Top surfers head for Umhlanga Rocks event

The second event of the national Quiksilver Get Free Series will take place at Umhlanga Rocks, KwaZulu-Natal later this month.

South Africa’s best professional surfers will soon head for Bronze Beach, Umhlanga Rocks to compete in this Surfing South Africa (SSA) Pro Surf Tour (PST) event which caters for open men, under-20 junior boys and under-16 boys surfers. The event will run over the weekend of May 30 and 31.

The three-part series got under way in March at Cape Town’s Long Beach. Over 90 of South Africa’s best did battle in the cold Cape waters for over R40 000 in prize money. Event organisers are expecting a similar number of entries for the second leg of the series at Umhlanga Rocks.

“The Get Free Series has been very well received by the surfers and the various communities,” said Quiksilver marketing manager Dane Patterson. “There are very few surf events on the calendar these days so the guys are really excited about this opportunity.”

Umhlanga Rocks local Beyrick de Vries is a clear favourite to take the open men’s title. He won two of the three Quiksilver events in the same series last year.

Other favourites to take top honours include Capetonian Michael February, who recently placed second at the WSL Martinique Pro in the Caribbean, Dylan Lightfoot of Jeff reys Bay and Durban North’s David van Zyl. The trio have proven to be top contenders in all surf conditions.

In the under-20 boy’s division, Salt Rock’s Shane Sykes will be a firm favourite. Other top juniors include current SA junior champion Michael Monk from East London and Matt McGillivray from Jeff reys Bay who won the first event of the series this year.

In the boys under-16 division, those to look out for are Adin Masencamp, who emerged victorious at the first event in Cape Town, Ethan Fletcher and Jake Elkington from Cape Town and Joshe Faulkner from Jeff reys Bay.

The competition starts at 8am on Saturday. The third and final event of the series is in Port Alfred on August 29 and 30. – ANA

I am really excited the guys at Quiksilver decided to have one of these events at my home break. I have been travelling a lot this year so it will be nice to compete in an event on my doorstep Beyrick de Vries Local standout