by Greg
11. January 2011 08:35
Bianca Buitendag is doing South Africa proud over in Australia as she is through to the semi-finals of the Billabong World Junior Championships at North Narrabeen, Sydney, Australia. Bianca has had a solid run to the semi-finals winning all her heats convincingly and certainly looks like she could win the contest! It is great to see a young junior South African Lady like Bianca realize her talent and dreams, so lets get behind our girl and give her the full support she needs to take the win!
In the men’s division our South African guys are ripping! Dale Staples currently ranked number 2 on the World Junior tour is through to round 3 along with Shaun Joubert, Chad du Toit and Brandon Gibbons. So far it has been a great showing from our South African’s so lets hope they pull off some major victories in the event!
Last night saw the Red Bull nightshift in Camps bay flooded with over 10 000 spectators. World number 2 Jordy Smith was the highlight of the evening as the surfers were flung into waves at high speeds in order to get more radical and higher in the air. The event started late in the evening and when it got dark, the flood lights were turned on as did the high performance surfing to the delight of the massive audience crowding the shoreline.
There were no judges or winners, just a display of awesome high performance surfing that was easy to view, and when you see the number of spectators, you wonder if this is the way surfing is going. The World Tour has also cut its numbers down to 32; this is also an indication to me that that surfing is becoming more of an exhibition than a sport? However you look at it, it is an art and riding a wave is the most exhilarating feeling in the World!
Greg Emslie