As the last competitive wave grinds to nothing more than a tummy ride in, former SA Champ and event commentator, Greg Swart, kindly requests that spectators take their litter home with them – a responsible end to proceedings on an eventful second day at the Hurley SA Junior Champs. The medics, after a thankfully undemanding eight hours under their red nylon canopy at Lower Point, are packing it in as three boisterous labs ensure their slobber does the rounds on the windswept crowd.
Good morning, Day 2.
The day didn’t start windy though, with conditions in the morning calm and sunny. But this soon changed into a heaving battle between shifting atmospheric pressures, which resulted in one less gazebo on the beach after it was tossed into the shallows of the contest area like a crumpled-up black and white serviette. Competitors found their own host of pressures, as the waves were as long and consistent as they were small and windswept. The best was made of the situation of course, as most sets proved to be perfect size for the vast majority of the groms and there were definitely a few golden moments that left the crowd talking.
Yes, it was windy later…
One of these moments had to be when local ripper, Angelo Faulkner kicked off Heat 5 of Round 1 with a sweeping fins-free top turn before dropping back in. While on-lookers dropped their jaws simultaneously, he continued down the line, punishing the rest of the wave to earn an excellent 8.25 score. Backing it up with a 7.5, the Eastern Province ripper went on to combo his fellow competitors and score a heat total of 15.25pts – the highest in the Under 13 age group.
Angelo Faulkner, turning heads and whipping up some spray on his winning ride.
Another surprise came from the Development team once again, this time in the form of Under 17 Girls division ripper, Sam Cele, who had everyone talking after dominating her heat.
Sam Cele, cranking up the style in the Under 17 Girls division.
York Van Jaarsveldt had to be one of the other standouts. The Western Province supergrom impressed the judges by taking to the air on a punchy close-out section in Heat 3 of Round 1 in the Under 13 Boys division. He also put it on the rail with a big frontside carve before tucking into the first clean tube of the day – earning himself an excellent 8.0.
York Van Jaarsveldt was blowing up.
Eli Beukes, another Western Province micro-grom in the Under 13 Boys division, was quick to follow York’s lead in the very next heat, putting in three vicious snaps on his first wave and a roundhouse cutback that stoked out everyone but his opponents. Keep an eye on this kid as the comp progresses, if he can take his small wave game onto a bigger playing field we’re in for some good surfing the next few days.
Day 3 will kick-off with the Under 15 Boys Round 2 heats at 8:00am. Be sure to check out Hurley South Africa on Facebook, or @sajaniorchamps on Twitter to keep updated on the action. The swell is expected to turn up a notch, which should make things interesting.
