The final event of the 2014 Billabong Junior Series kicked-off today at Cape St Francis in solid overhead waves. With action continuing throughout the weekend, let’s take a quick recap of the opening day’s highlights:
CONDITIONS: Three to four-foot east swell, light and variable winds. The bottom section (from Full Stop all the way down) cooked all day.
STANDOUT OF THE DAY: York van Jaarsveldt in Boys Under 12. The diminutive Kommetjie regular foot’s clean calculated surfing left both his compatriots requiring a combination of scores. Highest heat total of the day and the single highest wave score, with a 9.00 and a 7.00 for a total of 16.00 out of a possible 20.
York Van Jaarsveldt styled his way to the day’s highest heat total.
HEAT OF THE DAY: Under 12 Round of 24 Heat 2 – Luke Malherbe, Jonathan Coffey, Luke Snyman and Tom Shields went wave-for-wave with the situation changing many times throughout. East London goofy-footer Luke Malherbe eventually took the win with Coffey in second.
FORECAST FOR THE WEEKEND: More of the same – read groms ripping cooking Seal Point.
Damon Bruwer tears into a long Seal Point wall.
Check out the official press release from the opening day below.
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SOLID SURF FOR DAY 1 OF THE BILLABONG JUNIOR SERIES PRESENTED BY BOS FINAL EVENT
Angelo Faulkner was ripping on the opening day of Event 3 of this year’s Series.
Seal Point, Cape St Francis – Solid lines greeted the competitors for day one of the Billabong Junior Series presented by BOS at the classic right-hand point-break of Seal Point in Cape St Francis, and the competition got off to an early start.
The first division to hit the water was the Boys U14’s, with Saxton Randall from Durban showing excellent form to win his heat comfortably. His performance was followed by another excellent show of form by Luke Slipjen from Llandudno. Eli Beukes from Kommetjie was yet another surfer who took to the highly contestable surf with relish, tearing into a few of the clean faces along the inside section and also won his heat to advance through to the semi-finals.
The swell continued to pulse throughout the morning, despite the onshore slowly starting to build. The waves remained clean and the surfers were all showing their talent in the long right-hand walls.
Crystal Hulett from St Francis used her local knowledge at Seals with a fine performance in her U16 Girls quarter-finals, to win ahead of Pippa Jones (PE), Kia Fenton (PE) and Paige Wheel from George.
“There was a strong rip out there, but once you got up to the top end of the point it was fine,” said Hulett of the conditions. “The big sets were washing through a bit so the best waves were the inbetween waves. I know this wave so well and I managed to find the good ones and didn’t get too tired out there, despite the conditions. I’m feeling good for the event this year and am going to try my best out there.”
Crystal Hulett in action at Seal Point.
In the first heat of the U12 Boys it was York Van Jaarsveldt who put on a sterling performance, scoring a 9-point ride and a 7-point ride for a definitive win and advancement into the semi-finals, while Tide-Lee Ireland from Durban was another U12 Boys stand-out, winning his heat as non-stop waves poured down the point.
The day ended with the Pro Junior Girls division taking to the water, with stand-outs including Emma Smith, Anoush Zakarian and Jade Mets.
“A great day of surfing with awesome weather for day one,” said a stoked Billabong South Africa Marketing Manager Chad D’Arcy. “It looks like the conditions are going to hold out for the whole weekend and we’re looking forward to an exciting day of surfing tomorrow.”
The Billabong Junior Series 2014 has a number of supporting sponsors, including Playstation, Samsung, Techniblock, Nixon, VonZipper, KR Fins, Denis Ellis Surfboards and Future Life.
The Billabong Junior Series presented by BOS is sanctioned by Surfing South Africa. Surfing South Africa is a member of the South African Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) and is recognised by the Dept. Of Sport and Recreation as the national governing body for surfing.
The Association Of Surfing Professionals (ASP) is the recognised world governing body of professional surfing and has been crowning undisputed World Champions since 1976.
Imagery and video content from previous 2014 events in the series can be found on the various Billabong Social Media platforms.
Facebook:
Billabong South Africa www.facebook.com/Billabong.South.Africa
Billabong Womens South Africa www.facebook.com/BillabongWomensSA
Twitter:
Billabong South Africa twitter.com/@billabongsa
Billabong Womens South Africa twitter.com/@bbwomens_za
Instagram:
Billabong South Africa – @BillabongSA
Billabong Womens South Africa – @Billabongwomens_za
The Series Hashtag is #billabongjnr
Video:
Cape Town event final day: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m5IhTjU3C8
Mossel Bay event final day: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbH0OGEtSoo
