Monday, April 9, 2012
Prestwich Crowned Quiksilver Pro Junior 2012 Champ
Photo Credit: Luke Patterson
Prestwich Crowned Quiksilver Pro Junior 2012 ChampNew Pier, Durban – Slade Prestwich (Durban) was crowned the Quiksilver Pro Junior champion today at New Pier, Durban. The seventeen year old, formerly from Scottburgh, defeated the event favourite and last year’s champion Beyrick de Vries (Umhlanga) in a 20 minute final. Prestwich and de Vries were early standouts in the event posting some of the highest scores in the testing 4 ft (1.5-metre) surf.
Prestwich got off to a strong start in the under twenty division final well with a solid ride, scoring 8.25 out of a possible 10 points. De Vries battled to get going and had to make his way to the beach to swap boards after a shaky start. Ultimately time was on Prestwich’s side after sealing the heat and leaving de Vries needing a near perfect 9 point ride.
“I am so happy to win the event, I have been training every day and it has paid off, the surf was difficult but I stuck to my game plan and it paid off,” said a very pleased Prestwich after collecting his R15 000 winners cheque.
In the King of the Groms under sixteen division it was Max Armstrong (Cape Town) who was unstoppable in the man-on-man final against Steffen Burrows (Cape Town). Armstrong not only pocketed the R5 000 winner's cheque, he will fly to France in September to compete in the Quiksilver King of the Groms international finals which is held in conjunction with the Quiksilver Pro France World Tour event.
Koby Oberholzer, son of legendary south coast free surfer Frankie Oberholzer, cleaned up in the King of the Groms under fourteen and under twelve divisions. Oberholzer impressed judges and spectators alike with his clean and stylish surfing to earn himself the coveted kings crown and a cool R5 500, for a days surfing.
Michael February and Jacob Mellish, both from Cape Town took home R2 500 each and a set of Skullcandy headphones for winning the two Expression Session prizes. Mellish "blew up" on a perfect wave at New Pier to win the “Best Wave” award while February took to the air to win the “Best Aerial Maneuver” in the 20 minute session.
The Quiksilver Pro Junior & King of the Groms was presented by the City of Durban and supporting sponsors included Independent On Saturday, Skullcandy and Nestle Pure Life Water. The event was sanctioned by the Association of Surfing Professionals and Surfing South Africa; surfers were kept powered by Red Bull.
For more information go to: www.quikprojunior.co.za.
Full Results:
Quiksilver Pro Junior:
1 Slade Prestwich
2 Beyrick de Vries
3 David van Zyl
3 Michael February
Quiksilver King of the Groms U16:
1 Max Armstrong
2 Steffen Burrows
3 Bryce Burness
3 Brett Payn
Quiksilver King of the Groms U14:
1 Koby Oberholzer
2 Donovan Wichman
3 Adin Masencamp
4 Ethan Fletcher
Quiksilver King of the Groms U12:
1 Koby Oberholzer
2 Max Elkington
3 Angelo Faulkner
4 Joseph Webster
Monday, April 2, 2012
Junior Surf Stars Ready For Quiksilver Pro Junior This Easter
Michael February (Kommetjie, Cape Town) placed equal third in the 2011 Quiksilver Pro Junior and will
be looking to improve on that result at this year’s event over the Easter weekend at New Pier in Durban.
Photo Credit: Luke Patterson
New Pier, Durban – Over eighty of South Africa’s best junior surfers under the age of twenty will be making their way to Durban this Easter to compete in the Quiksilver Pro Junior and King of the Groms surfing event. The Quiksilver event is one of the biggest on the Surfing South Africa (SSA) and Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) calendars and all top juniors will be hoping to impress to secure their share of prizes and valuable points on offer.
