Gabbi Herbst © Kody Mcgregor
Lower Point, Jeffreys Bay –
The first day of competition at the 2024 Sea Harvest SA Junior Surfing Championships was small and light onshore, but day number two was something special.
The best junior surfers in the country were greeted with perfect and clean three-foot waves and a light offshore to groom them perfectly, ideal for high-performance ripping.
This is the 28th edition of the Sea Harvest South African Junior Championships, which involves 180 girls and boys from eight districts. SMTH Shapes, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, Ocean Freedom, and True Technologies support this event.
Anastasia Venter © Kody McGregor
In the U18 Girls division, Gabbi Herbst (Ethekwini) scored the highest points, with a massive 14.74 out of a possible 20, to win her heat convincingly. Gemma Hanafey (Buffalo City) and Anastasia Venter (Cape Winelands) were top performers with some great surfing in JBay.
Gemma Hanafey © Kody McGregor
Fourie On Fire
Remi Fourie (Buffalo City)was on fire in the U16 Girls First Round and won her heat convincingly. Others who excelled in this division included Taylor Emslie (Buffalo City), carrying the energy from her win in the Rip Curl GromSearch presented by Sea Harvest at Seal Point last weekend, and Maxine Kauffman (Ilembe). Also advancing out of this round was Zipho Mseleku (Ethekwini), who put on a spirited backhand performance to come in behind Emslie.
Remi Fourie © Kody McGregor
Maxine Kauffman © Kody McGregor
Zipho Mesleku © Kody McGregor
Charlotte Copson (Cape Town Surfriders) surfed amazingly in the U14 Girls First Round to take the win. Camilla Heuer (Buffalo City) also looked good, winning her heat. At the same time, Leah Lepront (Nelson Mandela Bay Surfriders) showed what she is capable of by posting a nearly perfect 9.67 for her top-scoring ride and the highest-scoring ride of the day up to that point.
Charlotte Copson © Kody Mcgregor
Chasing top-score honours for the day, Slayde Shooter (Nelson Mandela Bay Surfriders) was awarded a heat total of 17.84 for the combination of two excellent scores of 8.67 and a 9.17 for the day’s highest heat total. In this U12 Boys heat, Marcello Zedde (Ilembe) rode only two waves for a massive score of 14.67 but had to settle for second place behind Shooter and advanced into the next round. Another top performer was Liam Bonkolo (Cape Town Surfriders), who also advanced.
At stake are individual national titles for boys and girls in the Under 12, Under 14, Under 16, and Under 18 age divisions, along with the coveted Freedom Cup. First introduced at the event in East London in 2003, it is awarded to the District whose team members accumulate the highest points across all age divisions.
Kouga Local Municipality
The SA Junior Championships is back at Lower Point for the 11th year, with support from the Kouga Municipality. The teams competing this year are the defending champions Cape Town Surfriders, former champions Buffalo City Surfriders and eThekweni Surfriders, hosts Nelson Mandela Bay Surfriders, Cape Winelands Surfriders, Eden Surfriders, Ugu Surfriders and Ilembe Surfriders.
In addition to the Freedom Cup and individual championship titles, there is the Loud and Proud Team Spirit award, as well as the Surfing South Africa Junior Surfer Of The Contest trophy.
The event is being streamed live on SuperSport Schools. Register here or download the SuperSport Schools app.
Kouga Local Municipality supports junior surfing in the Kouga region.
Liveheats provides up to the second heat scores to all mobile devices daily. To access this information, go to www.liveheats.com/surfingsouthafrica.
Updates, photos and videos will be published on the Surfing SA Facebook Page and on the Instagram profile @surfing_south_africa_media.
Complimentary images are available for media outlets.
Contact Surfing South Africa Media Manager Craig Jarvis
t. 082 376 4443
All images can also be downloaded for free from this Google Drive with a request to credit @kodymcgregor.
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The Sea Harvest SA Surfing Championships, presented by SMTH Shapes, is a premier Surfing South Africa tournament.
About Surfing South Africa
Surfing South Africa is the official National Federation for Surfing in South Africa. SSA is a member of the South African Confederation of Sport and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) and is recognised as the governing body by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.
Surfing South Africa is responsible for developing the sport, hosting National tournaments, sanctioning International events, and selecting National teams in all SSA disciplines. SSA is a member of the African Surfing Confederation (ASC) and the International Surfing Association (ISA), the sport’s World governing body.
About Kouga Local Municipality
Kouga Local Municipality (KLM) is located in the Sarah Baartman District in the province of the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
It is situated west of Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and stretches over a geographical area of 2 419km². It includes the nine towns of Jeffreys Bay, Humansdorp, St Francis Bay, Cape St Francis, Oyster Bay, Hankey, Patensie, Loerie, and Thornhill, as well as various smaller settlements and agricultural nodes.
Kouga is home to an estimated 107 014 residents (Census 2022).
