ISA World Surfing Games

International Surfing Association
Huntington Beach, California
14 - 22 October 2006 

SA loses first team member in dramatic day at ISA World Surfing Games

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 19 October, 2006 : - - The South African surfing team lost the first of its 10 person team on a drama filled fourth day (Wednesday) of the ISA World Surfing Games being staged in California.

As Huntington Beach finally lived up to its billing as ‘Surf City, USA’ by producing consistent overhead tubes, SA bodyboarder Wesley Fisher recorded the highest scoring ride of the contest, but was nearly eliminated; Jordy Smith was late for his heat but won it anyway and Matthew Kruger became the first South African to be ousted from the event! 

The day started with Fisher being relegated to the repecharge rounds when he placed third in his round two qualifying heat before team captain Granville West raised the spirits of the squad by convincingly winning his men’s open surfing repecharge round two heat. 

Next Sacha Specker followed Fisher into the bodyboard reps when he also finished third in his heat before the SA squad nearly had heart failure when Smith was not at the beach for the start of his men’s rep round two heat. 

The freakishly talented 19 year-old Durbanite eventually paddled out with 14 of the 20 minutes remaining and promptly rode three waves, the last of which saw him disappear into a lefthand barrel and emerge through the curtain of water to screams of delight from his teammates on the beach, scoring 8.17 out of a possible 10 points to accumulate a heat winning 14.17 point total. 

“I was chilling at the hotel and misjudged the time of my heat,” commented a relieved Smith after his heat, adding “It was nothing serious. I just needed two good waves and I got a 6.6 on one and then a big barrel to earn that last 8.17.”Kruger was next up in the men’s open and clinched a comfortable runner-up berth to join West and Smith in the third repecharge round.  

Fisher then took to the surf at podium two for his bodyboard repecharge round two heat and had his teammates in raptures when he opened his account with a near perfect ride that three judges scored 10 out of 10, one gave him 9.8 and the fifth 9.5 points for an average of 9.93 and the highest scoring ride of the day. 

However, the cheers turned to groans minutes later when the Durbanite incurred an interference penalty and had the score of his second counting ride halved. Despite the penalty his opponents could not capitalize and Fisher won the heat to advance to rep round three, where he was joined by Specker later in the day. 

Back at podium one, West recorded another victory that took him into Friday’s repecharge round four while Smith also progressed in second place in his heat before Kruger placed fourth in his encounter and was eliminated from the event in equal 57th place overall that contributed 200 points to the teams total. 

At the end of the day West, the SA captain, had this to say about the conditions and mood in the camp. “The waves have been really rippable! We’ve got such good team support and there is a sick vibe among the group. Many thanks for the email support from back home.” 

Defending champions Australia, 2004 runners-up Brazil and France provisionally lead the team standings at this stage as they still have all their team members in contention. SA, New Zealand, Tahiti and Hawaii have all had one contender eliminated, while the highly touted USA squad with its four WCT surfers (three men and one girl) had both their bodyboarders sidelined yesterday. 

Today’s action at the WSG at Huntington Beach sees live webcasts from podium one of qualifying round four of the open men first up, the qualifying round three of women, featuring Rosanne Hodge and Tammy-Lee Smith from SA, followed by the first two rounds of women’s surfing repecharge heats. 

The second podium hosts longboarding repecharge rounds, followed by bodyboarding qualifying and repecharge heats – with Fisher and Specker in action – then women’s bodyboard reps, where SA’s Lyndall Pells will be hoping to keep her campaign on track, before ending the day with round four of men’s bodyboarding reps that hopefully will feature Fisher and Specker again.  

NB: California is 9 hours behind SA time, e.g. 8am in California is 5pm in SA 

THURSDAY October 19th

Main Podium  
8:00AM          4 Heats OPEN Q4 
9:20AM          4 Heats WOMEN SURF Q3 
10:40AM        7 Heats WOMEN SURF Rep 1
1:00PM          8 Heats WOMEN SURF Rep 2   

Second Podium
8:00AM          4 Heats LONG Rep 1
9:20AM          4 Heats LONG Rep 2
10:40AM        4 Heats B.BOARD MEN Q3
12:00PM        4 Heats B.BOARD MEN Rep 3
1:20PM          3 Heats B.BOARD WOMEN Rep 1
2:20PM          4 Heats B.BOARD MEN Rep 4

The SA team has been funded by a grant from the National Lottery Board (Lotto) and the side has received support from O'Neill South Africa, Island Style and Reef Wetsuits

www.isasurf.org

Team South Africa:  www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za
# 1 : S Afr Surfing Team leaves for 2006 ISA WSG on Tuesday
# 2 : Granville West named captain for 2006 S.A. Surfing team
# 3 : Matthew Moir blitzes opposition at Lost Energy ISA WSG
# 4 : Three SA men sent into repecharge rounds at ISA WSG
# 5 : South African girls into last 16 at ISA World Surf Games
# 6 : Coming soon
# 7 : Coming soon
# 8 : Coming soon  

www.isasurf.org
www.lostenterprises.com
www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za

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