Men In Black : photo courtesy Lizzard

Lizzard Tag Series #2

Surfing South Africa
The Pipe Pollock Beach Port Elizabeth 
27 July 2008

Men In Black take out Lizzard Tag Series in PE

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 28 July, 2008 : - - Team Men In Black made up of Ismaeel Abrahams, Dave Kelly, Kerri Viljoen, Dylan Lightfoot & Jonathan Naude advanced through the repercharge rounds to win the final of the Lizzard Tag Series # 2 at The Pipe, Port Elizabeth Sunday July 27. The team shared R2500 in hard cash for their well earned victory.

The normally windy city of PE offered up ideal conditions for the girls and boys from all parts of the Eastern Cape who were participating as members of seven different teams. Conditions remained calm throughout the day before an offshore South West buster arrived just before the finals, bringing with it a little more swell.

The five person teams included boys and girls, provincial surfers and rookies. Each 40 minute heat was run using the International Surfing Association's tag team rules and Eastern Province Surfing Council’s Etienne Venter, Shirley Fairall, Mike Beck and Dave Lipschitz were on hand throughout the day to ensure the event ran smoothly.

With a time limit adding pressure, each team member had to catch two waves, leave the water and tag a teammate in their enclosure. Surfers needed to finish within the time limit to avoid losing points and hope that their Power surfer did enough on each of his or her three counting waves to see the team through to the next round.

The Port Elizabeth event was really well supported and team members, coaches and spectators all got involved in the action, encouraging the teams and cheering as surfers tagged their team mates.

The focus of the day was on fun as well as competition and with this in mind surfers were encouraged to come up with names for their teams which gave them an identity and team spirit. Some names included Team Sand Lizzards, The Nutters, The Buckos, Amphibious Dudes, Surfer Rats, The Kooks and Men In Black.

 With R5 000 total prize money on offer, the finals were a closely contested and serious affair. The Nutters started the final strongly thanks to power surfer Grant Beck but were unlucky after they incurred a drop-in interference penalty which meant they had to incur a time out in their demarcated box on the beach during the final.

This error gave team Men In Black an opportunity to pick off better set waves to secure the win. Team Sand Lizzards placed third with The Amphibious Dudes finishing the final in fourth place.

The next Lizzard Tag Series event will take place at St Mikes on the KZN South Coast on September 13 and the final event in the series is scheduled to take place on the KZN North Coast on November 22. Only surfers from each region may compete in the Lizzard Tag Series events. 

Pictures from the Port Elizabeth event are available on the Lizzard website which has a Tag Series section featuring all the action at The Pipe. Check it out at lizzardsurf.net 

Full Results:

1. Men In Black (R2 500)
Ismaeel Abrahams, Dave Kelly, Kerri Viljoen, Dylan Lightfoot & Jonathan Naude

2. The Nutters (R1 250)
Grant Beck, Gay Thomas, Tahra Uren, Carl Barnard & Nafees Salie

3. Sand Lizzards (R750)
Remi Petersen, Jordaan Zeelie, Kyla Naude, Andre Scheepers & Keane Hansen

4. Amphibious Dudes (R500)
Merrick Fairall, Jason Wells, Tess Saunders, Tobias Schroeder & Matthew McGillivray

www.lizzardsurf.net
www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za  

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Mike Frew

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