Quiksilver South Africa Surfing Championship
presented by Peugeot and Samsung.

Surfing South Africa
Cape Peninsula
27 - 30 April 2006

Contest Hotting Up For The President's Cup.

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 29 April, 2006 : - - Team spirit combined with red hot surfing were the most noticable elements of day three action in the 2006 Quiksilver SA Championships which end in the Cape Peninsula tomorrow (Sunday).

Back at Long Beach for the third day in a row due to messy and unsettled conditions elsewhere in the Peninsula, the penultimate day of competition produced its fair share of interference calls and upsets.

Round two of the Open Men hit the water first, and in the three-foot peaks, right of way fluctuated per set. The judges needed to make interference calls often, and Brian Moulang(EP) was the first to feel the pressure when he was outpaddled by Jonathan Bruton from Border. Bruton got the inside line and Moulang chose the wrong option as both surfers stood up, choosing to go right to block Bruton on what was clearly a left-hander. The EP surfer was penalised by the judges for interference and was out of the contest. "I didn't think he (Bruton) was going to do what he did. I left a gap for him though, so I'm also to blame.Still, that's the way it goes in contests. I wonder what the Dunes is like?" said a dissapointed Moulang

Heat number seven of the same round saw a stoked Andrew Banks from Southern KZN get a wave in the last few seconds that gave him the score he needed. Andrew was hurting for a 5.7 and his final right opened up for three big hits off the top and he scored a six, just taking out WP's Graeme Field in the dying moments. "I had a bit of a shocker." said Banksy. "Luckily that wave came through at the last moment and I squeaked through. So stoked! " The heat was won by on-form Ewald van Heerden from Western Province.

The U20 Boys were next to hit the water, and there was some inspired surfing by this talented group. Josh Salie and Brandon Roberts managed the one-two for Western Province in the first heat, while Clinton Gravett blasted the next heat for a clear win. Heat three highlighted in-form local boy Brett Shearer utilising his knowledge of the shifting waves of his home break to post a solid heat win over Chad Du Toit (KZN). "I picked up a nice left right in the beginning of my heat which scored me a good seven-plus points. I lucked onto a good right soon afterwards and it was about a six-pointer, so I was happy with my waves." a stoked Shearer said after the heat. "I'm feeling like I'm in a good rhythm at the moment, and I surf these waves every day, so I'm hoping to do really well."

Keegan Nel from Border won the last quarter-final from KZN's Kyle Beach.

With the wind starting to bluster from the south, and with growing sets, the Open Men's quarters hit the water. The first heat produced a strong showing from Border's Simon Fish, who beat Matthew Kruger (KZN) into second. WP surfer Quintin Jones dug a rail to face-plant spectacularly into a thick shorebreak wipeout early in his heat, but still managed to find the waves to win another heat and reach the semi-finals while defending champ Shane Thorne of KZN won his quarter, closely followed by Adam Hansen from WP. There was an upset in the final quarter-final when Ryan Payne(SCAPE) and Ewald van Heerden (WP) pushed former SA Champ Sean Holmes of Southern Cape into third and out of the event.

The Open Womens division semis were the last group to surf on day three, and Stacy Guy(WP) and Penny Robarts(BOL, Sarah Johnstone-Maritz(SKZN) and Tammy Robarts(BOL) will contest the final tomorrow.

The officials are hoping to take the Plate Event and Finals to a different location tomorrow (Sunday) and are holding thumbs that the predicted 50kph South Easter helps to bring the event to a fitting climax.

Full results of today's surfing will appear on the Surfing South Africa website  (www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za) later.

Previous reports:
# 1 : Quiksilver SA Surfing Champs go mobile for best surf
# 2 : Day 2 of Quiksilver SA Surf Champs girls hit the water
# 3 : Coming soon
# 4 : Coming soon  

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Craig Jarvis - Quiksilver SA
craigjarvis@telkomsa.net

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