All The Action From SA Masters Surfing Championships
Monstrous surf at the SA Masters Champs 2024 venue Victoria Bay saw the contest organisers, Surfing South Africa, switch venues for the Finals Day and head 40 km down the coast to Mossel Bay.
Very contestable three to four-foot waves at Inner Pool saw a few Semifinals run off before it was straight into the finals.
Former champions, professional surfers, world title holders and others just doing it for fun took to the water for some hard-core competition with no holds barred.
The judges were looking for commitment and degree of difficulty, innovative and progressive manoeuvres, a combination of major manoeuvres, variety of manoeuvres, speed, power and flow.
Gordon Harmer, who beat Warren Wareing in the Men’s over 65 division, showed just that – speed, power, and flow.
Mike Burness showed a great variety of moves to take the Over 60 Men’s title from Stephen Hair.
Simon Fish, who won the Over 40 Men, hands the Dave Fish Award to Mike Burness, who also won the Over 60s division and scored a 10-point ride in the event © De Lange
Gareth Sepp beat defending champion Greg Swart to win the Over 55s, while Charlie Reitz took the win in the Over 50s from Cass Collier.
“I nearly opted out because my back was so sore. I did something to my back at Vic, and it was so sore that I couldn’t get up. Still, I am stoked with the win,” said Charlie.
“The waves were big and challenging at Victoria Bay, and you had the choice of getting the bigger ones with no wall or looking for the smaller ones with a pocket. But the event was cool; there was great camaraderie and good times. It’s amazing to watch some of these guys surf. It’s very inspiring.”
Mike Burness at Vic Bay © De Lange
Greg Emslie took time off from commentating to win the Over 45s from Sean Holmes, who had moved up from the Over 40 division, and Simon Fish beat Davey Weare in the Over 40s in a relatively low-scoring final. It was a repeat for Weare, who achieved the same position last year.
With less than two minutes to go in the Over 35 Women’s division, Tamarys De Maroussem edged in front of Tasha Mentasti, who had been out in front from the get-go. At the final buzzer, De Maroussem took the win by a mere .08 of a point.
A stoked Tamarys De Maroussem © De Lange
Clinton Gravett won the Men’s Over 35s on his backhand with a comfortable victory over Craig Johnson.
The Masters Cup went to Buffalo City.
The Dave Fish Award for the most consistent surfer throughout the event went to Mike Burness.
Final Results
Over 65 Men
1 Gordon Harmer (BC)
2 Warren Wareing (UGU)
3 Hans Kamhoot (CTS)
4 David Lipschitz (NMB)
Over 60 Men
1 Mike Burness (NMB)
2 Stephen Hair (Eden)
3 Nick Pike (BC)
4 Jonathan Crowther (CTS)
Over 55 Men
1 Gareth Sepp (BC)
2 Greg Swart (ESA)
3 David Malherbe (BC)
4 Kerneels Brummer (CW)
Over 50 Men
1 Charlie Reitz (Eden)
2 Cass Collier (CTS)
3 Gary van Wieringen (UGU)
4 Grant Baker (ILM)
Over 45 Men
1 Greg Emslie (BC)
2 Sean Holmes (Eden)
3 Ryan Bisset (ILM)
4 Paul Allen (NMBS)
Over 40 Men
1 Simon Fish (NMB)
2 David Weare (ESA)
3 Tyrell Johnson (BC)
4 Llewellyn Whittaker (Eden)
Over 35 Women
1 Tamarys De Maroussem (ILM)
2 Tasha Mentasti (Eden)
3 Jeannie Holmes (BC)
4 Lynne Mackey (ESA
Over 35 Men
1 Clinton Gravett (BC)
2 Craig Johnson (CTS)
3 Rob Whyte (ESA)
4 Mikhael Vawda (ESA)
Masters Cup
The districts competing for the Masters Cup were Cape Town Surfriders (CTS), Cape Winelands Surfriders (CW), Eden Surfriders, Nelson Mandela Bay Surfriders (NMB), Buffalo City Surfriders BC), Ugu, eThekweni (ESA), and Ilembe Surfriders (ILM).
Final Results:
1 Buffalo City
2 Eden
3 Ilembe
4 Cape Town Surfriders
5 Ethekwini
6 Nelson Mandela Bay
7 Cape Winelands
8 Ugu
Full contest results here https://liveheats.com/events/265895/
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