SA surfers on fire in Peru
4 April 2008
South Africa, the winners of the team gold medal at the inaugural ISA World Masters Surfing Championships in Puerto Rico in 2007, are on track to successfully defend their title following superlative performances by all eight team members in the opening rounds of the 2008 edition of the event in Peru.
Competing at Punta Rocas, a legendary surf break 60 kilometres south of Lima and the venue for the 1965 ISF World titles, SA men have recorded four of the 10 highest heat scores in the event over the first three days, while Heather Clark posted the highest single ride (9.0 out of 10) and heat total (15.50 out of 20) in women's competition, to win her round one heat.
Heat winners
Seven of the team members have won every heat they have contested with only Andrew Banks dropping to the repecharge rounds after he placed third in round two. However, the 35 year-old from Margate then posted the highest scores in the Masters
division to remain in contention for the final.
Justin Healy,in the Masters (over-35), the Malherbe brothers, David and Andre, in the Grand Masters (over-40), and Marc Wright and Nick Pike in the Kahunas (over-45) are all through to the last eight in their respective divisions.
Chris Knutsen, who was crowned Kahunas World Champion in Puerto Rico last year but is competing in the Grand Kahunas (over-50) this year, notched up the fourth highest heat total of the entire event (17.16 points) in winning his opening encounter on Tuesday.
High score
His total was almost 10 points better than the next highest score in the division and the four-time SA Open champion of the 1980’s looks set to add a second world title to his list of accolades.
Clark also looked in a class of her own as the 2001 Hawaiian Triple Crown champion and undisputed "Queen" of SA women's surfing reveled in the triple overhead waves.
"I'm glad I stuck a little wide and got the bomb sets that walled up on the inside," the 36-year-old Port Shepstone surfer said.
"I came to Peru a couple of years ago for the WCT event, so I really wanted to come back and compete in this event. Peru's waves are so fun and rippable. It seems that every time I come here the waves are good."
Webcast
The 2008 ISA World Masters Surfing Championships is webcast live on the International Surfing Association website starting at approximately 15h00 SA time daily. The event runs until Saturday, 5 April.
The ISA World Masters Surfing Championship is a team competition. The nation accumulating the highest points across all divisions wins the gold medal and earns the status of the world's best over 35 surfing country. Individual standings count towards the team total.
The divisions are:
A complete team is formed by eight athletes: two Masters, two Grand Masters and two Kahunas, a Grand Kahuna and a Master Woman.
The four finalists in each division are awarded gold, silver, bronze and copper medals, as are the top four national teams.
SAinfo reporter
|
