Strong lineup for Bay leg of surf series
The SA leg of the 2019 World Surf League Africa Tour gets under way with the Nelson Mandela Bay Surf Pro at Pollok Beach in Port Elizabeth starting on Thursday.
The event features strong fields of men and women along with the first Junior Qualifying Series events of the year.
It is also the first stop on the City Surf Series, the popular four-event series hosted by various municipalities along the SA coastline.
Winners of the 2018 event included feisty Durban natural-footer and QS campaigner David van Zyl in the men’s division, Jeffreys Bay charger Dillon Hendricks in the JQS men’s division and fellow Jeffreys Bay talent, the goofy-footed Kai Woolf who did the double by winning the women’s and JQS Women’s titles.
Both Van Zyl and Hendricks will be defending their titles, but Woolf will not be in town to defend her two crowns.
There are a number of international visitors entered into the QS1000 Men’s event, adding flavour and excitement to the contest.
Surfers such as Daniel Farr from New Zealand, Darcy Crump from Australia, and American surfer Dylan Christensen will be competing in the men’s division.
They will come up against SA favourites such as Van Zyl, QS campaigner Dylan Lightfoot, Durban surfer Chad du Toit and Joshe Faulkner from Jeffreys Bay.
The QS1000 women’s division has a quartet of Japanese entries in Minami Nonaka, Nao Omura, Ren Hashimoto and Shino Matsuda.
They will have stiff competition from WSL Africa rankings leader Tanika Hoffman, Zoë Steyn and Teal Hogg.
The JQS1000 Men’s division has two Brazilian surfers, Rodrigo Saldanha and Luan Hanada, who will be trying to overcome the fiercely competitive local crew of 2018 WSL Africa Junior champ Luke Slijpen, Max Elkington and Eli Beukes, as well as up-andcoming Luke Thompson.
There is a solid international mix in the JQS1000 women’s division with Isabela Saldanha from Brazil, Sol Aguirre from Peru and Nonaka from Japan taking on their local counterparts headed by Steyn, Kayla Nogueira and Ceara Knight.
Friday will feature the CSI Programme, a dedicated day for kids from the surf outreach programmes who will take part in the fun SSA Learn To Surf programme, in collaboration with Caltex, NSRI and Ocean Pledge.
City Surf Series schedule
Nelson Mandela Bay Surf Pro (April 1820), Port Elizabeth Royal St Andrews Hotel Port Alfred Classic (April 22-24), Port Alfred Durban Surf Pro (May 10-12), North Beach, Durban VW SA Open of Surfing presented by Hurley (June 13-17), Port Elizabeth