SA Champs Beach Report
posted by Peter Lambert on 30th September 2005
-: Day 5 :-
Today swell has jacked to about 4 to 5 feet, the wind is still onshore, but the action is heating up!
In the Semis, SA Champ Mark Jucker has been knocked out by Ian Kruger who won the heat with solid manoeuvres on the outside in testing conditions. Daniel Worsely came second to progress to the Final. In Semi Final No 2, seven times SA champ Alistair Taylor, as well as Sacha Specker could not find any rhythm and failed to advance, they where knocked out by eventual winner Neil Smith and Phillip Rodrigues in second.
-: Day 3 :-
Well day three started off looking very good with clean offshore 2-3 foot conditions and the contest started at 8:00, an hour earlier than the day before. But the early start only enabled the first two heats to completed before the cursed onshore came up which the rest of the heats had to endure.
First in were the Juniors Division with Jaryd Enslin (SKZN), Inacio "Nartjie" Serrao (SKZN), Jeandre Vosloo (SC), Adam Morley (SC), Mark Watts (CKZN), Blessing Mdletshe (CKZN), Josh Kelve (WP) and Grant Lee (SKZN) all wining their heats.
The early start also meant the days competition finished just before 4:00, giving everyone ample time to free surf as the wind died down, the surf glassed off a bit and rest relaxed on the beach. And just as the sun was setting we where joined by six dolphins who came to check out what bodyboarding was all about.
-: Day 2 :-
Today, the conditions were a little smaller than yesterday, with the traditional "glassy for the first hour and then onshore" thing happening for the second day in a row. Conditions were 3 to 5 feet and the waves, although mushy, were still contestable.
In the team event, it seems that Central Kwa-Zulu Natal are holding on strongly to the lead with Western Province and Southern Kwa-Zulu Natal a fair distance off in a close fight for second.
Upsets of the day included Vaughn Harris and Johnny Maritz being beaten by Derek Footit in the first Pro heat and a further upset in the second Pro heat where Sacha Specker was beaten by Ryan Jucker.
Stand out of the day had to be Carla Cost Taylor, who was in a class of her own in her heat and she subsequently easily beat Mardi Geldenhuys, Shane Kirsten, Ilonka Vernich.
A fun but highly competitive game of soccer was played on the beach by riders not surfing and this proved to be great fun. Some team members walking down the beach where tackled by rival members of the other teams, but it was all in the name of fun, and was definitely entertaining for the onlookers.
Team Results after Day 2:
| POS | TEAM | POINTS |
| 7th | Northern KZN | 103.64% |
| 6th | Boland | 117.80% |
| 5th | Eastern Province | 117.82% |
| 4th | Southern Cape | 198.45% |
| 3rd | Western Province | 208.52% |
| 2nd | Southern KZN | 220.97% |
| 1st | Central KZN | 272.10% |
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