Lower Point, Jeffreys Bay – Maya Malherbe (Buffalo City) is your Sea Harvest SA Junior Championships presented by SMTH Shapes U12 Girls champion for 2024, repeating her winning performance from last year. She beat Brin Jarvis (NMBS) in second place, with Camilla Prins (Eden) in third place and Adriana Canning (Ethekwini) in fourth place.
Maya Malherbe in action © Kody Mcgregor
In clean but small waves at Lower Point in JBay, some of the youngest competitors in the tournament, all of them goofy-footers (right foot forward, backs to the waves), battled it out for the title, with the honours going to the young East London surfer.
Camilla was first to get some scores, picking up three short rides quickly, but Maya’s first ride was a noteworthy 6.5 points. Malherbe then played the patient game, waiting for a good-looking wave. When it came, she ripped it all the way through to the inside with numerous backhand hacks for an excellent score of 9.10, leaving all the surfers in a combination situation.
Brin was chasing hard, got herself out of the combination, and was in the game with a 5.50 and a 6.33 on the scoreboard but couldn’t catch up. There was plenty of action, with a fierce paddle battle between Maya and Brin towards the end of the heat, with Brin claiming priority. Still, with no more waves coming, she remained in second place, and Maya won her second U12 Girls title in a row. This was in front of a stoked Buffalo City team who hoisted her off the beach with cheers of ‘Maya! Maya! Maya!” echoing around the contest site.
Brin Jarvis, Lower Point © Kody Mcgregor
The event organisers chose to surf the U12 Girls final today as there is a significant increase in the swell forecast for finals day. Today’s conditions were deemed more suitable for the young girls and their skill and experience levels.
Earlier in the day, Slayde Shooter (Nelson Mandela Bay Surfriders) was awarded top points in the U12 Boys quarterfinals. He banked 13.67 points out of a possible 20 for a secure win and advanced, along with Cody Painter.
The U18 Boys quarterfinals were intense. Surprise Maphumulo (Ethekwini), Clayton Turrell (Ugu), and Kai Hall (Ethekwini) were heat winners, with Turrell surfing an outstanding heat and putting 16 points on the board. Other surfers advancing through to the semifinals include Simon Winter (Cape Town Surfriders), Jack Erlank (Nelson Mandela Bay) and Levi Epenetos (Cape Winelands).
Massimo Bienz (Cape Town Surfriders) continued his winning ways in the U16 Boys Quarterfinals, advancing along with fellow natural-footer Josh Malherbe (Buffalo City).
In the U18 Girls quarters, Sarah Scott (Cape Town Surfriders) and Anastasia Venter (Cape Winelands) started off strong, both with points north of 13, with Sarah taking the win ahead of Anastasia. Gemma Hanafey (Buffalo City) surfed an excellent quarterfinal to win convincingly with a 13.83 score, advancing along with Catherine Jacob.
Gemma Hanafey © Kody McGregor
U16 Girls quarters saw Remi Fourie (Buffalo City), Emily Jenkinson (Cape Town Surfriders), Sophia Jackson (Eden) and Taylor Emslie (Buffalo City) all win their heats and advance through to the semis.
Emily Jenkinson © Kody McGregor
The U12 Boys continued through their semis with Cody Painter (Cape Town Surfriders), Levi Vosloo (Ilembe), Slayde Shooter (NMBS) and Marcello Zedde (Ilembe) advancing through to the finals tomorrow.
In the U14 Boys first quarterfinal, Carl Wiersma (Buffalo City) surfed excellently to outpoint Ben Esterhuyse, with both surfers advancing to the semifinals. “I just got busy out there,” said Carl. “I got two waves under the belt as quick as I could before I could relax and think about my strategy.”
Carl Wiersma © Kody McGregor
The 28th edition of the Sea Harvest South African Junior Championships involves 180 girls and boys from eight districts and will finish tomorrow.
SMTH Shapes, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, Ocean Freedom, Kouga Local Municipality and True Technologies support this event.
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.
The SA Junior Championships is 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.
The contest is supported by Kouga Local Municipality. More here – Kouga Local Municipality
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.
Read More – Great Surfing in JBay for first two days of the 28th Sea Harvest SA Junior Champs presented by SMTH Shapes
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.
