World's first surfing event to run in Zulu

Surf Culture

Kids have come a really long way through surfing

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 19 November, 2012 : - - The Second Umthombo Surfing contest will be held at Dairy Beach on Saturday 24 November. The event will start at 7am and conclude at 1pm. Prize giving will be held immediately after the event. All surfers are encouraged to go down to Dairy to support as this is really about the surfing community rallying around abandoned street children.

From life on the streets, to where they are now, these kids have come a really long way through surfing. So, big thanks go out to John McCarthy from the BombSurf and Mark Snowball from RFB Logistics for putting this together.

Some interesting facts about the event are that:
1. This is the world’s first surfing competition to be run in Zulu.
2. All of the competitors are former street children who through surfing have been taken off the streets and entered into rehabilitation programmes run by Umthombo.
3. This will be the first surfing event where all of the judges, the commentators, the tabulator and the contest director are isiZulu speaking thanks also to the KZN and SSA development programs for making this possible.

Marc Bernadis from the Shoal reported today that (diving) visibility was over 20 meters at Aliwal Shoal on the weekend and the water temperature was 23'C. We have NE winds of 9 knots blowing this morning, which will increase to 15 knots later; with temperatures peaking at 24 degrees. The swell has dropped a bit from yesterday but you could still find some waves before the wind picks up.