cape classic..

hugh grant
March 2006
does any1 know when the results will be up, and who won? i heard a bit but just wanna make sure!!!

Bodyboarding 1,133 views

12 Replies

Spy Dude
March 2006
ya i agree, bleeek i missed it, but alas the flu got me hard, was mandown for pretty much the whole event. Saw the day one report and then nothing, was hoping to be reading a blow by blow of the event. So far only a posting in the forum, nothing official, come cape classic kids, sort it out.
Dane
March 2006
I also wanna know when the results will be up but what i can tell you is that there was a junior semi-final with Josh Kleve, Jared Housten, Emile van V and Adam Morley. This was a bumber as two of these talented juniors would get knocked out.This was a tough heat as the waves were not very good and only two good sets came through the whole heat. At the end of the heat it was unfortunately Adam and Emile who got knocked out. This was a pitty as this would have been a good final. Any how Josh went on to win the Junior Final and Jared came third.
Aden Kleve made it through all of the heats in the DK section and made it to the final with: Sacha S, Sacha T and Vaughn H. Aden came an impressive third and Spex went onto win that one. ST second and vaughn 4th. The boys was also won by Aden Kleve. The Pro division was 4th:Johnny Maritz, 2nd Specker and Winning it Wesley Fischer.

Thats pretty much all i can remember.
Sorry if I forgot your name out.
Later,
Dane
Kelly
March 2006
For my part - I apologise - I have been working with SABA to ensure that coverage of the events is in place ... which was supposed to be the case in this instance. Olivia Jones has been employed to cover the event but she is reliant on the information being sent out to her.

Prior to this event, SABA had updated their Rule Book (available under the Library on http://www.SABAOnline.co.za) to stipulate that a media agent must be secured for each event. (Section C.1.a). In this case a media agent was secured but the flow of information to her has been less than satisfactory (the Saturday article was great but we are all still waiting on the results). Unfortunately there was nothing in the Rule Book to enforce any deadlines.

Following this issue, there has been a lot of discussion (within the SABA management at least) and it looks like SABA will be updating their rule book to impose a fine of R2000 on the event organisors if the media releases are not out by 6pm of the day of the contest. The committee has been given 24 hours to object otherwise it will be added into the rule book tomorrow.

Alistair and Sally are on the case! We just need it to filter downwards. By not sending out releases, there is no way that the news will hit the morning papers and at this late stage, the event is old news and will not make it into many papers at all.

Another improvement in SABA is the requirement for a Contest Director's Report following each event, detailing anything which went well which could be passed onto other event organisors and of course, anything which did not e.g. press in this case, finding out where it went wrong and passing that onto other organisors to ensure it does not happen at their events and definitely so that it will not happen at the next event which these organisors host.

BTW - OJ has now received the info she was after and we'll have an article up by tonight. In future, hopefully we'd be able to pay for OJ to travel to each event but current budgets rely on the fact that someone at the event has to pass the information onto her.
Spy Dude
March 2006
for sure, i am only worried about how this looks to sponsors, this event was well sponsored and well, the money wants to see the coverage.
I agree with the budgets, but maybe in the meantime OJ gets assigned a sidekick in each event she cant be at, someone who can report, type and email, cos this stuff needs to goto etv news, the newspapers and so and so forth. owell live and learn i guess.......
hugh grant
March 2006
thanx dane, spydude and kelly for the reply and information, much appriciated--jeez, did aden (aka curly joe) make dk final? thats quite epic considering he's 13...
Kelly
March 2006
Spydude - on the money. That sidekick is instrumental if OJ is paid to travel to an event and it was my understanding that this was in place.

My big gripe for years is ...

1. The sponsors don't get coverage
2. The riders don't get recognition for their achievements. Some pay big cash to travel and they need just reward for that. At the moment, the prizes or prize money does always deliver that. If we can't give our riders recognition then they stand little chance of improving any sponsorship deals and if we don't get shots into papers then there will never be any photo incentive money paid to them.
3. Bodyboarding goes nowhere or backwards - take your pick.

If there is someone who is capable of summarising the days events for OJ, can type and send it off by email and would like to play this role at all the SABA events then get in contact with me. You'll be doing it for the love of the sport but at the moment we don't appear to have anyone with the skills or the ambition. Would be great if they could come forward. I understand OJ will be at the Wimpy-Rossi and Cave Rock but this person would be needed at the Wedge Classic if OJ is not being paid to travel down to the event. Even if OJ is at the event, it could be a good opportunity to pass on some knowledge as well as provide help at the contest. Not only do we need decent coverage on the SABA circuit but so do the provinces and clubs. Back in the days, we had better coverage of our club contests than what I saw from some of the SABA events last year. So it is hard to look at the standard which is being dished out now.

I personally, would like to see people who have the skills (and time) to step forward. The guys on the committees are not always the right people to deal with a job like media or marketing. When that happens, it will make life a whole lot easier for these committees and bodyboarding will obviously be the better for it.

The article is apparantly still on for later tonight so check back tomorrow morning.

Cheers,
Kelly
hugh grant
March 2006
hey kelly, i surf all the comps and im only 17 but doing matric and A levels in english, english literature and drama (haha, im a panzie) i wouldnt mind doing some free coverage on the sport or whatever... i may seem laid back but i sure can write.. so whatever.. gimme a call!!!
Kelly
March 2006
OK buddy, think you found yourself a job.

