Port Alfred rules the waves
Surf events anchor spectacular Easter festival of sports
Local surfers Carl Wiersma’and Owen Heny showed they can compete with the country s best when they surfed their way to first and third place respectively in the U14 division of the Rip Curl GromSearch Port Alfred last weekend.
A decrease in swell and a wind switch to offshore southwest made for some small but clean and highly contestable conditions for Monday’s final day of surfing in the Rip GromSearch and the Rip Curl Cup.
Both events were presented by the Royal St Andrews Hotel and supported by Sea Harvest.
The competitions were the anchor events of the Port Alfred Easter Festival presented by Sunshine Coast Tourism over the long weekend.
Together with the South African Bodyboarding Challenge and the Sports n All Marina Easter Swim, the surfing showcases blazed a trail for effforts to cement the Sunshine Coast as SA’s water sports capital.
The sporting buzz wasn’t limited to the water. The Sunshine Coast Tennis Open, the Sunshine Coast Open Pairs Bowls, Sunshine Coast Croquet Challenge, Royal Port Alfred Golf Club Easter 2 Ball Alliance, Easter parkrun, Nemato Change-a-Life handball exhibition tournament on the beach, Port Alfred Rock and Surf Club Species Spectacular competition, and Cycle Asylum/Port Alfred Round Table 10km fun ride ensured scores of people of all ages had an active Easter weekend.
Meanwhile, at Jauka Hall in Nemato, former world boxing champion Vuyani “The Beast” Bungu, brought flair and excitement to the Masimbambisana boxing development tournament.
“The Beast”, who defended his IBF Super Bantamweight title a record 13 times in an illustrious career in the mid‘90s, inspired the young boxing talent.
Some of the country’s top surfers came in their numbers to tame Port Alfred’s sought-after East Beach break, auguring well for the place of the Rip Curl Cup and Rip Curl Gromsearch Port Alfred at the core of the Port Alfred Easter Festival.
The Rip Curl Cup open surfing event, on Sunday and Monday, had the region’s and country’s top surfers taking on at times difficult sea conditions.
The grommets were out in force to pick up crucial points in the Port Alfred leg of the five-part Gromsearch series that could see them gain selection to the Springbok surfing team or a spot on the World Surfing Tour.
Port Alfred’s Wiersma ousted some of the top surfers in the country for top spot in the U14 Boys division.
Heny’s third in the U14 finals made it a really proud day for the locals.
“It was tricky out there I wasn’t sure I had it, but I was so stoked when I heard I had the score and the win,” said Wiersma after the final.
“The Rip Curl GromSearch in Port Alfred is by far the best surf contest of the year, and it’s right on my doorstep in a wave that I know so well.”
In the Premier U16 Girls Rip Curl GromSearch finals, Louise Lepront emerged victorious.
In the Boys’ division, Josh Malherbe put on the best performance of the heat, including some radical highscoring moves on the right-handers.
Kieren Murphy chased him the whole heat, but Malherbe held onto the lead and got the win.
Lepront, was incredibly stoked to do a double by winning gold in the Open division and U16 GromSearch.
The Rip Curl Cup Open Women’s was a close affair. Natasha Van Greunen came on strong towards the end, but Louise Lepront held the lead until the final siren, taking the R20k first prize cheque for her efforts.
She also won the GromSearch title and was thrilled to do the double.
“I am so happy to have won,” said the beaming SA Junior team member.
“It is a great feeling to have won both. It was tricky out there, and
Natasha was surfing well, so it feels great to win,” Lepront said.
The U14 girls semifinals kicked off Sunday’s day three proceedings in conditions made difficult by stiff onshore winds.
Then it was the GromSearch finals where the U12, U14, and U18 division surfers took to the water after two arduous days on the ocean.
The U12s took off in testing conditions, with Maya Malherbe standing head and shoulders above her contemporaries.
