The 28th Sea Harvest SA Junior Champs presented by SMTH Shapes got underway at Lower Point in J-Bay earlier this week. Here’s a recap of what’s gone down so far:
The first day of competition at the 2024 Sea Harvest SA Junior Surfing Championships was small and light onshore, but day number two was something special.
© McGregor
The best junior surfers in the country were greeted with perfect and clean three-foot waves and a light offshore to groom them perfectly, ideal for high-performance ripping.
This is the 28th edition of the Sea Harvest South African Junior Championships, which involves 180 girls and boys from eight districts. SMTH Shapes, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, Ocean Freedom, and True Technologies support this event.
Anastasia Venter © McGregor
In the U18 Girls division, Gabbi Herbst (Ethekwini) scored the highest points, with a massive 14.74 out of a possible 20, to win her heat convincingly. Gemma Hanafey (Buffalo City) and Anastasia Venter (Cape Winelands) were top performers.
Gemma Hanafey © McGregor
Remi Fourie (Buffalo City)was on fire in the U16 Girls First Round and won her heat convincingly. Others who excelled in this division included Taylor Emslie (Buffalo City), carrying the energy from her win in the Rip Curl GromSearch presented by Sea Harvest at Seal Point last weekend, and Maxine Kauffman (Ilembe). Also advancing out of this round was Zipho Mseleku (Ethekwini), who put on a spirited backhand performance to come in behind Emslie.
Zipho Mesleku © McGregor
Charlotte Copson (Cape Town Surfriders) surfed amazingly in the U14 Girls First Round to take the win. Camilla Heuer (Buffalo City) also looked good, winning her heat. At the same time, Leah Lepront (Nelson Mandela Bay Surfriders) showed what she is capable of by posting a nearly perfect 9.67 for her top-scoring ride and the highest-scoring ride of the day up to that point.
Charlotte Copson © Mcgregor
Chasing top-score honours for the day, Slayde Shooter (Nelson Mandela Bay Surfriders) was awarded a heat total of 17.84 for the combination of two excellent scores of 8.67 and a 9.17 for the day’s highest heat total. In this U12 Boys heat, Marcello Zedde (Ilembe) rode only two waves for a massive score of 14.67 but had to settle for second place behind Shooter and advanced into the next round. Another top performer was Liam Bonkolo (Cape Town Surfriders), who also advanced.
At stake are individual national titles for boys and girls in the Under 12, Under 14, Under 16, and Under 18 age divisions, along with the coveted Freedom Cup. First introduced at the event in East London in 2003, it is awarded to the District whose team members accumulate the highest points across all age divisions.
The SA Junior Championships is back at Lower Point for the 11th year, with support from the Kouga Municipality. The teams competing this year are the defending champions Cape Town Surfriders, former champions Buffalo City Surfriders and eThekweni Surfriders, hosts Nelson Mandela Bay Surfriders, Cape Winelands Surfriders, Eden Surfriders, Ugu Surfriders and Ilembe Surfriders.
In addition to the Freedom Cup and individual championship titles, there is the Loud and Proud Team Spirit award, as well as the Surfing South Africa Junior Surfer Of The Contest trophy.
The event is being streamed live on SuperSport Schools. Register here or download the SuperSport Schools app.
Liveheats provides up to the second heat scores to all mobile devices daily. To access this information, go to www.liveheats.com/surfingsouthafrica.
The post Sea Harvest SA Junior Champs presented by SMTH Shapes | Groms Shred J-Bay On Days 1 & 2 appeared first on Zigzag Magazine.
