Tuesday November 26th: Four time World and multiple South African Champion, Gigs Celliers won the premier Open Division at the 2019 South African Kneeboard Championships which was completed in Mossel Bay on Sunday.
Celliers (54) made a slow start to the event in marginal conditions but was magnificent in the Final where great surf conditions and some world class surfing saw him post a massive 17.40 points out of a possible 20 to take the win. Jedd McNeilage was second and Lester Sweetman was third ahead of Stevo Van der Watt who placed fourth.
Lester Sweetman took gold in the Masters/Seniors Division and Marc Barry was second. Jedd McNeilage came third and Anton Wiersma was fourth.
The Grandmasters title went to Stevo Van Der Watt with Adam Shapiro second, David Wilsenach third and Juriaan Erwee, fourth.
Cheyne Robertson beat Matt Bentley into second in the Pro Junior/Cadets Final with Keegan Wilsenach, the youngest competitor in the event, taking third. Tyler Pike came fourth.
The winner of the Kahunas Final was Grant Robertson with Andy Fermor taking second and Mark Tedder ending third while Johan Rademan won the Veterans Final where Richard Firth placed second, Philipp Krapf came third and Larry Berger was fourth.
Rudi Kurt, the oldest kneeboarder competing, fittingly won the Legends and Immortals Final beating Mike Theys into second spot. Simon Hammerton was third and Ian Hollander came fourth.
Over 40 Kneeboarders from all parts of the country competed in the 2019 SA Kneeboard Championships which was coordinated by Gigs Celliers. Celliers had support from a group of legendary kneeboarders and officials from Surfing South Africa. The four Open Finalists will represent South Africa at the World Kneeboard Championships in New Zealand in February and March 2020.
Full results of the event as well as wave and heat scores are available on www.liveheats.com/surfingsouthafrica
Photos are posted on the Surfing SA facebook page