Brazilian turns heads at SA Open of Surfing
Foreigners dominate junior event at Dairy Beach
DURBAN’S biggest and surely one of the most popular triathlons in the country, the Standard Bank Ironman 70.3 Durban, gets under way just after sunrise (6.50am) tomorrow at uShaka Beach.
In only its third year the event has drawn a capacity entry of 2 704 superfit athletes, all amateurs on this occasion (no pros!), including 123 international athletes representing 37 different countries with the United Kingdom (13), Netherlands (12) and the United States (12) topping the list.
Up for grabs are 35 qualifying age group slots for this year’s Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Chattanooga, USA on September 9-10 and another 30 slots for next year’s first Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Nelson Mandela Bay on September 1-2.
This year’s participants will experience a new and improved course with the new 1.9km swim start venue from the harbour wall side of uShaka Pier and the swim exit on uShaka Beach at the first transition area.
For the first time the 90.1km bike course will have full road closure from the start to Zimbali and back with the M4 being closed on both sides. This will ease the congestion on the way to the second transition area for the start of the twolap 21.1km fast flat run on the Durban promenade finishing in front of the Suncoast Amphitheatre.
This year’s race also sees the reintroduction of a team category which has 31 threeman/woman teams, each athlete to complete one of the three disciplines.
Former Sharks rugby player John Slade and former Springbok flyhalf Butch James are among these. They will also be among the 40 athletes including John Smit, Stefan Terblanche and former Protea fast bowler, André Nel, who will be racing to raise funds for the Ironman 4 the Kidz Charity Trust.
The first male athlete is expected to arrive at the finish at 10.45am and the first female at 11.30am.
Also this weekend, South Africa’s finest will be showing their mettleat the Hobie 14 Nationals incorporating the Flying Fifteen and Laser Regionals hosted by Point Yacht Club offshore of Durban. The three-day event, the Hobie 14 Nationals incorporating the Flying Fifteen and Laser Regionals hosted by Point Yacht Club, ends tomorrow.
The catamaran clan is using the nationals as preparation for the Hobie Multiworlds and Europeans 2017 where a field of 250 sailors is expected.
At the forefront of the local contingent is Garth Loudon from Mount Edgecombe. He leads a team of six Point Yacht Club sailors in the 10-day regatta in the Netherlands, the PYC lads using the Nationals as preparation for the big fleet sailing expected next month.
World Hobie champion Blaine Dodds will be pushing Loudon, and another local favourite, Peter Hall, around the track. Dodds has a string of international and national titles to his name, and is the defending champion, having won the Nationals last year offshore of Durban, increasing his national title tally to 37.
In the Laser fleet, defending champion Alistair Keytel from Cape Town looks to be the favourite, with Sam Lombaard leading the Durban fleet.
THOSE who have had the pleasure of witnessing the world class surfing action at Dairy Beach since Wednesday will have noticed the exceptional skills displayed by the international stars at the inaugural Volkswagen SA Open of Surfing, and the best is still to come over the weekend.
The foreign dominance was apparent in the junior (18-andunder) events where Brazilians finished first and second in the men’s and Kayla Nogueira (uMhlanga) was the only local to make the four in the women’s final.
Mateus Herdy, has been producing eye-popping aerial manoeuvres since his first event on the West Coast early this month, but has been on an absolute tear in the Durban beach breaks, which he compares favourably with his home beach of Joaquina in the southern city of Florianopolis.
With no World Surf League (WSL) rated junior events scheduled for his home region of South America this year, the 16-year-old decided to grab the opportunity to participate in what has become the world’s biggest junior tour and compete in four events in South Africa during June.
That decision really paid off when he blasted his way to victory at Dairy Beach yesterday, with good friend Lucas Vicente finishing runner-up.
“Ah, I’m so happy! It’s been a long time since I last won something, since I turned pro so I’m so happy,” said an elated Herdy after exiting the surf.
“The beginning of the final was quite slow and then Lucas got one of the best waves so I was kind of nervous. My coach told me before the heat that I should wait for the good waves so I moved over to where Lucas was and the next wave that came was the highest score that I got.
“It is so amazing to have won the final with Lucas in second, we have been competing together since we were babies. I know him so well, we are from the same beach, so I’m happy for him and so stoked I got the win!”
Having interviewed this young man several times recently, it is astounding how professional his approach is in his efforts to pursue surfing as a career.
While his command of English is not perfect, he listens to the questions and answers appropriately, while his thoughts on heat strategy and his short, medium and long term aims are well considered, realistic and achievable.
Combined with his natural talent and strong support structure (his uncle Guilherme Herdy was a top 20 rated surfer on the world circuit in the 1990s) he is a shining example for any young grommet with aspirations of a surfing career.
For the record, Adin Masencamp of the Strand and Ford van Jaarsveldt of Kommetjie finished third and fourth in the men’s event, while Zoe McDougall of Hawaii, another admirable young athlete, claimed the women’s crown ahead of Australians Pacha LuqueLight and West Coast winner Sophia Fulton.
The SA Open continues with the women’s title decided today, and the QS3 000 men’s event with its R1million prize purse decided tomorrow.