The 2026 Quiksilver King of the Groms is back in the mix. The iconic event, which was last held in 2017 took place at Durban’s Dairy Beach on March 20th to 22nd and featured boys and girls in the U18, U16, U14 and U12 divisions.
The surfers who made their way to South Africa’s Surf City revelled in three days of sun and contestable surf and showcased the talent that makes the future look bright for SA Surfing.
The event got under way at midday on Day One and the 2 foot waves at this well-known contest venue set the tone for the much anticipated return of the Quiksilver King of the Groms.
Early morning thunder and lightning heralded Day two, but the weather cleared just before the contest got underway in 2-3 foot contestable surf that allowed for some high performance surfing throughout the day.
Even though the surf of the final day of competition was relatively small, a number of impressive scores were posted by surfers in the semi-finals and finals in each of the divisions. With a prize purse totalling R35000 on offer to the finalists as well as important ratings points on the SAST, South Africa’s top junior surfers gave it their all throughout the day.
A couple of the surfers who stood out at the event were Maya Malherbe of Coffee Bay who posted a 9.33 wave score (out of a possible 10) in her U12 Girls Final (which she won), while local surfer Melokhule Zotshana, a product of the amazing Surfers not Street Children programme, produced the best surfing of his career to claim second in the U16 Boys Final.
The winners of the U18 Boys and Girls Divisions were Loghann Tilsley of Somerset West and Leah Lepront of Scottburgh won the U18 Boys and Girls titles respectively while Lepront also won the U16 Girls title. Ben Esterhuyse of Camps Bay took the win in the U16 Boys Final.
Tom Pearson of Southbroom and Maya Malherbe of Coffee Bay won the U14 Boys and Girls Finals respectively while U12 surfers Cody Painter of Kommetjie and Adriana Canning of La Lucia repeated their victories achieved in Cape Town a month ago.
The full results are available on www.liveheats.com/surfingsouthafrica
Photos are available on https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1RoT6vK_KDurQZz1DmaF8Y7YUknGzmqZy?usp=sharing
The next SAST event takes place in Port Alfred over the Easter Weekend. Go to www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za to enter
About Surfing South Africa
Surfing South Africa is the official National Federation for the sport of 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 National Department of Sport, Arts and Culture. (DSAC).
Surfing South Africa is responsible for the development of the sport, the hosting of National tournaments, the sanctioning of all International and National events and the selection of National teams in all the disciplines that are part of SSA. SSA is a member of the African Surfing Confederation (ASC), Union of the Indian Oceans Surfing Federations (UIOSF) and the International Surfing Association (ISA), the World governing body for the sport.
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