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Greg Emslie has taken out the 4-Star 2010 O’Neill Cold Water Classic after defeating Aussie standout Dion Atkinson at Long Beach this afternoon. The Foot was in scintillating form throughout the event and dispatched Aussie Shaun Cansdell and Durban’s Antonio Bortoletto in the quarters and semis respectively.
Greg had his work cut out for him in his semis and with only minutes to go still needed a good scoring ride to advance past Ant. He stroked into a good looking insider and demolished the feathering Long Beach lip with three powerful turns and a late last gasp floater to get the score in the dying minutes.
He repeated his Houdini act in the final, regaining the lead with the best wave in the dying minutes. Greg’s surfing was tack sharp on his backhand, and the winning wave of 7.83 was stolen from under Atkinson’s priority.
He earned $12000 for the win, making it a trifecta of Saffa wins for the South African international contest season.
Check the official Press Release from the event below...
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Press Release: Greg Emslie has won the O’Neill Cold Water Classic South Africa ahead of Australian, Dion Atkinson, continuing the sporting success of a nation well into 2010.
“Jordy (Smith) won the other two local events and now I’ve won the third,” said Greg, hailing from East London, South Africa. “I was thinking to myself I beat Jordy in this event, now I can’t let the guy down and lose the final. We’ve got to keep all the trophies at home, so I’m stoked I managed to do that.”
The crowds flocked to Long Beach on the Cape Peninsula to witness a South African win on home soil for the first time as part of the O’Neill Cold Water Classic South Africa, cheering Greg’s every wave from the shore.
“The crowd all want you to win so if you lose you feel like you’ve let them down,” said Greg who also knocked out the in-form surfer of this event, Australian Shaun Cansdell, in the quarter finals earlier in the day.
The local crowd might even have been hoping for an all-South African final, but it was Australian Dion Atkinson who mixed things up and gave everyone on the beach a scare as it came down to a final wave in the dying minutes for Greg Emslie to take and secure the win.
“I felt the best I’ve felt all contest when I took that last wave,” said Greg. “I knew I just had to go for it and I did.”
For Dion it was a different story: “I didn’t even see that last wave,” he said. “Next thing I knew I turned to the beach and saw him on it and thought… oh no, what just happened.“
However it’s not all bad news for Dion as he moves up to fourth position in the O’Neill Cold Water Classic Series ratings in the chase for the $50,000 behind Shaun Cansdell, Stuart Kennedy and in first, Royden Bryson.
The final day of this year’s O’Neill Cold Water Classic South Africa was played out in relatively mild conditions compared to what the Cape Peninsula has produced this past week.
The winds had eased, the swell had dropped and the sun was still shining… but the water temperature offered a bit of a surprise element for all the guys jumping in for their heat.
“It definitely hits you when you first get in it,” said Dion. “My hands and feet were feeling it, and I was trying to avoid duck diving as much as I could. It feels as cold as it is when we surf Canada for the Series. But it was really fun conditions today.”
The O’Neill Cold Water Classic Canada is next, starting on October 9th in Tofino
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