Rip Curl Gromsearch
Presented by Island Tribe

Event #2 of 4
Mossel Bay, Southern Cape
6 - 7 September 2008

Goofy-foot surfers dominate on Day 1 of Rip Curl Gromsearch at Mossel Bay

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 6 September, 2008 : - - Despite having to surf their back to the wave, goofy-foot surfers (those riding with the right foot in front) dominated proceedings on the opening day of the Rip Curl Gromsearch presented by Island Tribe event at Mossel Bay on Saturday. The second stop of four on the series combined perfect spring weather with highly contestable half to one metre waves which peeled down the Inner Pool point in light variable winds.  

Benji Brand, the 12 year-old phenom from Kommetjie who regularly outscore the older surfers in events, was again the standout performer, winning all three of his heats; one in the U12’s and two to reach the semi-finals in the U14’s.

Other goofy-foot heat winners included older brother Davey Brand, JC Susan (Melkbos), Jarred Veldhuis and Bradley Van Zyl (both Kommetjie) and Daniel Wilson in the U16’s, Steven Sawyer (Jeffreys Bay) and Veldhuis again in the U14’s and top seed Tanika Hoffman (Kommetjie) in the U16 girls. 

Regular-footers also produced standout displays with U16 boys top seed Michael February and Dane Staples (St Francis) shining in that division, as did Dylan Lightfoot (Jeffreys Bay) in the U14’s, Sabrina Scott (Glencairn) in the U16 girls and the brother and sister Rip Curl team riders Holly (U16 girls) and Max Armstrong (U12 boys). 

The Rip Curl Gromsearch will be completed on Sunday with the finals scheduled for early afternoon when the event prize-purse of R13 500 will be distributed amongst the top four finishers in each division.  

The top four in each division also receive an invitation to the SA Grand Finals to be held on the weekend 1 & 2 November where the winner of the U16 boy’s and girls’ divisions are awarded invitations plus air tickets to the Rip Curl Gromsearch International Grand Finals at Bells Beach in Australia next Easter. 

The Rip Curl Gromsearch series presented by Island Tribe is sanctioned by Surfing South Africa (SSA), the national controlling body for the sport, and forms part of the SSA Pro Surf Tour (PST) with ratings points from each event counting towards the annual PST champions.

www.ripcurl.com

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