South Africa’s top junior female surf stars lit up the waves at the Point in Jeffreys Bay on Day 2 of the Hurley SA Junior Champs.
They revelled in the clean 0.5 to one metre swell pulsing along the rocky shore and fanned by a stiff offshore wind. Occasional morning rain squalls did not dampen spirits of nine competing provincial squads.
St Francis Bay’s Crystal Hulett came second in her heat and is through to Round 3.
Supporters gathered at the water’s edge to encourage their peers to greater heights with the smaller teams such as Zululand and the SA Development Academy matching the enthusiasm of those from from KwaZulu-Natal Central, Border and Southern KZN.
Gina Smith set the standard by hooking into a couple of clean lines that reeled down the point in the first heat of the day, enabling the J-Bay local to perform a series of manoeuvres that impressed the judges and gave her the heat victory and passage straight into Round 3.
KZN Central’s Caryn McNicol, Border’s Inge McLaren and Western Province’s Nina Woerman and Sam Sutton were equally impressive. They will be challenging for the SA U17 girl’s title come the finals on Sunday.
Chanelle Botha, winner of a trip to Bali for the highest heat score in last year’s Hurley SA Junior Champs, carried on where she left off in 2011, in the U15 division with an excellent rides and a heat victory.
“I managed a few top turns and a long cutback into the pocket, and then a re-entry on the inside, and that was all I needed to get the score,” she said of her outstanding opening ride.
Ruth Armstrong (WP), Anousch Zakarian (Boland) and KZN Central’s Olivia Brand and Teal Hogg were the other heat winners.
Reigning SA U13 girls champion Kai Woolf (EP) is stills the one to beat i. Kai posted a comprehensive win in her Round 1 match-up. The diminutive blonde caught the best waves and punctuated her rides with solid turns to progress directly to Round 3 in the youngest division.
As the skies cleared and the wind dropped, the Round 2 heats in the three boy’s age categories saw the first eliminations from the event. But that threat did not hinder defending U17 boys champ Josh Smit (KZNC) who bounced back from his shock defeat yesterday.
Showing the form that took him to the title in his home surf last year, Smit carved searing cutbacks and smashed through the lip of several waves to comfortably win his heat and join yesterday’s top performers in Round 3.
Fellow SA junior team member Diran Zakarian, Boland teammate Gareth Williams, WP’s Dylan Wichmann, Paul Van Rijswyk (Dev Academy) and Byron Wigmore (SKZN) also redeemed themselves with heat wins today.
Tomorrow’s schedule sees Round 2 of all the girl’s divisions followed by Round 2 of boy’s U17 and U15 before ending with Round 3 of the U17 girls.
See video highlights of Day 1 (yesterday 3 October 2012):
http://www.sajuniorchamps.co.za/622/video-highlights-day-one/
(edited)
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