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Defending Champ Maritz takes Round 1 & 2 honours

posted by Ian Thurtell on 17th August 2008

Arriving in the parking lot at 6:30am, 15th August we were greeted with a solid 4ft south swell which meant very consistent waves with sets pulsing through every 4 minutes, consisting of about 4 waves per set. I could just make out a faint figure flying through barrel after barrel in the dark. The figure I was seeing was Jayden Alford-Loots.

The conditions were perfect in the morning but the wind was expected to get hard onshore mid morning so the decision of running the contest was a hard one to make. The wind stayed offshore and the conditions were getting cleaner and cleaner so the call was made and the contest would run.

As if Notus, the Greek god of the "south wind", had heard us - as the contestants started to arrive the wind started to blow hard onshore!! The surf had suddenly turned mushy and was not deemed fit for the contest, so everyone was quickly told that the contest was off for the time being. The contestants that had arrived paddled out for a free surf anyway and 20min later the wind backed off and went offshore and the swell pulsed through better than ever! Aaargh, what to do?? With conditions so good the call was made to run the contest on the pushing tide!

Round 1

Contestants arrived in the parking lot and Heat 1 hit the water with JP Nortier wasting no time in showing he meant business by winning the heat, closely followed by local super grom, Jayden Alford-Loots.

Heat 2 had the contest machine, Sacha Specker showing some good form in the clean conditions. Peter Lambert found some good barrels and got 2nd place with Sacha placing first.

In Heat 3, Jared Houston had his work cut out for him going up against 3 locals! The heat was a very closely fought battle but it was Jared Houston that used his big clean rolls to win the heat with Rory Lancellas and Ross Painter coming 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Josh Kleve eased his way through Heat 4 with solid ARS's and huge rolls. No-one could match his scores and no-one could challenge him for 1st place!

Well, well, Mr Johnny Maritz, aka "the Human Wake" absolutely tore apart Heat 5 and made it look like a one man show! Winning the heat with ease with a barrel and 2 ARS's on one wave!! The defending champ looking hard to beat!

Round 2

At the end of Round 1 the wind had started to get a bit onshore but with the higher tide the wave face was still clean and big moves were going down! Round 2 started with all competitors having to surf the high tide. With round one out of the way and one round to go, the competitors that had not performed well knew they only had one more chance to improve their scores!

Heat 1 had 4 locals in it. Peter Lambert found a cooking early wave which he rode all the way to the inside rocks linking manoeuvre after manoeuvre to get a high score early on in the heat. The other 3 competitors had to play catch up from then on with Jayden getting a solid wave to pull the scores tighter. Ian Thurtell found a super clean barrel near the end of the heat but couldn't get a second high score to back it up. Rory Lancellas got a big roll almost on the siren but it wasn't enough to win. Peter Lambert held first place with Jayden coming second.

Donovan Basset rode consistently in Heat 2 getting the highest score of the heat on his 4th wave. Craig Tully-Allen got a few smokers and was up to the challenge. The other riders couldn't find the waves they needed to challenge the Donovan and Tully and when the siren went, Donovan claimed the win with Tully second.

The super charged Byron Loubser went into Heat 3 fired up and it showed with him using his local knowledge to get good wave selection and ultimately get the scores that won the heat. Up coming local, Marc Whitelaw was the only person with a real chance of challenging Byron but just couldn't get the scores he needed. Byron won the heat with Marc second. Ross Painter 3rd and Matt Webb 4th.

Heat 4, the second last heat of the day would be an interesting one with Johnny Maritz facing off against in-form Jared Houston. Johnny went mental again getting big scores. Jared followed his moves with super tidy riding and linking many moves on one wave. Unfortunately, Jamie Higgins and Gareth Bonner could only watch while Johnny and Jared faced off. In the end Johnny won the heat with Jared in his shadow in 2nd.

Heat 5, probably the most anticipated heat of the day, with three of the riders that had all won their previous heat, up against each other in the last heat of the day but their was to be a wildcard in this heat! Josh Kleve opened up his account with a big ARS which immediately got him out in front. JP Nortier also started strong with a big air roll that scored high. Sacha Specker started slow and looked a bit out of tune throughout the heat. Josh Kleve again selected a beaut of a wave and blasted it to pieces getting another big score! With 3 competitors all paddling out from their last rides, a man in a white vest, alone at the back, stroked into a ledging bowl, cleanly set for the lip, blasted the biggest flip of the day right over Sacha's head and got JP Nortier scratching his head in disbelieve! The move got the public gasping and clapping and everyone was amazed he landed it. The man in the white vest was Julien Geffroy and he earned a 9.0 for his efforts, the highest score of the day! JP Nortier got a wave late in the heat that he also ARS's out of but it was not enough to match Julien and Josh's waves. Julien won the heat with Josh a close second. JP 3rd and Sacha 4th.

After the days competition the scores were tallied up and the top 8 riders scores that made it through were all in the 500% mark or above!

"I'm really stoked the waves were good for the first leg of the contest, it just goes to show what the riders can do when there are good waves to surf in. Waves like we had opened up the field of riders and anyone could have done well and that what it's about!" commented contest sponsor and contest Ross Painter of Sport Unlimited.

Contest Director, Ian Thurtell was happy at how the event had run thus far. "With such a competitive list of riders in the event, there was no such thing as an 'easy heat'. All riders had to perform at their best if they wanted to make it into the top 8 and that was exactly the way I wanted to show bodyboarding off to the public." He added that the results were extremely close and that the top 8 riders all surfed with consistency and thus scored the points needed to make it to the finals.

Results

1. 600 - Johnny Maritz
2. 573 - Josh Kleve
3. 567 - Jared Houston
4. 555 - Jayden Alford-Loots
5. 536 - Peter Lambert
6. 529 - JP Nortier
7. 528 - Rory Lancellas
8. 504 - Sacha Specker
9. 479 - Byron Loubser
10. 473 - Ross Painter
11. 470 - Julien Geffroy
12. 425 - Marc Whitelaw
13. 419 - Craig Tully-Allen
14. 418 - Donnavan Basset
15. 386 - Peter Brandt
16. 385 - Gareth Bonner
17. 374 - Ian Thurtell
18. 360 - Jason Smuts
19. 339 - Pierre Marqua
20. 290 - Jamie Higgins
21. 274 - Matt Webb

"The Shoot Out ran smoothly with lots of support on the beach. Conditions were ideal for the riders to perform high flying manoeuvres and ultimately achieve high scoring waves. Overall it was a well run contest and I look forward to the finals ahead!" said man-of-the-moment Johnny Maritz.

Quarter Final Draw:

From here the competition waits for another clean swell to arrive at Kalk Bay for the last day of competition where the top 8 finalists will go head to head with one other rider in the Quarter finals. If they win their heat they will move into the 4 man final where one of them will be "The Last Man Standing" and walk away the winner of the 2008 Nomad Kalk Bay Shoot Out!

QF 1: Johnny Maritz vs Peter Lambert
QF 2: Josh Kleve vs JP Nortier
QF 3: Jared Houston vs Rory Lancellas
QF 4: Jayden Alford-Loots vs Sacha Specker


The Nomad Kalk Bay Shoot Out 2008 is proudly brought to you by Nomad Bodyboards in association with Sport Unlimited and The Brass Bell Restaurant.

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