The winner of the fifth and final leg of the Monster Pitstop in association with O’Neill, Vestal, Skullcandy and Neff has been decided. Taking out the win in October and a spot in the ‘Pit of the Year’ grand final is…
Frank Solomon’s winning ride at Mullaghmore Heads in Ireland.
“Frank shows incredible skill to square it off the bottom and get under the lip of this wave,” said Paul Canning from O’Neill when casting his vote for this month’s winner. “This definitely doesn’t look like an easy wave to get barrelled on, and Frank rides it extremely well before negotiating a really difficult exit.”
It was a unanimous decision from the judging panel, who all voted for Frank’s epic ride as the winner of Leg 5. His crazy Irish keg also earned him a solid 27% of the public votes.
“This was my first time paddling Mullaghmore,” said the Hout Bay charger of his ride. “It was my first wave, and maybe the best paddle wave I’ve ever had in my life. Stoked!”
Etienne Potgieter’s deep tube in Namibia was a contender for Leg 5.
PE ripper, Etienne Potgieter impressed the public with his long barrel at Namibia’s most famous left, and took out a hefty 119 votes to finish in second place in October. However, only one ride claims this month’s prize* worth over R10 000, and a spot in the ‘Pit of the Year’ grand final with a further R30 000** in cash and prizes up for grabs.
Voting is now open for the ‘Pit of the Year’ grand final, which includes the winners of each of the five monthly legs of the 2015 Monster Pitstop. Go to monsterpits.co.za to vote for this season’s standout ride.
HOW THE VOTING WORKS:
• The public vote and judging panel’s vote is split 50-50
• This means each of the three judge’s votes count 16.67% of the overall vote (to make up the judges’ 50% of the vote).
• The public vote for each surfer is then worked out as a percentage of the total number of public votes across all contestants and divided by two to work out how much it contributes to the other 50%.
It sounds complicated, but makes sense when you do the sums. So let’s do the maths for the top two rides that were in the running this month:
Frank Solomon
3x judge’s vote = 50%
Total public votes across all the contestants = 335
Frank’s public votes: 91 votes = 5.21% of 335 / 2 = 27.16%
= 77.16% of votes overall
Etienne Potgieter
0x judge’s vote = 0%
Total public votes across all the finalists = 335
Etienne’s public votes: 119 = 35.42% of 335 / 2 = 17.71%
= 17.71% of votes overall
* THE WINNER OF EACH LEG RECEIVES:
For the Surfer:
R5000 hamper from O’Neill
For the Videographer:
Vestal Brig Tide & Train Watch – valued at R2975
Skullcandy Shrapnel Local Only Speaker – valued at R899
Skullcandy Riot Buds – valued at R299
Neff Cap – valued at R399
Neff Watch – valued at R499
Neff Daily Sunglasses – valued at R299
** PIT OF THE YEAR WINNER RECEIVES:
For the Surfer:
R15 000 cash + Vestal Heirloom Watch valued at R5,500
For the Videographer:
R10 000 cash + Skullcandy Air Raid Speaker valued at R1,999
