Wavebuster all fired to rule supreme in US
Viaene, the King of Border surf, eyes raising bar in quest for success
Fresh from triumphing in the King of the Reef Border Waveski Open over the weekend, East London’s Bruce Viaene is planning for big things later in the year.
The win at his home break was his second of the three series event, after clinching the Western Province Open title earlier in the year. This means that regardless of what happens in the third round – the KwaZulu-Natal Open in August – he will still walk away with the series title.
He has now set his eyes on the major prize, the South African Waveski Open and, thereafter, a major international event.
“SA Champs is going to be my focus, but my sponsors, Macski Waveskis, have invited me to compete in the United States Open in Ventura later this year, after SA Champs,” said Viaene.
“That is a highly competitive contest, with seven-time world champion Mathui Babarit from France, 11-time world champion Reese Duncan from Australia, and multiple French champion and world number two Virgile Humbert all competing.
“It is truly the next level competition, but I believe that, with training, I can give these big names a run for their money.
“All of this is in preparation for World Champs which is taking place in Peru in July 2020.”
Viaene is a former South African champion, having held the title as recently as 2017.
However, he lost it by a small margin to Durban’s Duran Martin at the championship event in East London last year. Viaene and Martin have built up a great rivalry, and again it was on show this past weekend as the hometown favourite just clinched the Border Open title, while Martin had to settle for the runner-up spot.
“In 2017 I won the SA Open men’s division and I was hoping to retain it in 2018, but narrowly missed out to Martin, who took it,” said Viaene.
“This year SA Champs is at Jongensfontein, and I’ll be focusing on surfing to bring the title back to Border.”
This past weekend’s event was a great success as it brought 26 of the country’s top waveskiers from Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth and East London together.
With Viaene taking the win and Martin finishing second, Cape Town’s Francois Steyn and Pierre Slabber ended third and fourth respectively, while the top junior was East London’s own Francois Roesstorff.
There were a number of highlights from the event, and Viaene mentioned some.
“The ocean produced amazing waves for everyone, and you can’t ask for more than that. This will be a contest people will talk about for ages, and we were also fortunate to have Viking Waveskis sponsor the amazing trophy this year.
“Action started off from heat one all the way through to the final, and someone even said it felt like every heat could have been a final. That’s how tough the competition was.
“East London’s Francois Roesstorff caused an upset by beating South Africa’s number three, Ant Stott from Durban and, in round two, a knockout round, Frenchman and World Waveski Adaptive champion Eric Perrier surfed against Darryl Moodie from Durban, local Johan Oelofse and Ken Clements from Cape Town.
“Eric was coming fourth the entire heat until the last five minutes when he picked up a big set wave and scored the highest wave in the heat and that put him in first place.
“It was incredible seeing someone with a disability surf against able-bodies and beat them,” said Viaene.
It’s truly the next level, but I can give these big names a run for their money