The Grind | Pro Taghazout Bay

WSL Africa has been putting in the hard work over the last couple of years, making up for the vacuum it had become by chasing sponsors and working tirelessly to have the finest events with the best staff and exemplary processes and procedures. Sponsors are hard to find.

After the gold rush of the early 2000s, surfing has correctly recalibrated to a niche sport. Right now, the surf industry is in all sorts of turmoil as well.

Granted, it is still attractive and glamorous to the right company, but it is hard to find those companies. So, seeing the South African surfers arriving en masse in Morocco for the Pro Taghazout Bay was gratifying.

The simple economics are thus:

Four men and a wildcard, and two women and a wildcard qualify from our region for the Challenger Series. Five out of six events count towards their ranking. A 3,000 (the Morocco event) counts three times as much as a 1,000 event, which are the ratings of all the events in South Africa.

So, Morocco is the most important event of the year for any South African surfer to compete in if they want to qualify for the Challenger Series, which is everyone. People surf competitions at a pro level to qualify for the Challenger Series, with their eyes on the Championship Tour.

Slade Prestwich and Beyrick De Vries (surfing under the Netherlands flag) were there, and a very personal and uplifting Instagram post showed De Vries has a new outlook, which was heartening to see. Justin Sykes, Shane Sykes and Karl Steen were in the mix, along with Tom Lindhorst, Avuyile Ndamase, Luke Van Wyk, Suede Schalkwyk, Brad Scott, Adin Masencamp, Luc Lepront, James Ribbink Connor Slijpen, Joshe Faulkner, Luke Slijpen, Tide-Lee Ireland, Luke Thompson and Jordy Maree.

We were represented by Natasha Van Greunen, Anastasia Venter, Jessie Van Niekerk, and Louise Lepront on the girl’s side.

Van Greunen placed 25th, and Venter 13. Van Niekerk finished 9th, and Lepront came in 5th place. It must be noted that in her quarters against Francisca Veselko from Portugal, Lepront finished with a heat total of 16.27 for an excellent 8.5 and a 7.77 back-up ride, the second-highest heat score of the round. To stick the knife in further, Veselko beat her on the buzzer. It was an excellent performance that would have won most heats on most days. Still, she got $1000 and 1423 points for her efforts, which is gratifying.

The important men’s round of 32 had Adin Masencamp, Tom Lindhorst and Luke Thompson advancing, while Luke van Wyk, Joshe Faulkner, and Jordy Maree bowed out. Masencamp eventually made it to the quarters and Thompson to the semis. Luke banked $2000, but more importantly, he ended up with 1825 points, and Adin got $1000 and 1423 points.

In contrast, a third place in a Challenger Series event pays $10,000 (R184k), and a fifth pays $3,500 (R65k.)

Who was on fire? Luke, Adin and Tom Lindhorst would be the obvious answers, as the results won’t lie, as well as Louise and Jessie, but it’s hard to tell who was blazing, as there was no live feed and the Insta reels are all nicely edited. Luke Van Wyk had one incredible wave floating around socials, but the waves were firing in the earlier rounds; our surfers are mostly very comfortable at bigger right-hand point-break waves, so there were probably some absolute banger waves. Adin scored an 8.43 in the round of 16 and an 8.67 in the quarters, while Thompson banked a 9.17 in the semis and still didn’t make the finals. Louise banked an 8.5 in her quarters and also failed to advance.

Judging from the comments from people there, Thompson is hungry, and Louise is ravenous.

After some reported passport difficulties, Paul Sampson from Muizenberg opted for the Africa Surf Tour event in Annise, Ivory Coast. Sampson went on to win this event but, at the same time, slipped down to 8th on the QS rankings and, with three 1,000 events left, will now need excellent results in the remaining events to be in with a shout to qualify for the Challenger Series.

We contacted WSL Africa Tour Manager Luqmaan Bruce, who was in Morocco for the event. The first time we made contact, he was busy riding a camel and couldn’t chat. The second time we connected, he summed it up thus: “The combination of break-out performances and close heat losses in Morocco have mixed up the QS rankings, leaving the door wide open for the top 10 to grab those Challenger Series qualification slots during the final three events in South Africa. There will be winners, and there will be losers. In the end, surfing will win, and the upward trajectory of the region will be validated.”

Africa – 2024/2025 Women’s Qualifying Series Rankings

Africa- 2024/2025 Men’s Qualifying Series Rankings

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