden Surfriders, Ugu Surfriders and iLembe Surfriders.

In addition to the Freedom Cup and individual championship titles, several speciality awards are up for grabs. Further, including the Loud and Proud Team Spirit award, which is awarded to the team with the most spirit at the event and won last year by Ethekwini.

The 28th Sea Harvest SA Junior Championships

The SA Junior Championships will take place at Lower Point in J-Bay for the eleventh year. Furthermore, it is presented by Sea Harvest, who has been supporting junior surfing in the country for many years. Further, their unwavering backing of the sport has always been greatly appreciated.

The SA Junior Champions is proudly supported by SMTH Shapes, whose surfboards are crafted by legendary surfboard shaper Graham Smith and his son, WSL CT surfer and 2024 Olympian Jordy. Furthermore, we are also grateful for the support received from the Department of Sport Arts and Culture, True Technologies, and Ocean Freedom.

Kouga Municipality

The Kouga Municipality always supports surfing in their region. Furthermore, it has shown its support in many ways over the last surfing season.

This year, those fans and family members who can’t make it down to JBay can watch the event in its entirety on the SuperSport Schools Live Stream. So, register here or download the SuperSport Schools app. Then, use the simple search function to find ‘Sea Harvest SA Junior Championships.’

Liveheats will provide up to the second heat scores to all mobile devices daily of the Sea Harvest SA Junior Championships presented by SMTH Shapes. To access this information, go to www.liveheats.com/surfingsouthafrica. In addition, heat results are updated on this platform as they are completed. All the heat draws and the probable schedule is published on Liveheats.

Updates, photos and videos will be published on the Surfing SA Facebook Page. Also, find photos on the Instagram profile @surfing_south_africa_media. Furthermore, regular press releases will be distributed.

The Sea Harvest SA Surfing Championships is presented by SMTH Shapes. Furthermore it is a premier Surfing South Africa tournament.

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). It is recognised as the governing body by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.

Surfing South Africa is responsible for developing the sport, hosting National tournaments, sanctioning International events, and selecting National teams in all SSA disciplines. SSA is a member of the African Surfing Confederation (ASC). Also, It is a member of the International Surfing Association (ISA), the sport’s World governing body.

Taylor Emslie and Rory Dace Win Rip Curl GromSearch Premier U16 Division At Seal Point

by SFT | Sep 23, 2024 | SA Surf Contest News

Louise Lepront and Rory Dace Win 2024 Rip Curl GromSearch Series

 All our winners – back L-R: Louise Lepront, Ben Esterhuyse, Leah Lepront, Taylor Emslie, Rory Dace

Front L-R Brin Jarvis, Leo Mcleod, Levi Epenetos © Kai Wulff

Seal Point, Cape St Francis – In small and onshore conditions, Taylor Emslie and Rory Dace emerged victorious in the premier U16 Division at the Rip Curl GromSearch Final event presented by Sea Harvest and the Kouga Municipality. When all the points had been tallied, Louise Lepront and Rory Dace were the clear series winners. They received an entry into the Rip Curl Global Finals in November and a R20k travel voucher for their travels.  

Rip Curl GromSearch Finals Seal Point

Rory Dace was on a tear © Kai Wulff

The best junior surfers battled it out in challenging conditions at Seal Point for event trophies, prizemoney and series points. The demanding conditions didn’t slow anyone down, and there was some red-hot and innovative surfing, some spirited performances and, on occasion, some serious rock-dodging going down.

U12 Girls

In the U12 Girls final, local goofy-footer Brin Jarvis took the honours, beating Ella Van Der Made into second position, with Adriana Canning and Camilla Prins third and fourth, respectively.

Another local surfer and goofy-footer, Leo Macleod, caused an upset in the U12 Boys Division with a decisive win, defeating Levi Vosloo. Seal Point local Slayde Shooter was third, and Marcello Zedde was fourth.

Leah Lepront took out the U14 Girls division in a closely fought final. “It was tricky out there, and rocks were popping up on most waves, but I managed to get what I needed,” said Lepront after the final. “Lila also got a few, but I’m stoked about the win. Thanks to my family for all the support.” She beat Lila Aszalos into second, Jasmine Venter came third, and Camilla Heuer was fourth.

The most winningest surfer

Ben Esterhuyse is one of the most winningest surfers of the 2024 Rip Curl GromSearch series, triumphing in most of the events and making several finals in the U16 division. “It has been a good season so far; stoked with the win, and I plan on taking this energy with me to SA Champs next week in JBay,” said a very happy Esterhuyse after his win was announced. “A big shout out to my parents who get me to all these events and ensure I am ready and prepared for every contest.” He beat Levi Vosloo in second, with Sebastian Copson and Slayde Shooter in the minor positions.