Top favourites in the ASP Pro Junior division include reigning champion Beyrick de Vries of Umhlanga Rocks, seventeen year old Slade Prestwich of Durban (Berea), David van Zyl of Durban (Umhlanga) and Kommetjie’s Michael February. Good friends De Vries and Prestwich closed out the 2011 edition of the event with a man-on-man final showdown and will be hoping to do the same this weekend. Other surfers to watch out for include Kommetjie’s David Brand and Jeffrey’s Bay local Steven Sawyer, both are goofy footers and are capable of high scoring potential and big results.
In the under sixteen King of the Groms division KZN surfers Bryce Burness and Shane Sykes will have their hands full when an onslaught of Cape surfers arrive for the event. Max Armstrong, Steffen Burrows, Jordan Maree and Jake Elkington are just a few of the many Capetonians making their way to the Golden Mile in search of the King of the Groms title. The winner of the under sixteen division will be flown to France in September and entered into the Quiksilver King of the Groms international finals which is held in conjunction with the Quiksilver Pro France WCT men’s event. Other divisions in the King of the Groms competition include the boys under fourteen and under twelve divisions.
“We’ve received a large amount of entries this year so it’s going to be a great event, at the moment the sandbanks at New Pier are good and the tides look to be favourable which is very positive. The juniors are always fired up to surf this event as it’s a great stepping stone to kick start their year,” said Dane Patterson of Quiksilver Marketing.
Autumn land breezes have already started blowing and at the moment surf forecasting websites are showing an average of two metre swells for the duration of the event which should produce some very contestable surf conditions for the young surfers. The event boasts over R65 000 in prize money and can be followed at www.quikprojunior.co.za
The event will get underway at 8:00am on Friday morning at New Pier in Durban with the Future Stars divisions, eight surfers from Surfing South Africa’s transformation program will take part in the event giving them an opportunity to raise their level of surfing and compete against the best in the country. Following that, Pro Junior surfers and King of the Groms divisions will take to the water. Finals for all divisions will be held on Sunday afternoon with the awards ceremony directly thereafter.
The Quiksilver Pro Junior & King of the Groms is presented by the City of Durban and supporting sponsors include Independent On Saturday, Skullcandy and Nestle Pure Life Water. The event is sanctioned by ASP and Surfing South Africa; surfers will be kept powered by Red Bull.
South African's Grant "Twiggy" Baker (KZN) & Luke McGillewie (WP) make the final list of 2012 KSP tour riders
Maui, Hawaii — April 1, 2012:
Highly anticipated by riders, industry and kite community alike, the final list of 2012 KSP tour riders has been released by the IKA (International Kiteboarding Association) today.
As per their press release from earlier today the IKA states as follows: "After the application period ended and an impressive number of 55 male and 18 female applications from all around the world were received, the formerly announced qualification procedure took place. Within that procedure the PKRA and KSP were each given the opportunity to choose their two male and one female wildcards respectively. During this time the IKA consulted with the national associations of countries from which more than one rider had applied in order to give them the opportunity to choose their top rider to be put forward for this year’s KSP tour. The riders were chosen by the IKA under the criteria of creating a slate with the highest possible riding level while also keeping the field of competitors on the KSP as international as possible. With some of the world’s top riders and a total of 18 countries in the slate, the 2012 world title race is going to be phenomenal."
IKA continues: "Riders that have been selected to receive a KSP Tour Card will join the top 8 male and 4 female pre-qualified riders from last year’s wave world ranking as well as the KSP and PKRA wild cards and will have until April 15, 2012 to accept the tour license that will be offered to them directly from the KSP. Any licenses that are not accepted will automatically go back to the pool for national riders and the IKA and KSP will select the next rider on the list, either by nationality or other criteria as outlined in the qualification criteria."
