Huge contests for locals
Nearly R13million in prize money at stake in SA events
THE editor and publisher of Sailing Magazine and also of his newsletter Talking Sailing, yachting guru Richard Crockett, has just released his 50th edition of the latter and will see the 400th issue of the former in the hands of the printer later this year.
The newsletter is most informative, always interesting and often controversial and in the latest issue Crockett reminds racing fundis that as of February 15 there were less than 100 days to go until the start of the greatest race on water, the 35th America’s Cup, in Bermuda.
Crockett admits to enjoying the sheer speed of the America’s Cup boats today but, at the same time, misses the cut and thrust of the match racing days in monohulls, and while conceding that one has to have as much, if not more, “know how” to get these multihulls up to maximum speed and keep them there.
Whatever your view, the America’s Cup still has a huge following.
Sir Russell Coutts, CEO of the America’s Cup, expects the 35th edition of the America’s Cup for the world’s oldest international sports trophy to be the best yet in the 166 years of its existence.
With the launching of the America’s Cup Class (ACC) boats already completed, and racing to take place in May and June, by all accounts in terms of performance these boats will have the capacity to achieve in around 22 minutes what, in past America’s Cup events, took several hours.
In ideal conditions the boats will most likely stay up on their foils for the entire race which will result in ultra fast racing. THE seventh annual SPAR KZN School Girls Hockey Challenge gets under way today with the first of the regional tournaments being hosted by Pongola Akademie.
Participating schools include defending champions Sarel Cilliers (Glencoe, Umzinyathi), Newcastle High School, Ferrum HS (Newcastle), St Dominic’s Academy (Newcastle), Utrecht HS, Dundee HS, Vryheid HS, Pionier HS, (Vryheid) and host school, Pongola Akademie.
Sarel Cilliers made their maiden appearance at the Grand Finals in Durban last year after upsetting five-times northern regional champions Ferrum High and will no doubt be determined to repeat this feat with Ferrum just as eager to claim it back.
Games are of 25 minutes duration with schools divided into two pools for a round robin with the top two going forward to the semi-finals and the winners going forward to the Grand Finals to be held at St Mary’s DSG on July 28-29.
Pool A: Pionier, Ferrum, Vryheid, Sarel Cilliers, Newcastle
Pool B: Utrecht, Dundee, Pongola, St Dominic’s
Each school also brings their best umpire to represent them on the day.
SOUTH African surfing is set for its biggest ever schedule of professional events after the recently published 2017 World Surfing League (WSL) calendar confirmed eight events along the country’s coastline and another three that are listed, but still to be confirmed.
Thanks to the sterling efforts of regional operations manager Colin Fitch and WSL Africa’s marketing agents Accelerate Sport, local and international surfers will be competing for a total of nearly R13 million in prize money and thousands of points on the regional and global rankings.
The season starts with the Nelson Mandela Bay Surf Pro from April 7 to 9, the first WSL rated event ever to be staged in Port Elizabeth. Comprising Qualifying Series (QS) 1 000 rated events for men and women plus Junior QS 1000 rated events for boys and girls aged 18 and under, the threeday tournament offers a total prize-pool of R80 000.
The Easter weekend (April 15 to17) sees pro surfing return to East London for the first time in a decade for the Buffalo City Surf Pro and the series continues with the Corona Durban City Surf Pro (April 21 to 23), both of which have the same format and prize-money as the PE event.
After a break during May, the second annual Vans Surf Pro Classic at Lamberts Bay on the West Coast will run from June 2 to 4 and has added a QS 1 000 new women’s event to the men’s and junior boy’s events this year.
The tour moves back to KwaZulu-Natal for the inaugural Volkswagen SA Open of Surfing in Durban from June 14 to 18 where the men’s event carries a QS 3 000 rating and a R1-million prize-pool alongside QS 1 000 women’s and junior girl’s and boy’s events.
Competitors in all four categories will be logging up the air miles as they return to Big Bay in Bloubergstrand for the QS 1 000 and JQS 1 000 rated events in the Jordy Smith Cape Town Surf Pro under the looming presence of Table Mountain from June 23 to 25.
Then it’s back to the mid-winter warmth of KZN for the Ballito Pro where the women’s event runs June 30 to July 2 and the R3.3 million, QS 10 000 rated men’s event will feature 100 of the world’s best surfers from July 3 to 9.
All of the world’s top 34 ranked surfers will be in action at Jeffreys Bay from July 12 to 23 in the newly named Corona Open J-Bay, the sixth of 11 stops on the Samsung Galaxy Championship Tour, where they are competing for a share of R7.5-million and ranking points that count towards the 2017 world surfing title.
The final confirmed event on the 2017 WSL Africa season is the Anfa Place Casablanca Pro in Morocco from September 12 to 17 which is co-sanctioned by WSL Africa and WSL Europe and offers QS 1 500 rated events for men and women.
Meanwhile, the pro junior surfers can look forward to another three possible events in Cape Town, Ballito and Cape St Francis if the negotiations currently underway are successful.
It’s a great time to be a competitive surfer in South Africa and all budding surf champions will be waxing up for the best local contest season since pro surfing was introduced at the Gunston 500 in Durban in 1969.