JEFFREYS BAY: The opening day of the Billabong SA Junior Championships at Lower Point beach was a rare, windless and perfect day, with consistent waves up to 1.2m high pouring through.
The onshore wind backed off during the day, and waves improved throughout to provide perfect peeling right-handers for everyone to enjoy.
Impressing the judges and winning their first-round heats were Cape Town surfers Ford van Jaarsveldt, Ethan Fletcher, Gabriel Fernandez and Adin Masencamp, representing Cape Winelands.
With great waves forecast for the duration of the five-day event, spirits are high among the best junior surfers in the country and individual winners, as well as team placings, will be announced on Sunday when the tournament ends.
The Billabong SA Junior Championships is the last junior event on the calendar after a busy year for our young surfers, and next year looks to be another busy one.
This event also offers a number of lucrative speciality awards totalling more than R15 000 for surfers and their teams.
These include the Billabong/Bad Billy’s Tag Team Paddle Battle, BOS Highest Heat Score, VonZipper Airshow and the Skull Candy Stay Loud Team Spirit awards.
Max Elkington (Cape Town) and Brayden Bergset (Durban) will be defending their U15 and U13 boys’ titles, while the other four divisions will all crown new champions.
Last year’s girl champions – Gabi Lailvaux (Durban) in U13 and Kirsty McGillivray (Port Elizabeth) in U15 – have moved up one division.
While it is an extremely competitive event, the junior surfers in the country do believe in having fun, and this event is also about having a good time at the beach.
It is about team spirit and support, and the competitors have been displaying that very team spirit thus far with their loud cheering and flag-waving.