Huge moves Day 1 for South Africa's Billabong Challenge
Dale Staples gets 'Tube of the Day' : photo Ewing
Billabong Challenge Presented by FNB
Mobile KZN Coast South Africa 29 April - 3 May 2008
Tubes, airs and huge manoeuvres on Day 1 of the Billabong Challenge
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 29 April, 2008 : - - The inaugural edition of the unique Billabong Challenge presented by FNB produced plenty of deep tube rides, high flying aerials and huge manoeuvres as eight of the country’s finest surfers cut loose on the KwaZulu Natal coastline yesterday.
The event features the five highest rated Pro Juniors on the 2008 Billabong Junior Series leaderboard plus three wildcards chasing R20 000 in cash as they scour the premier and semi-secret surf spots in KZN for five days. And the surfers judge each other with daily awards for the Best Tube ride, the Best Aerial and the Balls to the Wall for surfer who charges the hardest.
A 5am start at Scottburgh yesterday saw the amped participants in the water and going to work before the organisers even had time to explain the format. After an inspirational session the crew sat down to breakfast to hear that everyone could surf for as long as they wanted to, ride as many waves and perform any manoeuvres they liked.
The only people they needed to impress were the other seven surfers who would view video footage at the end of the day before voting, Survivor style, for the three awards.
Hollow waves and spitting barrels at a semi-secret spot had the Challengers going ballistic later in the day and when it was all over Kyle Beach pocketed the R500 for the Balls to the Wall award, Shaun Payne grabbed the R1 000 for the Biggest Air and Dale Staples earned a serious R2 000 for an epic deep tube ride.
The event continues until Friday and all the action can be followed on the website zigzag.co.za with reports, photographs and video footage posted daily.
The surfers invited to the inaugural edition of the Billabong Challenge are: 1. Klee Strachan (Winkelspruit) 2. Kyle Beach (Queensburgh) 3. Chad du Toit (Berea) 4. Mark Shepperson (Ballito) 5. Casey Grant (Scottburgh)
Wildcards Dale Staples (St Francis Bay) Matt Bromley (Kommetjie) Shaun Payne (St Francis Bay)
The Billabong Challenge is presented by First National Bank (FNB) with images by top photographers Greg Ewing and Alan van Gysen and video footage by Silver Bullet Productions.
Printer friendly
Send to a friend
