‘Freestyle February’ makes an instant impact with Wilkinson win

event winner Julian Wilson in front of his home crowd though. Mikey bowed out in Round 3. But still, nothing wrong with equal 13th. It was encouraging to hear commentators complimenting him. He’s already been dubbed “Freestyle February” due to his lanky, loose but athletic style.

Fans in South Africa who stayed up into the early hours of Wednesday to watch him surf against Wilson, had to endure a double disappointment. A few heats later, Jordy, ranked fourth in the world going into the event, was knocked out, and by a rookie nogal. Michael Rodrigues (BRA) made it to the quarters.

In more heartening news, Sarah Baum won the Vissla Central Coast Pro, a Qualifying Series (QS) event in Australia. Her first win on the QS will be gratifying for the South African living in Australia, who has been surfing in the QS since 2008. Bianca Buitendag won a wildcard berth to the Roxy Pro Gold Coast after winning the Trials, but came unstuck against former world champion Stephanie Gilmoure in Round 2 of the CT opener.

Bianca has had a tough time after losing her dad in March, 2015. She lost her spot on the CT in 2016, but managed to surf six times in 2017, thanks to wildcards. She will represent the World Team at the Founders Cup of Surfing at the Surf Ranch wave pool in California, 5-6 May.

Five-person co-ed teams from Australia, Brazil, Europe, USA and the World will compete in what seems to be a practice session for the Surf Ranch Open in September, the 8th stop on the CT. The Olympic Committee of Japan for Tokyo 2020 will be watching too, no doubt. Logistics along the 650 metre-long pool - from ticketing and spectator areas to contest format - will be informative. The WSL is already offering pre-event tickets online. The world team is Jordy Smith (captain), Michel Bourez (PYF), Kanoa Igarashi (Japan), Paige Hareb (NZ) and Bianca.

An exciting year lies ahead. What a pity that talented Kiwi MTB rider Sam Gaze has not entered the ABSA Cape Epic, which starts tomorrow.

How’s this? He won the CT Cycle Tour MTB Challenge a week before the CT Cycle Tour. Then he outsprinted Swiss star Nino Schurter for his first UCI MTB World Cup title (in Stellenbosch) last Saturday, a first for his country. To cap that off, less than 24 hours later, he almost won the Cape Town Cycle Tour - a hair’s breadth behind Nolan Hoffman - in 2nd place. Average speed? Only 41.52 km/h.

About 14 hours before the Cycle Tour, I opted for a chilled experience at the Cryozone, a mobile chamber that treats you to few minutes in minus 120 degrees C. Cryotherapy is apparently big overseas, where athletes undergo sessions to stimulate muscles and aerobic conditioning before events, and after for pain management and recovery. The question is, did I do a sub three hours? The Old Testament-named Cyclone Eliakim eases into the open ocean below Madagascar on Monday, with yet more east swell set to arrive along the East Coast and Durban from Wednesday to the weekend.

A swell that came all the way from the northern hemisphere has been running in Cape Town this week. The unusual northwest swell had come from a storm between Europe and North America. By the time it reached us, it was only three foot, but with long periods of 17 seconds and quite punchy for its size.

Today dawns cleaner with easing winds and a lot of south swell in False Bay 3-4’. However, Muizenberg will be onshore all day. The other side looks 2-3’ becoming 3-4’ with sporadic sets, but clean offshore conditions in a milder SE. Tomorrow, clean 2-4’ surf in crisp offshore SE again, but Muizenberg onshore all day. The wind goes SSE to S in the afternoon.

Mikey February