The anticipated arrival of a new swell did not materialise on Day 2 of the Billabong Junior Series at Long Beach. Instead the same mini-sized waves that were rolling in on Day 1 continued to dribble in and it felt like Groundhog Day.
More small waves on Day 2 of the Billabong Junior Series at Long Beach.
The Under 20 Pro Junior Women were the first to pull their wetsuits on and hit the lineup for their Quarter-Finals. Sisters, Emma and Gina Smith both won their respective heats, while Chanelle Botha and Anoush Zakarian claimed victory in the the other two heats to advance to the Semi-Finals.
Anoush Zakarian worked the tricky lineup to earn a spot in the Semi-Finals.
In the first Under 20 Pro Junior Mens heat, Joshe Faulkner read the wave starved lineup flawlessly to win his match-up. Up next, Jordy Maree played the waiting game and put his trust in his knowledge of Long Beach. His strategy paid off late in the heat with two good scoring waves to advance to the next round. With the tide starting to fill in and the peak shifting down the beach, Slade Prestwich worked the lefts to beat local surfer, Brandon Benjamin. Scarborough’s Max Armstrong and Adin Masencamp from the Boland proved too good for their rivals in the remaining Under 20 Pro Junior Mens heats.
Slade Prestwich surfed well in the tough conditions to advance.
Following that, the decision was made by contest officials to run duel heats to relieve the pressure after the contest went on hold yesterday. The Under 14 Boys hit the peak further down the beach and Llandudno surfer, Luke Slijpen, as well as Sebastian Williams, Max Elkington and Bradley Drummer surfed the small running rights to win their respective Quarter-Final heats and advance to the Semi-Finals.
Tide-Lee Ireland was stoked on his prize.
Tide-Lee Ireland won the “Fins Free” award for the best manoeuvre of the day for his effort in his Under 12 Boys heat yesterday. The Durban local walked away with two sets of the latest Kinetic Racing fins. When Tanika Hoffman asked him to share his prize, Tide-Lee replied, “It’s my first win, maybe the next one!”
A unanimous vote between competitors in the afternoon meant that the Under 20 Pro Juniors Mens would take to the water to contest the Quarter-Finals. The best pulse of the day meant that the riders could finally show off their skills above the lip as the waves slowly started building. Last year’s winner at Long Beach, Diran Zakarian, didn’t put a foot wrong and marched into the Semi’s, while Jordy Maree put on an impressive aerial display but couldn’t stick the landings and bowed out.
Max Armstrong showed his skills in small waves to advance to the Semi-Finals.
Next up, Max Armstrong and Matt McGillivray went head-to-head in their Quarter Final. Matt held the lead for most of the heat, until Max’s local knowledge steered him into the two best waves of the match-up as the heat timer wound down. His quick get-up-and-go style gave him ample opportunity to free his fins and move on to the Semi-Finals, with Matt unfortunately eliminated.
As the hooter sounded for the final heat of the day the waves continued to slowly build, which could mean that the final day of competition might actually get some waves to give competitors something to really get excited about.
Don’t you think you should mention the younger girls’ heats? They worked just as hard and deserve to be given the same exposure as the other competitors. In all of your junior competition articles, you barely ever even mention the u14 and u16 girls. I hope this will change soon…