West Coast Bares It's Teeth

posted by Simon Heale on 1st June 2011

After years of shrouded mystery, secret road trips, blind-folded drives in the boot and turf wars we have come to this, the pinnacle of bodyboarding events in South Africa...

Welcome to the TAND Invitational 2011

Let me paint you a brief picture before we get down to the nitty gritty details.

A heavy flat bottom reef on the West Coast unloads with unprecedented force in the middle of nowhere with nothing surrounding you but rugged beauty and the sound of wild waves ringing out. For years, even until this present day the locals continue to dominate and blow minds. Every other top bodyboarder in South Africa has used it as a proving ground. Jared Houston attributed it to his success in his aerial assault on the world tour and one of his favourite spots in SA. Mark McCarthy used it as a training ground for the Shark Island Challenge in Australia where he went on to place 2nd! Top international riders have made wild statement calling it the best wave in S.A and they can't wait to come back and surf it.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the amphitheatre for the biggest, heaviest bodyboarding contest South Africa has yet to lay its eyes upon!

The brainchild behind this event, Jarret Johnson, took a step out into the unknown wilds and approached me with this concept, asking for help and ideas. A good few hour's worth of banter and a few crazy thoughts later we went for it and committed. The local boys gave us the go ahead, which was the main thing and it was all on from there. The Facebook page went up and within a few days we were an internet spamming sensation rivalling the likes of Rebecca Black.

Since then we have been lucky enough to be shown amazing support by our sponsors Vivid Zeal, Attica, Pride, Alphapharm, Magson Marine, SDI/ Ambusave, Vitamin water and WPBA, who together have filled the comps golden pot with a massive R10 000 in cash!!! Yes, you heard right!

Now that your jaws are on the floor, we'll get down to details.

16 riders. 4 Locals, 4 Western Province, 4 KZN and 4 Speciality entries.
This is the 1st event of its kind in South Africa, being an invitational event with riders being voted in by their peers. We are running it in a standard 4-man knockout heat format, with the top 2 riders from each heat advancing until finally the history books are written!

We have a 2 week waiting period to allow for the best possible day to run the event. It will last only 4 hours enabling us to have the best conditions of the day.

ALL finalists will be receiving moneybags worth of cash, with obviously the winner being rewarded with more cash than he could think of, all courtesy of Vivid Zeal, Attica, Pride, Alphapharm, Magson Marine, SDI/ Ambusave, Vitamin water and WPBA!

We have yet to announce the Top 16 riders for the main event as the voting is currently still underway.

For now, head on over to our Facebook Page, give it a "Like" here:
TAND Invitational 2011

And get onto the polls and cast your vote for your favourite rider here:
TAND Invitational 2011 Rider Poll

You get one vote per poll. Make sure it's the rider who might share his spoils with you.

We would like to extend a MASSIVE thank you to Vivid Zeal, Attica, Pride, Alphapharm, Magson Marine, SDI/ Ambusave, Vitamin water and WPBA! for jumping onboard with this event and sharing their passion and commitment with us!

Thanks to everyone for showing such unbelievable support!

Over 13 500 views in under a week of exposure. That's UNHEARD of and believe me, Jarret and myself keep thinking this is unreal. We appreciate every single page view, vote and comment.

Keep on checking the pages for more information until the next bit of tasty news is out!

3213 views

Comments

lyleLyle Schentke
6th June 2011 14:16
Epic!!!

TAND Invitational 2011

TAND Invitational 2011
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