She banked a remarkable 15.66 out of a possible 20 points, which included a huge 9.33 for a powerful backhand lip-soaring re-entry on a set wave pushing Brin Jarvis into second spot.
In the Boys U12, Slayde Shooter got the better of Lazaro de Bruyn.
Kwazulu-Natal’s Leah Lepront edged out Camilla Heuer in the U14 girls final.
The U18 girls final was won by Anastasia Venter, who now surfs out of Jeffrey’s Bay, with Louise Lepront, her, SA Team colleague at the Junior World Surfing Championships in California earlier this year, in second spot.
Simon Winter, of the Western Cape, who was a non-travelling reserve to the World Junior Champs last year, beat Matt Canning into second place in the U18 finals.
In the Rip Curl Cup Open Men’s Division, Daniel Emslie, on the recovery trail after a recent leg injury,
was the deserving winner with a tight and dynamic backhand display on the left bowls of East Beach.
“I’m over the moon right now …I couldn’t be happier,” the East London surfer told Talk of the Town after emerging from the surf.
“Such a good contest, so many big names it was a long day of surfing, four heats in total. I am super tired the final went perfectly.”
The bonus RoseHill SPAR Expression Session on Monday was fast and furious, with all surfers wanting to snag one of the R2.5k prizes up for grabs.
In the end, Remi Fourie took the Best Move award for R2,500, and Surprise Maphumulo won the Best Air award for R2,500.
The SA Bodyboarding Challenge, sponsored by the Royal St Andrews Hotel, took place at West Beach, with a strong cohort of all ages (the youngest was six) from Juniors to Pro, from Cape Town to Durban, and everywhere in between.
The bodyboarders did their best on wind-flattened but contestable waves.
Junior and Men’s defending champion Hugo Naude took top spot in the Pro and Junior sections; Ashley de Pontes the Drop-knee division; McKayla Boucher, despite being the only girl in the competition, was a deserving winner in the Girls U16 division.
The U8 Boys was won by Noah Harris and Eduart Kleinloog took the U11 division. Cape Winelands bodyboarder Keegan Boucher and “old horse” Darren Halse gave everyone a run for their money, with Boucher coming third in the Pro division.
On Saturday, swimmers set off from the Halyards slipway for the Sports n All Marina Easter Swim in a slight breeze but fine weather. The swimmers included Rip Curl Open victors Louise Le Pront and Daniel Emslie.
It was hardly 13 minutes when the first swimmer came home, Kellen Jones of Gqeberha, in a thrilling neck-andneck finish with Jordan Denyer.
However, it was Jones who jumped from the water and onto the slipway to register with the judges slightly ahead of Denyer.
Sixteen-year-old Jones, who swims for the Infinity Club in his home city, took gold in the U17 division (13:12), ahead of Will Beatt and Zac Fletcher.
Among the first women home in the U17s were surfer Camilla Heuer, ahead of Emily Beatt, with Rip Curl Cup Open winner, Louise Lepront, in third place.
First senior woman home was Katie Winter, followed by Joanna Peters and Vanessa Hilton-Barber.
The boxing development tournament was also a highlight, with Bungu’s VIP visit bringing the house down.
The tournament, staged by Monwabisi Hans’ boxing development academy Masimbambisana, was a huge and successful crowd-puller.
Hans is on a drive to divert youth away from drugs and crime. The presence of Bungu, who shadowboxed with his little admirers next to him, would have gone a long way to adding impetus to Hans’ initiative.
Bungu, who successfully defended his title 13 times in the mid-‘90s, motivated the future boxers with life lessons. Along with him came several of his championship gold-crusted championship belts to inspire the young boxing talent.
“I am here to motivate Monwabisi and those who are helping him,” said Bungu. “And to bring hope to these young boys. If they see me as the person who rose above the challenges to achieve what I did it’s a huge thing for them. I have said to them it’s all about discipline . . .
“I told them your circumstances don’t have to determine your future. You can be living in a shack but you can rise up above your circumstances. I come from the same background,” Bungu said.