Baboonfish Series

Volcom Qualifying Series
Cape Town, South Africa
11 - 12 November 2006

Young Guns Dominate Volcom’s Baboonfish.

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 12 November, 2006 : - - Cape Town, South Africa: There was little respect for elders displayed at Volcom’s Baboonfish surf contest on Sunday, after Cape Town’s new generation of young surfers utterly dominated proceedings during the third and final qualifying event of Volcom’s Totally Crustaceous Tour.

Leading the charge was Brendan Gibbens who took first place in the Open Men’s Division despite the fact that he still qualifies to surf in the under 17 division of the event. With an emphatic display of top-notch surfing, Gibbens took the top honours from a vastly experienced field at Koelbaai. WQS campaigner Daniel Redman finished in second place in front of Brett Shearer and Ryan Payne.

But Gibbens didn’t stop there, as he also placed second in the Junior Division behind Cape Town’s Matt Bromley. In fact, it was Bromley’s superb performance that was the only thing capable of eclipsing Gibbens’s win in the Open Division.

Bromley, who is young enough to compete in the Grom Division (15 years and younger) as well as the Juniors (17 years and younger), showed his class by winning both divisions in emphatic style. His fluent ability and dazzling performance in the tricky conditions at Koelbaai, has secured him a spot at the head of the new guard of up-and-coming surfers along with a spot in the South African Volcom Qualifying Series Finals to be held in Durban during March of next year.

Bromley’s performance ousted Gibbens in the Junior Division who finished second in front of Philip Visagie in third and Daniel Mace who came in fourth place. In the Grom Division, Bromley’s performance was too good for Umhlanga’s Beyrick de Vries who finished in second, while Mike February and JC Susan finished third and fourth respectively.

Leading up to the event small swell and gale force south easterly winds threatened to play a major part of the weekends proceedings, but some clever organisational decisions ensured that the contest was run in the best surf that the Cape Peninsular had on offer.

According to contest organiser, Peter Nicholson, “Its important to take the competitors out of their comfort zones and expose them to new breaks. It can only improve their surfing in the long run.”

Cape Town local, Stacey Guy, seemed to have no problems dealing with the new locations when she scored the highest scoring ride of the event during her Women’s Division final. The ride, which scored in excess of 9 points out of a possible 10, was the result of a clean tube-ride, but unfortunately was not enough to lift her into first place after she failed to get a back-up ride. It was Chantel Rautenbach, who, through a combination of solid scoring rides, took the top honours in the Women’s Division. Durban’s Tasha Mentasti finished in third place ahead of Tarryn Chudley.

Running in clean waves at Glen Beach on Saturday, and blustery 2-3ft waves at Koelbaai on Sunday, the event enjoyed bright sunshine and a packed beaches for both days of the competition. Apart from the high quality surfing taking place in the water, the throngs on the beach were also entertained with a treasure hunt and numerous free prize giveaways. An egg throwing competition resulted in a lot of messy young surfers and some free prizes in the form of Volcom clothing.

Having now completed all three of the regional qualifiers, the next step is the VQS* Finals, which will be held at Durban’s Dairy Beach during March of 2007. There, a champion will be crowned and flown to California to compete in the VQS World Championships to be held at Newport Beach.

The South African leg of Volcom’s Totally Crustaceous Tour boasts over R40 000 worth of prize money, as well as product giveaways from DVS Shoe Company and Redbull.

Baboonfish Results:

Open
1. Brendan Gibbens.
2. Daniel Redman.
3. Brett Shearer.
4. Ryan Payne.

Junior
1. Matt Bromley.
2. Brendan Gibbens.
3. Philip Visagie.
4. Daniel Mace.

Women’s
1. Chantel Rautenbach .
2. Stacey Guy.
3. Tascha Mentasti.
4. Tarryn Chudley.

Groms
1. Matt Bromley.
2. Beyrick de Vries.
3. Mike February.
4. JC Susan.

Volcom’s Totally Crustaceous Tour is a Surfing South Africa (SSA) sanctioned event.

www.volcom.com

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Brendon Thomas 

Contests - Surfersvillage