The riders selected by IKA and the national associations are:
| Male riders | Female riders |
| Airton Cozzolino (ITA) | Ines Correia (POR) |
| Mitu Monteiro (CPV) | Marie Gautron (FRA) |
| Guilly Brandao (BRA) | Kristin Boese (GER) |
| Mauricio Pedreira (BRA) | Melissa Gil (USA) |
| Sky Solbach (USA) |
Ninja Bichler (GER)
|
| Jesse Richman (HI) |
Kari Schibevaag (NOR) - tbc
|
| Juan Pablo Diban (CHI) |
Kirsty Jones (GBR) - tbc
|
| Patri McLaughlin (HI) |
Jalou Langeree (NED) - tbc
|
| Grant "Twiggy" Baker (RSA) |
Ainhoa Garcia (ESP) - tbc
|
| Sebastian Ribeiro (BRA) |
Maria Celina Guardati (ARG) - tbc
|
| Keahi De Aboitiz (AUS) |
Milla Knesse Ferreira (BRA) - tbc
|
| Abel Lago (ESP) - tbc | |
| Marciel "Matchu" Lopes Almeida (CPV) - tbc | |
| Luke McGillewie (RSA) - tbc | |
| Jakob Appel (DEN) - tbc | |
| Etienne Lhote (FRA) - tbc | |
| Lee Harvey (UK) - tbc | |
| Paulino Pereira (POR) - tbc | |
| Mark Moore (CAN) - tbc | |
| Jan Marcos Riveras (DOM) - tbc | |
| Cameron Biehl (USA) - tbc | |
| Filippe Ferreira (BRA) - tbc |
For the full slate of 22 male and 11 female riders see 2012 KSP riders.
Local and one-event riders will be notified about the qualification process, as time draws closer to the relevant event, by the KSP and/or local organizers directly.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Future Stars Selected For Quiksilver Pro Junior 2012
Khayehihle Ngcobo (Umzumbe) placed second in the 2011 Future Stars division
and will be hoping for one better at this year’s Quiksilver Pro Junior.
Photo Credit: Luke Patterson
New Pier, Durban – Eight surfers from Surfing South Africa’s transformation program have been selected to compete in this year’s Quiksilver Pro Junior 2012 presented by the City of Durban. The event, that’s now in its fifth year, will being taking place over Easter weekend from 6 – 8 April and will attract South Africa’s best junior surfers under the age of twenty years old.
The Future Stars division has been included in the event for four years now and aims to give up-and-coming surfers from the transformation program the opportunity to travel to Durban and participate in this elite junior surfing event.
All eight surfers are hosted in Durban for the duration of the event, courtesy of Quiksilver, and get the opportunity to compete for the Future Stars title as well as the ASP Pro Junior title. Last year saw Brandon Benjamin (Cape Town) defeat a strong field to win the title ahead of Khayehihle Ncgobo (Umzumbe) and Papi Makanyane (Cape Town). Benjamin will be back in Durban to defend his title and have a go at the sought after Pro Junior title.
Other surfers making their way to the Golden Mile for the event include Avuyile Ndmase (East London), Khayehihle Ngcobe (Umzumbe), Nicky Njapha (St. Mikes) and Simo Mkhize (Umzumbe) as well as three surfers from the Umthombo Street Children organization including Sfiso Mhlongo, Ntaka Ngcobo and Bongani Mpasane.
The event is made up of the Future Stars, ASP Pro Junior and King of the Groms divisions and boasts close to R65 000 in prize money.
The 2011 champion, Beyrick de Vries, has been tipped to win the U20 Pro Junior division again at this year’s event while the premier U16 division is wide open and counts towards the PST (Pro Surf Tour) ratings.
The winner of the U16 King of the Groms division will be flown to France for the International King of the Groms Finals in September which is held in conjunction with the Quiksilver Pro France WCT event.
The event is presented by the City of Durban and supporting sponsors include Independent On Saturday, Skullcandy and Nestle Pure Life Water. The event is sanctioned by ASP and Surfing South Africa and surfers will be kept powered by Red Bull.
For more information, images, videos, news and more go to the event mini-site: www.quikprojunior.co.za.
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