Billabong Junior Series

Surfing South Africa
Victoria Bay South Africa
9 - 12 August 2007

Girls go ballistic in great surf on Day 2 of Billabong Junior Series event at Victoria Bay

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 10 August, 2007 : - - The day after the Women’s Day public holiday in South Africa, the country’s top 20-and-under female surf stars celebrated with an awesome display of high performance surfing as Victoria Bay continued to produce great surf for the Billabong Junior Series.

Seven of the top eight seeds started their campaign for the Pro Junior (U20) girls’ title with heat victories in the round of 32, led by No. 1 seed and runaway ratings leader Tarryn Chudleigh from Kommetjie who tallied over 14.0 points (out of 20) for her best two rides, the second highest heat total of any division on the day.

Chantelle Rautenbach (Melkbosstrand) and Vic Bay local Bianca Buitendag, 13, who occupy the two positions below Chudleigh in the ratings going into the fourth of five events on the 2007 series, both posted comfortable victories to advance to the last 16.

The most exciting heat of the day saw another 13 year-old in Sarah Baum (Athlone Park) and Adele Nortje from nearby Mossel Bay go head-to-head, both earning scores in the excellent range as the lead changed hands after each ride. When the final siren sounded it was Baum who was ahead but both progressed to the next round.

Only current WQS No. 13 and the fourth seed here, Nikita Robb (East London), missed out on this feast of spectacular surfing when she did not appear for her heat and gave Capetonians Danielle Johnson and Sabrina Scott an unexpectedly easy walk through to round two. And later in the day Baum and Buitendag both placed second in their respective U14 boys’ first round heats to progress to the last 16 in that division also.

The Pro Junior (U20) boys got proceedings underway this morning as solid but inconsistent one to 1.5 metre waves rolled in the picturesque bay and again it was Brendon Gibbens who claimed victory in the first heat of the day.

The 15 year-old who jetted back from competing in the international King of the Groms event in France last weekend in time to participate at Vic Bay has been riding on a surfboard borrowed from U16 series champ Shaun Joubert (who is in Indonesia) as his own baggage and three boards were held up in London.

Gibbens has won every heat he has contested to date – two in the U20 division and the other in the U16’s – on this board and heard today that a freak accident at Heathrow saw a huge chunk of concrete fall on his baggage, totally destroying all his equipment, which, given his performances on Joubert’s board, might turn out to be a good thing!

Others who turned in blistering performances to demonstrate the healthy state of the country’s junior talent pool included national junior team members Jaco Steyn (Bloubergstrand) and Haydn MacNicol, along with fellow Scottburgh resident Casey Grant, the runner-up in the opening event of the year in St Mikes in February.

Josh Redman also got his campaign back on track after losing his seeding advantage due to a late entry, securing victory in his second round heat and advancing to the last 32 where he joins the top 14 seeds and two wildcards.

The 19 year-old from Umdloti just north of Durban holds fifth spot in the Pro Junior series rankings going into this event and is in line for one of the coveted invitations to the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships in Australia in January that go to the top five in the season ending ratings.

The U14 boys also completed their first round of competition and ratings leaders Mikey February (Kommetjie), Dane Staples (St Francis Bay) and Jarred Veldhuis (Kommetjie) all impressed, advancing to the last 16 via heat wins.

Steve Sawyer from Jeffreys Bay showed his experience on point breaks by posting an outstanding 9.0 ride, the highest of the event to date, while Davey Brand (Kommetjie), the winner of the last event in Cape Town in May, also shone and a plucky Daniel Wilson (Tokai) got up off his sickbed, paddled out, won his heat and then went straight back to bed.

The surf is predicted to get well overhead on the Southern Cape coast on Saturday and Vic Bay will certainly provide a stern test, particularly for the younger competitors. The event runs until Sunday when the finals in all five divisions will be held along with the spectacular Von Zipper Air Show where the country’s top ‘fly-boys’ display their aerial talents with the best completed manoeuvre earning the winner-takes-all R1 800 prize-purse.

Friday’s program includes the opening rounds of 32 for the Pro Junior girls and U14 boys along with the Pro Junior boys Round of 48. The Billabong Junior Series is sanctioned by Surfing South Africa (SSA), the national controlling body for the sport, and proudly supported by First National Bank, Palmers, Kustom, Von Zipper, Red Bull and Silver Bullet Productions

Previous reports:
# 1 : Billabong Junior Series Victoria Bay set to kick off Aug 9
# 2 : Billabong Junior Series rolling into Victoria Bay Thursday
# 3 : Billabong Junior Series Victoria Bay kicks off in great surf
# 4 : Coming soon  

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