Eastern Province surfers Gina and Emma Smith made it through to round three in the U20 girls division at the Billabong SA Champs atLong Beachin Cape Town yesterday.
The Champs will determine the top provincial team in the country.
Surfers battled it out in freezing cold, rain and small, onshore conditions yesterday. “It started off pretty small and cold this morning,” said Billabong South Africa marketing manager Chad D’Arcy. “In the afternoon there were a few spots of sun, and some highly contestable three-foot lefts.”
Border surfer and defending Women’s Champ Nikita Robb made her intentions clear when she won her early morning first round heat convincingly. “I know that there are so many girls snapping at my heels for the title,” said Nikita. I’m just going to keep focused and take it heat by heat throughout the event. I’m lucky to be in the Border team. Their support is unbelievable.”
In the U20 girls Holly Armstrong and Tanika Hoffman, among others, also made through to Round 3.
In the Open Mens division, two-times SA Champion Sean Holmes (SC) advanced out of the repecharge heats to round three of the competition, along with surfers like Wayne Monk (Bor), Ian Armstrong (WP) and Scott Venter (SKZN).
Border surfers are the current holders of the 40 year old Presidents Cup. WesternProvinceis going all out to maintain its past record of winning the event every time it has taken place in the CapePeninsula.
In addition to the R30 000 being handed out to the four champions in the four divisions, the winner of the newly introduced VonZipper Airshow will earn R1000, and there will also be R1000 prizes for the DaKine Highest Heat Score and the Kustom Kustomised Maneuver. All contestants will be allocated 4A PST points, which is an increase from last year.