Gems In The Rough

Louise Lepront continued her winning ways in taking out the U18 Girls division with a decisive win over Anastasia Venter. Finding a few gems in the rough, she put her powerful backhand to work and was awarded big scores. Opening up with a solid 7.17 score, she was out in front from the beginning, and the rest of the competitors were playing catchup. Venter was pushing hard but couldn’t get a score to match Lepront’s opening ride, and victory went to Lepront. Emily Jenkinson was third in the final, with Catherine Jacob in fourth.

Levi Epenetos was on fire in the U18 Boys, eventually defeating Loghann Tilsley in an exciting final. Tilsley had found form the entire event with some massive scores in the earlier rounds and was looking the dangerman in the final. Still, Epenetos found waves with open faces and got the scores with his backhand hooks. Luc Lepront and Kane Johnstone battled to find decent waves and settled for third and fourth places, respectively.

 

The Premier U16 Girls division

In the Premier U16 Girls division, Taylor Emslie caused a major upset by taking out the highly-rated Louis Lepront in this final. Emslie was trailing Lepront but picked up one absolute gem of a wave and performed some critical turns on the open face for a well-deserved score of 6.33 to sneak into the lead. Lepront was chasing a 4.16 – a difficult score to find in the dwindling conditions – and a last-ditch effort on a small wave was unsuccessful. Emslie – a Buffalo City surfer – was the very stoked and deserving winner, with Lepront in second, Jasmine Venter in third and Emily Jenkinson in fourth.

Taylor Emslie on her winning wave © Kai Wulff

The Premier U16 Boys was a tumultuous affair. Loghann Tilsley had a strong lead from the start, but local surfer Rory Dace was hot on his heels. Rory needed just over 7 points to take the lead and picked up a rough-looking wave that opened up for him on the inside, and he managed to get a few big hits for a score of 7.33 and the lead. With only 3 minutes left, the ocean teased and toyed with the competitors but produced nothing more of any value to the surfers. Dace hung onto the lead until the final siren to take the win.

“After my first turn, I knew that I had a good score coming out, but I just didn’t know how good it was going to be,” said Dace. “The wave closed out on me right on the inside, so I was trying to get another move in, and I knew it would be close. Luckily, the judges gave me the score needed.” The final result had Dace in front, with Tilsley behind him second. Josh Malherbe and Tristan Gaylard Ralfe were third and fourth.

Premier U16 Division Series Winners.

The Premier U16 Series Winners were decided on the surfers’ top four out of five GromSearch series results. Once their results had been finalised, Louise Lepront and Rory Dace emerged as the clear winners, and they will be competing in the Rip Curl GromSearch Global Finals in Bali in November. They both won a R20k travel voucher to assist them with this trip, sponsored by Zigzag Magazine and supported by Sea Harvest and The Royal St Andrews Hotel.

Louis Lepront and Rory Dace © Kai Wulff

The Rip Curl GromSearch had a live feed, which you can find on the SuperSport Schools app. The app allows you to replay the heats from the event. Register, log in, and use the search function to search for Rip Curl.

Surfing images from Day Three can be found and downloaded from Google Drive; please remember to tag the event #ripcurlgromsearchseals and credit the photographer @louiswulff

Final Results

The final results of all the final heats can be found on LiveHeats.

The Rip Curl GromSearch contest series is run by Surfing South Africa and supported by Sea Harvest. This tournament was supported by Kouga Municipality, with WiFi by TCS WiFi.

Complimentary high-resolution images are available for media outlets.

Read more: Small Waves and Big Scores for Day Two Of The Rip Curl GromSearch Seal Point

Small Waves and Big Scores for Day Two Of The Rip Curl GromSearch Seal Point

by SFT | Sep 23, 2024 | SA Surf Contest News

Mikayla Jefferis (JBay) © Kai Wulff

In the Boys’ U14 division, Rip Curl surfer Ben Esterhuyse dominated, winning easily with 14.17 over Levi Vosloo in second in their quarter-final match-up and one of the day’s highest heat totals

In the U16 girls’ division, Louise Lepront entered the fray and showed her skills, displaying powerful surfing on her backhand and securing her spot in the semifinals. She went on to smash her U18 division quarter-final heat with an unbeatable heat total of 15.40 points, leaving everyone in the heat in a combination situation (two new rides needed by each competitor). It was small waves and big scores all the way.

Great Opening Day For Rip Curl GromSearch Seal Point

by SFT | Sep 21, 2024 | SA Surf Contest News