Contestants were greeted to a fresh offshore wind at 7am at Margate Beach when the 1st Heat hit the water. The high tide made finding decent waves a bit tricky and it was clear from the start that the rider who picked up the set waves with sections , would surely advance to the next round. The steady strengthening of the wind didn't make finding the more contestable waves easier either.
The normal run of heats had to be changed considerably due to the expectation of big swell on the final day. It was decided to run the smaller and younger divisions right through to finals as well as as many of the other heats as the day allows due to there being no window period for this event.
The Boys Division became a hotly contested local affair as all 4 the riders advancing to the final were Southern Natal riders. Warren du Preez (Umtentweni), Michael Mynhardt (Uvongo), Mickey Gomez (Hibberdene) and Wesley Coetzee (Margate) rode well to make it through and will have to wait until tomorrow's prizegiving to see whether or not they took top spot.
The Ladies final consisted of Natasha van Niekerk (Uvongo), Jessica Towers (Uvongo) and Kim Theron (Margate) in some of the cleanest conditions of the day. They were joined by the only Grandmaster, Riaan Nutt (Margate). Riaan and son Alex Nutt both made history today for this event as Riaan is the oldest competitor to ride with his son being the youngest competitor at age 7.
The Masters final saw last years' winner Kevin Williams (Uvongo) locking horns with Martin Otto (Uvongo), Morgan Phillips (Southbroom) and Dean Conway (Durban). They too will have to wait for the prizegiving to find out the results after a grueling battle in some of the toughest conditions of the day.
The other division that completed its finals today was the Dk division. The competition in this division was absolutely mindblowing. Derek Footit (Uvongo), Iain Campbell (Durban) and Reinhardt du Toit (Richards Bay) surfed exceptionally well to make it through to the final. It will be interesting to see the end result tomorrow as all 4 contestants gave it their all in the final.
Your Junior finalists for tomorrow will be Storm Prestwich (Scottburgh), Conrad Bernhardt (Margate), Grant van der Wagen (Uvongo) and Adam Waites (Durban) as they proved to be the top riders in this division for this event.
Pro round 1 saw Derek Footit (Uvongo), Darren Halse (Amanzimtoti), Adam Waites (Durban), Storm Prestwich (Scottburgh), Nico Muller (Amanzimtoti), Jonothan Oliff (Durban), Coly Dyer, Stuart Bradford (Durban), Terence Pieters (Uvongo) and Bradley moys (Shelly Beach) all advancing to the quarter finals respectably.
The day was ended off with The PowerBalance skimming contest where a PowerBalance band worth R500 was up for grabs. A total of about 16 riders tried their luck but in the end Terence Pieters (Uvongo) was untouchable with his trademark backflip over and over again.
The Factory 7 airrollspin of the day prize went to Darren Halse (Amanzimtoti).
Derek Footit (Uvongo) walked away with both the Wakefields Dk turn and the Jared Houston invert of the day prizes.
Action starts at 7am sharp. Be sure to follow us on twitter on agent18margate as we will be putting up results as they happen.
