This Weekend saw the Quiksilver Pro Junior and the King of the Groms take place at New Pier Durban. The waves for the final day were fun running 3 foot surf and the standard of surfing was pretty good but I must say, the future of South African surfing, after Jordy Smith, lies in our U/12 Surfers. The competition is tight amongst them and I feel that there are about 6 of them, 5 from Cape Town and 1 from South Coast, Namely Ethan Fletcher(Oakley), Adin Masencamp, Jordy Maree, Koby Oberholzer Jake Elkington and Ford Van Jaarsveld are going to push each other to great heights!
The stand out in this event was young 11 year old Ethan Fletcher who took out the 14 division of the king of the groms. After a wave starved under 12 final and a forth place finish, Ethan took out his frustration on his older competitors, the u/14’s! After starting the heat late due to a vest color change and contest director Cyril Nel not prepared to hold the heat off while he came in from the under 12 heat to change vests. He then made a late charge scoring a 6.67 and a 5.63 in the dying minutes to knock Matt McGillivray into second and the young superstar Ethan Fletcher claimed the king of the Groms U/14 title!
In the Pro Junior Final, Beyrick de Fries did what he does best and took to the air. Beyrick was in outstanding form as he beat Scotburgh surfer Slade Prestwich in an entertaining final. Beyrick’s winning total was 15.67 out of a possible 20 and he walked away with R18 000 and the biggest Junior surfing title in South Africa for 2011!
Final results:
Quiksilver Pro Junior U20: 1. Beyrick de Vries (Umhlanga)
2. Slade Prestwich (Scottburgh)
3. Michael February (Cape Town)
3. Dylan Lightfoot (Jeffreys Bay)
Quiksilver King of the Groms U16: 1. Diran Zakarian (Cape Town)
2. Slade Prestwich (Scottburgh)
3. Josh Smit (Warner Beach)
3. Dylan Lightfoot (Jeffreys Bay)
Quiksilver King of the Groms U14: 1. Ethan Fletcher (Cape Town) 2. Matthew McGillivray (PE) 3. Jordan Maree (Cape Town)
4. Adin Masencamp (Strand)
Quiksilver King of the Groms U12: 1. Adin Masencamp (Strand)
2. Koby Oberholzer (Warner Beach)
3. Jake Elkington (Cape Town)
4. Ethan Fletcher (Cape Town)
On the World Tour Joel Parkinson won the Rip Curl Bells Beach Classic beating good mate Mick Fanning in the final. I predicted Jordy Smith to win and unfortunately I was wrong and Jordy got third. Jordy was however on fine form and even thou he lost, he still lost with a 17+ point total. Jordy’s consistency has him in 3rd on the World ratings behind Kelly and Joel and if he keeps up the consistency and throws in a few wins, he will be World Champ!
Greg Emslie