Sport

SA surfers excel in Hawaii

9 December 2008

South Africa's Greg Emslie and David Weare qualified for the 2009 ASP World Tour after they finished equal ninth in the season-ending O'Neill World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach in Hawaii on the weekend. Jordy Smith excelled by reaching the final.

In outstanding conditions, with wave faces topping six-metres (20 foot), all three Saffas won their round of 32 heats, with Smith posting the only perfect 10-point score of the event and also the highest heat total of 18.50 out of 20.

Smith then went on to win his quarterfinal with 18.07 points, the second highest tally of the contest, and his semifinal.

Final

Luck went against the 20-year-old Durbanite in the final as he broke his surfboard and injured his leg before slipping to fourth-place behind eventual winner CJ Hobgood (USA), Tom Whitaker (Aus) and Sunset Beach local Marcus Hickman (Haw).

Weare, who had virtually sealed his spot amongst the top 15 on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) ratings by advancing to the last 32 in unruly giant waves, cemented a place on next year's ASP World tour with rides of 8.57 and 7.17 to advance to the quarterfinals.

His third place finish in the quarterfinals behind 2007 ASP World Champion Mick Fanning (Aus) and Hickman earned the Durbanite $2 400 and 1 650 precious ratings points, which boosted him to number six on the end of year WQS rankings list.

Second season on WCT

Respected worldwide for his innovative surfing, 2009 will be Weare's second season at professional surfing's elite top table after an injury plagued 2007 when he missed several events and fell short of re-qualifying.

Emslie, SA's most successful pro surfer with prize-money earnings of over US $560 000, showed immense composure to register a crucial round of 32 heat victory.

Needing to reach the quarterfinals to secure a South African record ninth campaign on the ASP World Tour, the East Londoner trailed early in his heat before racking up rides of 7.83 and 6.53 to clinch victory over current World Tour number four Joel Parkinson, Josh Kerr and Phil MacDonald were eliminated.

Tenth in WQS standings

The East Londoner, who turned 32 last week, then boosted his yearend ranking to No. 10 on the WQS by grabbing third place in his quarterfinal, behind eventual event runner-up Whitaker and Hawaiian big-wave expert Ian Walsh, and ahead of Dion Atkinson with a 6.60-point ride in the dying minutes of the heat.

Spectators were treated to an awesome display of high performance surfing on the final day with bright sunshine, gentle offshore winds and massive walls of water pouring through the break at Sunset Beach, considered by many as the world's best test of overall surfing ability.

Hobgood's victory at Sunset was the first by a goofy-foot surfer (rides with right foot forward) since Mike Rommelse (Aus) in 1997.

Vans Triple Crown of Surfing

Pro Junior standout Dusty Payne leads the prestigious Vans Triple Crown of Surfing men's rankings with two of the three events completed.

The 20-year-old Hawaiian placed fourth at Haleiwa and fifth at Sunset Beach to hold a narrow lead over Hobgood followed by Parkinson, Haleiwa event winner Michel Bourez (French Polynesia) and Whitaker.

Jordy Smith is the highest rated South African in sixth spot, with Emslie in tenth place and Weare in 17th.

O'NEILL WORLD CUP OF SURFING
Sunset Beach, Oahu-Hawaii

RESULTS

1st - CJ Hobgood (US) 15.00 (8.5 and 6.5) $15 000

2nd - Tom Whitaker (Aus) 12.67 (7.67 and 5.00) $7 500

3rd - Marcus Hickman (Haw) 8.33 (6.33 and 2.00) $4 500

4th - Jordy Smith (RSA) 2.86 (1.73 and 1.13) $4 400

SEMIFINALS
(1st & 2nd advance; 3rd and 4th eliminated)

H1: CJ Hobgood, Marcus Hickman, Dusty Payne, Mick Fanning

H2: Jordy Smith (RSA), Tom Whitaker, Joel Parkinson, Ian Walsh

QUARTERFINALS

H1: CJ Hobgood, Dusty Payne, Yadin Nicol, Rhys Bombaci