Checking a Saffa on a podium in any sport is dope, but when the sport is surfing and the position is 1st it’s just that much sweeter. Matthew McGillivray did a solid and brought out the good stuff this past weekend at the SEAT Pro Nentanya Pre. By Reef in Israel. The last day of competition brought out some solid surf conditions following the storm that hit the Israeli coast over the weekend, making for a great final.
McGillivray defeated Charly Martin at the first World Surf League (WSL) Qualifying Series (QS) 3,000 rated event of 2018. ““This is my third year on the QS, I’ve put in a lot of hard work so it feels amazing to finally get a win. Yesterday the waves were huge with the big storm so we were wondering what was going to happen today, but it got better and better and there were some amazing waves in the final” said McGillivray.
Photographer: Laurent Masurel/ Surfer: Matthew McGillivray/ Location: Kontiki Beach
The J-Bay 20-year-old, was on form throughout the competition scoring seven heat totals above 14 points with his best run coming in at close to perfect in the semi-final where he defeated California’s Kei Kobayashi with an 18.33. McGillivray’s win marks his first on the Qualifying Series and will see him take the number one spot on the QS rankings before the next leg of events, already underway in Australia.
It was Charly Martin who kicked things off in the final with a 6.5 thanks to a little tube ride. The next bit of action saw both finalists catch waves one after the other with McGillivray getting the better of the waves with a 7.2. McGillivray continued to turn up the heat and through the help of a massive forehand rotation chalked up a solid 8.33 and soon amassed a lead that Martin could not come back from.
“Obviously I would have loved to win this one too,” Martin said. “I felt like I had done the hardest part, but I’m stoked to get a final at my first event of the season. Last year I didn’t get a good result until November so I’m definitely starting a lot better. I’ve had a blast, the past ten days just flew by and the people and the country are great.”
Photographer: Laurent Masurel/ Surfer: Matthew McGillivray/ Location: Kontiki Beach
All in all it was a great start to the year for surfing made even better with a South African taking the top spot. Here’s a little summary of the action:
SEAT PRO NETANYA FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Matthew McGillivray (ZAF) 15.53
2 – Charly Martin (FRA) 13.93
SEAT PRO NETANYA SEMI-FINAL RESULTS:
SF 1: Matthew McGillivray (ZAF) 18.33 def. Kei Kobayashi (USA) 6.80
SF 2: Charly Martin (FRA) 15.30 def. Nelson Cloarec (FRA) 13.50
SEAT PRO NETANYA QUARTER-FINAL RESULTS:
QF 1: Kei Kobayashi (USA) 14.50 def. Reo Inaba (JPN) 12.10
QF 2: Matthew McGillivray (ZAF) 14.17 def. Jorgann Couzinet (FRA) 11.34
QF 3: Nelson Cloarec (FRA) 12.43 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 11.34
QF 4: Charly Martin (FRA) 13.26 def. Maxime Huscenot (FRA) 13.23
Yes you are 100% right it was an epic event here in Israel we were so excited as a surfing community to have the event here and to score consistant waves through the heat with really good waves for a final is the icing on the cake. I was so proud that Matthew took the win made me home- sick and proud ive been living here in Israel for 7 years now and am blown away by the urfing and the fact that S.A. is involved by ther beeing a vast amount of S.A. boards here. Have been a collector of Zigzag for many years and miss not being able to get hold of your mag every time.
Holy Shizer !Matty Mac for the win !!Blown away to see him win.
Knew him from being a lighty and now a QS slayer.