Steve Pike

IT will be a big pity if our “ballies” cannot attend the ISA World Masters Surfing Championships in April.

The championship for surfers over the age of 35 – as it did in Nicaragua last year – will probably contain minnow nations such as Switzerland, Ireland, Guatamala and Italy.

But the SA team, comprising what many say is the best team ever seen, do not have the R250 000 needed for the event in Ecuador, the hosts this year.

Team members, together with Surfing South Africa, have launched a plea for funds.

With no official money to pay for their campaign, they have asked sponsors and the public for help. The team could not compete last year for this reason. The hope is that this does not happen again. The irony is that the masters team is one of the most successful in our sports history.

Sure it’s a niche sport and sure the team does not fit the modern demographic of the new South Africa, but arguably only the SA rugby team tips them in the number of gold medals won on the international stage. That’s some achievement.

South Africa have produced seven world champions and two team gold medals in five of six masters events that have been held.

In 2007, in Puerto Rico, the first year of the event, Chris Knutsen was world champion, and we won our first team gold. In 2008, in Peru, we had three world champions: Marc Wright, Chris Knutsen, and Heather Clark. That year we won gold again. In 2010, in Panama, Andrew Banks, Chris Knutsen and Heather Clark got individual gold.

This year, we have the most prolific of the above surfers in the team, as well as perennial achievers who make the team a favourite for a gold medal… if they can get there.

Surfing SA has appealed to the public to deposit money into their bank account at FNB Rondebosch, branch code 201509, account number 50170019142. Please insert your name, cellphone number and the tag SA Masters as the reference.

The team comprises a starstudded group of wily veterans. Two-time World Masters Ladies Surfing Champion Heather Clark, from KwaZuluNatal, was a world tour campaigner for seven years, achieving a highest ranking of third.

Chris Knutsen, also from the sub- tropics of the East Coast, took three gold medals and a silver at the event, as well as 11 South African caps.

David and Andre Malherbe, who hail from East London, have achieved numerous accolades. David is a SA Open champ, ASP World Pro- Am champ and has held 10 national grand masters and kahunas titles, and has two 3rd places under his belt at the Masters world champs.

Andre has been runner-up at the masters champs three times, and is a multiple SA masters champion.

Fellow Border surfer Wayne Monk was one of the country’s most successful youth surfers in the 1980s, who has represented SA in a number of events and has held the SA masters title five times.

Carl Roux, from KwaZuluNatal, is a former ASP Africa champion, and has numerous SA Open Team and SA masters team selections to his credit.

Perhaps the most illustrious male member of the team is Greg Emslie, another who shows Border’s dominance in these age groups. Emslie spent five years on the World Qualifying Series and nine years on the elite world tour. He is the current SA masters champion.

The last member of the team, another native of KwaZulu-Natal, is Gary van Wieringen, who was the SA Masters champion in 2011 and came third at the World Masters in the same year. It’s a stellar line- up, even if Western Province is not represented.

Let’s make sure they get to Ecuador. Peru that starts tomorrow.

With better equipment and a more professional training regime, expect the learning curve to continue with some medals. Denmark is sending a team to the event, which is good timing as the ISA have just announced that Denmark had become the 73rd member nation of the ISA.