SURFING: Boys to Men - The 2013 Hurley SA Junior Surfing Champs

WATER SPORTS

Words: Craig Jarvis | Photos: © Alan van Gysen

Greeted by the biggest swell of the year in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa’s best junior surfers manned up and paddled out.

Boys to Men The 2013 Hurley SA Junior Surfing Champs

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There were some fluctuations with the predictions, as it wont to happen with an inaccurate science like swell forecasting, but we all knew something was heading towards J-bay and the Hurley SA Junior Champs 2013 on Friday, 27 September, as the swell grew from 2 foot to 6 foot in the face of a gale-force offshore wind.

Saturday morning was huge, and there was some serious trepidation amongst competitors, some as young as 11 years old, and parents. This was the real deal, as 8-foot waves poured down the point and smashed onto the rocks. The safety aspects were primed and upgraded, the NRSI brought in reinforcements, and the U13 Boys were sent out.

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It took a while before the surfers made their way to the beach, where the real waves were breaking. In the first couple of heats, competitors surfed the white water, trying to make head and tail of the pounding surf. But

it was young Koby Oberholzer, son of legendary Frankie Oberholzer, who was the first to make it out and surf a few big waves that opened the floodgates for the young surfers. In the space of a few heats, the event turned from a grovel sesh in the white water to the biggest charge fest, with brave young surfers taking off on waves three-times overhead and screaming through the channel in a bid for personal and team victory.

RESULTS

Freedom Cup (Provincial team points) PROVINCE

Points

1. Western Province

29,670

1.

Matt McGillivray (EP)

2. Eastern Province

27,770

2.

Dylan Wichmann (WP)

3. KZN Central

26,290

3.

Steff Burrows (BOL)

4. Boland

21,300

4.

Max Armstrong (WP)

5. Border

19,010

6. Southern KZN

17,931

7. Southern Cape

15,855

8. Zululand

13,546

9. SA Development Academy

13,045

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Boys U17

Girls U17 1.

Teal Hogg (KZNC)

2.

Robyn VD Merwe (EP)

3.

Inge McLaren (BOR)

4.

Chanelle Botha (SKZN)

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RESULTS Boys U15

Boys U13

1.

Ethan Fletcher (WP)

1.

Angelo Faulkner (EP)

2.

Jordy Maree (WP)

2.

Koby Oberholzer (KZNC)

3.

Jake Elkington (WP)

3.

Max Elkington (WP)

4.

Tristan Lev (BOL)

4.

Karl Steen (KZNC)

Girls U15

Girls U13

1.

Ruth Armstrong (WP)

1.

Kai Woolf (EP)

2.

Cana Foster (KZNC)

2.

Sophie Bell (KZNC)

3.

Crystal Hulett (EP)

3.

Kirsty McGillivray (EP)

4.

Michelle Verreynne (SC)

4.

Olivia Izzard (KZNC)

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Standouts were too plentiful to mention. The best junior surfers in the country took to the biggest waves some of them had ever experienced and surfed with aplomb. In the end, Western Province won the Freedom Cup. •

RESULTS Hurley Surfer of the Contest, presented by All Aboard Travel: Kai Woolf (EP)

Oakley Highest Heat Score: Kai Woolf (EP)

Red Bull Best Air:

Max Armstrong (WP)

My Dad Shred Shesh by Firewire Surfboards:

Skullcandy Team Spirit Award: Southern KwaZulu-Natal

Zigzag Blowing Up Award: Koby Oberholzer (KZNC)

Rebel Surfboards’ Highest Placed Development Surfer: Sne Makhuba (SA Development Academy)

Dutchie Surfboards’ Highest Placed Unsponsored Surfer: Dylan Wichmann (WP)

Wayne Monk (BOR)

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