Reef Wetsuits South African Masters Champs

Surfing South Africa
Victoria Bay Southern Cape
16 - 19 August 2007

Border take Provincial team honours at the Reef Wetsuits SA Masters Championships in Victoria Bay

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 19 August, 2007 : - -  Border have won the Provincial team title at the 2007 Reef Wetsuits SA Masters championships which was completed Sunday (August 19) after four days of first class surfing in perfect 4 - 6 foot waves. 

The team from East London amassed 37996 points, some 8000 more than second placed Western Province and defending champions Southern KZN had to settle for third spot. Eastern Province came fourth, Boland were fifth and hosts Southern Cape ended ahead of seventh placed KZN.

This dominant performance at Victoria Bay emulated the Borders team's victory at the South African Championships in June when they secured the coveted Presidents Cup at Nahoon Reef.  After these impressive back to back wins in the two premier events on the Surfing South Africa calendar, the East London surfers can rightly claim to be the powerhouse province in South African surfing at the moment.

Quintin Jones of Western Province added another title to his name when he won the Senior title with a performance that deserved the 17,75 points out of 20 awarded by the judges. Jones won the Open Men's title at the SA Championships in 2003 and last year and was a finalist in the Open Men's division at the 1994 ISA World Surfing Games in Brazil.

Gary van Wieringen's 16.25 points would have seen him win most other finals but in the end the Southern KZN surfer had to settle for second place this time round. Van Wieringen was an Open Men's finalist in the SA Championships in East London in June. Eastern Province surfers Craig Els and Warren Dean were third and fourth respectively  behind Jones and Van Wieringen.

In the Masters final two of the best surfers in the championships, Wayne Monk and Andre Malherbe, went head to head and at the end of an exciting battle there was only 0.25 points separating Monk from his Border team mate and runner up when the siren went.

Monk is a former two time Open Men's champion and was captain of the SA Team in France in 1992 and Brazil in 2000 and Malherbe was a member of the victorious 2007 SA Masters Team in Puerto Rico and a finalist at that event Justin Healy of Western Province produced a career best performance to end  third and Carl Roux of Southern KZN came fourth.

Roux won the Open title at the Reef Wetsuits SA Championships at Victoria Bay in 1990 and then in 1992 came second in the Open Men's final at the ISA World Surfing Games in France. 

Multiple national title winner, 1986 World Pro Am champion and 2007 ISA World Masters Championships finalist, David Malherbe, did not have it all his own way in defending his Grandmasters title and had to work hard to edge out Border teammate Nick Pike by a mere 0.5 points to take victory. Another Border stalwart, Mike Brent, was third and Peter Lawson, a 1983 National team member, was fourth.

Former National team member Glen Row of Boland made a dream return to competition after nearly 10 years when he beat Southern Cape team member and Victoria Bay local Steven Hair by only 0.1 point  in the final of the Kahunas division. Judge Olivier of KZN was third and Border's John Carter came fourth.

Southern Cape and Victoria Bay legend Leonard Giles did not let the locals down when he came from behind in the dying seconds of the Veterans final to beat Dave Fish of Border by a mere 0.5 points. Giles made every bit of use of the final wave of the heat after Fish had caught the previous wave in the set and the judges rewarded his trademark back hand attack with the score that gave him a popular win.

Giles won the Open Mens title at Victoria Bay in 1984 while Fish has won a number of national titles over the past 25 years. 1978 World Surfing Champion Ant Brodowicz of Southern KZN was third and Jeremy Zinn of Western Province came fourth. The Zig Zag Blowing Up Award which is awarded to the surfer who impresses throughout the event, went to Steven Hair.

Over 100 surfers took part in the 2007 Reef Wetsuits SA Masters Championships which will be held at Nahoon Reef in East London next year.

FULL RESULTS

SENIORS (OVER 30)
1. QUINTIN JONES (WP)
2. GARY VAN WIERINGEN (SKZN)
3. CRAIG ELS (EP)
4. WARREN DEAN (EP)

MASTERS (OVER 35)
1. WAYNE MONK (BOR)
2. ANDRE MALHERBE (BOR)
3. JUSTIN HEALY (WP)
4. CARL ROUX (SKZN)

GRANDMASTERS (OVER 40)
1. DAVE MALHERBE (BOR)
2. NICK PIKE (BOR)
3. MIKE BRENT (BOR)
4. PETER LAWSON (KZN)

KAHUNAS (OVER 45)
1. GLEN ROW (BOL)
2. STEVEN HAIR (SCAPE)
3. JUDGE OLIVIER (KZN)
4. JOHN CARTER (BOR)

PROVINCIAL TEAMS
1. BORDER 37996
2. WESTERN PROVINCE 29852
3. SOUTHERN KZN 27824
4. EASTERN PROVINCE 26546
5. BOLAND 26078
6. SOUTHERN CAPE 24242
7. KWAZULU-NATAL 20006

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