We'll get something out to you, see what you can come up with and then take it from there. Give us a few days, I want to try see if OJ is willing to handle this but she is travelling at the moment.

Thanks for volunteering! If anyone else is reading --- if you have any skills which could be useful to a club, province or to SABA and you have the passion for the sport then either get onto them or contact me and I can try get you involved.

Media is always a big one, graphic designers (who have time), Fund raising is definitely required (and on this one you can earn yourself some cash if you can bring in a sponsor for SABA as there is a finder's fee programme). Further to that, judges are always in short supply so get on a course if you can (contact SABA from http://www.sabaonline.co.za) and then anyone with good organisational skills is always a help with running trials and club contests.

At the moment we have top riders doing all this and I don't want to see that. These guys/girls should be concentrating on their riding so that we can start competing consistantly against the world's best. AT and Dre are no longer on the World Tour so we have no real presence at the moment.
Mark
March 2006
Bodyboarding is definetly going somewhere kelly,look at the new logic,the guys are charging!and doing it for the love of the sport ,craig is doing the logic for the love of the sport and with people like him and many others the sport can only grow, we should just be positive and support.
hugh grant
March 2006
right on buddy, but for development we need growth and for growth we need sponsorship and to get sponsorship we need to show the companies that we are organised and we need to show them how we can benifit them.. there are many pro riders but coverage is the main attraction, not just physical coverage such as photo's and video but literate aswell, and bodyboarding can only grow if we support it as much as it supports us.. think about it, money is great and helps a lot but what we need is turn out, and to get turn out there has to be great coverage.. thats where volluntering comes in!!! -support those who support bodyboarding-
puku
March 2006
a bit off the topic but has the march logic come out yet? kelly you sure know what you doing here bru!
Kelly
March 2006
Hugh Grant - on the money.

Mark - for sure, it is always about being positive - if we were not then do you think I'd be putting all the effort into sixty40? But you cannot sit back and say well that was our best effort, so what if we didn't have a release out until a 5 days after the contest.

Sometimes you have to take a step back and be a bit critical of ourselves as a sport - and then put some effort in to help improve. Too many times, I do see guys being able to pin point what is wrong, being vocal about it and then doing nothing ... this just constitutes having a moan and is not good for the sport at all - I hope this is not how my post is being read. I have responded to the original post, highlighting that myself, Olivia Jones and the SABA executive have been doing all we can to secure good coverage for the events. This is something which I personally have been pushing for more than three years now (since we launched sixty40) but up until now it has been left to the organisors to decide what level of coverage is provided and as we have seen in the past, it has sometimes been below par or non-existent. And that is just not good enough - take this contest for example, it was one by Wes Fischer who travelled down from Durban to compete. Sure he won the cash, but a big part of it will go towards travelling to the event but he at least comes out with some of the green stuff after the event. But he didn't just travel down for the cash - anyone competing is doing so to try make a name for themselves in the sport and if no coverage is provided then how is that going to happen? What incentive are you providing for the guys to travel to the events? Which is why you do not see more guys travelling down. The more media coverage we generate the more incentive there is - with sixty40 we could provide almost live results and commentary if there was someone at the beach willing to do this but at the moment we even battle to get the coverage and heat sheets back to us by the end of the day.

As mentioned, I've been raising these issues for about 3 years now - some contest organisors are on the case anyway but with some it has appeared to fall on deaf ears and I may probably have not made too many friends along the way.

BUT following this contest there has been a lot of positives, SABA has stepped in and amended their Rule Book to impose a fine should a release not be sent out by the evening of the finals, we have made a good contact at News24 who will ensure bodyboarding will get some added coverage in mainstream media and we may have found someone to be OJ's contact at the contest, to feed her with results and a rundown from the event.

And this doesn't happen from just sitting back and saying, well it was better than last year. They may be better than they have been but this has been through a lot of hard work from a few individuals, which is not good enough - we need more people pulling their weight and we need the riders demanding better coverage for the events they compete in. You put in a lot of effort training, fork out the entry fee, travel and accommodation costs - so you should expect that the event organisors hold up their end and provide decent coverage for the event. We (the SABA executive, OJ and myself) will do our bit, have provided guidelines or advice where we can and are always willing to help if need be. In essence it is fairly simple, OJ just needs the info supplied to her and then she handles the rest.

I grew up in a bit of a golden era for bodyboarding in SA where sponging was extremely popular, coverage was great and the contests were really profesionally run, so much so that the American riders who travelled out to our contests would comment on how impressed they were at our events that made their contests look like club contests.

I do expect a lot from my sport and although I think I had it pretty good when I was growing up, I expect (or demand) that we provide the same level or hopefully better to the generation of today.

To the riders - you probably have more clout than me - as I mentioned ealier ... you should demand better coverage from events by asking what is being provided - you guys make or break a contest. A simple phone call to the organisor before the event or an email to them (e.g. last year the media coverage was slack, what are you doing this year to improve or guarantee) - that will keep them on their toes.

Having said that though, as a rider, you cannot demand anything if you are not holding up your end --- if you want to see the tour succed then the least you can do is to support the companies which support our sport. Our failure as a community to do this simple thing, makes us a bit of a joke and leaves companies like Logic battling to secure advertisers from the surfing industry because bodyboarders support these companies without them even needing to put one cent back into the sport.

A bit of a tangent, but in someway all relevant.

So in summary, it is getting better - but it doesn't get better without people putting in effort and questioning when standards are not met.

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