CONTEST RESULTS
|
SA Closed Championships, Plettenberg Bay – 27-30 April 2001 |
| Contest Overview: |
| Contest Briefing: A time of renewing long distance friendships, swopping stories and listening to the officials spell out the program for the next few days. A lively briefing with J.P. Jordan of Border providing some comic relief with a vociferous description of his controlled 360-degree move in the Nahoon Reef bowl. One unpleasant setback was WP’s exclusion from the National Trial after the main heats, for not meeting the prerequisite entry criteria. Day One: Fine but nippy weather found everyone at Lookout Beach sussing out the break. Contest Director moved the contest to ‘The Waves’ at Keurbooms Strand where good, hollow 3 – 6 foot left and right peaks were breaking. A tremendous rip current, however, made things very difficult, with some surfers not getting to the back section to get decent waves. No major surprises here in the early heats, except for the big guns like Nikki Carstens and Neal Stephenson making their intentions known with classy surfing in a league of their own. J.P. Visser of WP (previously EP) showed vast improvement in his surfing, too. Day Two: ‘The Waves’ again and some of the less talented and experienced waveskiers began to fall out of the running. The rip tide was less severe but paddling out was still taxing and surfers were hard pressed to acquire three decent scoring waves. The other divisions also got their early heats run and the contest was progressing smoothly. The contest was also generating some media interest. Deon Ferreira of ‘Die Burger’ spent all four days at the beach with his digital camera and cannon sized lens. The SABC had also confirmed that they would be present during the Finals. Day Three: The day dawned rainy and cool but cleared a little later in the day. The casualties began to litter the battlefield and the competition was becoming heated (Sorry.). The losers heats became do or die efforts as waveskiers, faced with the possibility of ‘sudden death’, threw everything into efforts to stay in the running. Day Four: The Finals. A beautiful sunny day with the venue again at ‘The Waves’. Good 3 – 5 ft peaks made for great showdown material. I missed the early Finals but was present for the Senior and Open final. There were no major surprises in the Senior final, but the Open final was an eye-opener, I should know, I was judging it. Nikki Carstens opened his account in the final with a snorting first wave, which included an aerial and a couple of lip-smacks and he exectuted these moves with supreme control. The judging scores ran from 7.0 to 8.5. His other waves after this lacked length of ride and didn’t match his first wave. Neal Stephenson also showed class by surfing more consistent, if slightly less spectacular waves. J.P. Visser and Johann Momberg, while surfing well, were outclassed by the flair and control of the other two waveskiers. This heat was also made more spectacular by the sudden arrival of a school of about 100 dolphins being harried by a pack of orcas, which were after some brunch. Neal Stephenson, as one of the innovators, in the sport, also pulled an amazing 360-degree move on the lip of his last wave and landed it. Sadly, it was only a single move wave but the uniqueness of the move was enough to net scores ranging from 5.5 to 7.0. All in all, as Open finals went, it was a doozie. Unfortunately, because of the media need to speak to the winners of the Open Final, it was soon common knowledge who had won. From what I could remember from my score sheet, it was a toss-up between Neal and Nikki. Nikki had the edge until that explosive 360 from Neal tended to equalize matters. I’m convinced that there wasn’t more than one point difference between Nikki’s and Neal’s final total scores! The weather began to turn with a fresh cross-shore breeze beginning to blow. The National Trial was held after the Final heats until the end of the day. The Trial wasn’t completed, with last two heat being carried over, either to the Border Open in June or the National Trial in Durban in July. The top 4 results for each division appear below. |
| Results – Development Division: |
| 1. B. Dubber (BOR) |
| 2. M. Chandler (BOR) |
| 3. A. Quirk |
| Results - Veterans Division: |
| 1. Willie Graser (WP) |
| 2. John MacLeod (EP) |
| 3. Joe Van Gent (WP) |
| Results - Ladies Division: |
| 1. Tracy Sassen (WP) (For the 15th time!!) |
| 2. Michelle Viaene (BOR) |
| 3. Lindi Le Roux (EP) |
| 4. Cisca Kaaijk (NAM) |
| Results – Masters Division: |
| 1. Ronnie Ackerman (EP) |
| 2. Ken Clements (KZN) |
| 3. Derek Bannister (WP) |
| 4. Kola Le Roux (BOR) |
| Results – Juniors Division: |
| 1. Mario Matriotti (BOR) |
| 2. Mark Wessels (WP) |
| 3. Ryan Griffiths (KZN) |
| 4. Chris (Bubs) Te Braake (BOR) |
| Results – Seniors Division: |
| 1. Mike Fourie (EP) |
| 2. Craig Seale (EP) |
| 3. Stef Le Roux (EP) |
| 4. Tim Redlinghuys (BOR) |
| Results – Open Division: |
| 1. Nikki Carstens (WP) |
| 2. Neal Stephenson (EP) |
| 3. J.P. Visser (WP) |
| 4. Johann Momberg (EP) |
| Results – Tag Team: |
| 1. Eastern Province |
| 2. Border |
| 3. Western Province |
| 4. Kwazulu-Natal |
| 5. Namibian Invitation |
| Results – Points Overall: |
| 1. Border |
| 2. Eastern Province |
| 3. Western Province |
| 4. Kwazulu-Natal |
| 5. Namibia |
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