Jackson Man Of The MOment At Off The Lip MOvember Surf Jam
Westbrook, Durban – Sunday 22nd of November saw the third annual Off The Lip Movember Surf Jam take place at Tongaat’s Beach Bums Restaurant. Surfers gathered at the infamous beachside bar in support of the Movember Foundation. Competitors were dressed up in ’70’s style surf gear, surfed original retro surfboards and donned hairy upper lips, all for a good cause, to raise funds and create awareness for the Movember Foundation.
A total of 55 surfers took part with tradional six-man heats and beach starts in play. Old school retro surfing was the order of the day with style and flow being the key ingredient, making the event different to any other surf event. Brandon Jackson from Durban North turned up the heat in the men’s final with some stylish and radical surfing on his original Safari Spider twin fin, he finished narrowly ahead of style-master Luke Patterson (Westbrook) with Lee Bisset (Berea), Scott Venter (Bluff), Chris Leppan (Umhlanga Rocks) and Shane Sykes (Salt Rock) taking third, fourth, fifth and sixth place, respectively. Jackson was very excited about winning one of his favourite events on the calendar, “This event is always a blast, everyone has a good time and it’s for a good cause, thanks to Quiksilver and Movember for all the effort”, said Jackson after the event.
In the over 50 Legends division it was the popular JJ from North Beach who took out the win in the testing side-shore conditions, JJ was closely followed by Grant Gilmore (Durban North), Paul Izzard (Glenashley), Murray Niven (Genashley), Spider Murphy (Durban North) and Warren Weiring (Durban North).
Kirsty Delport (Berea) was a clear winner in the ladies Mo Sista’s divison, Delport managed to string a few clean lines together in the high tide bowl to claim first place. Kat Steffen (Durban) ended in second place with Olivia Izzard (Glenashley), Sophie Bell (Salt Rock), Gabi Lailvaux (Westbrook), Christy Gilmour (Durban North) and Kayla Nogueira (Berea) filling the remaining podium spots.
Special awards went to Luke Patterson for best Toes On The Nose, Jono Venter for Spin To Win, Jamie Irvine for Wave Waster/Worst Wipe Out, Lee Bisset for Float The Boat. Scott Venter won the Larry Layback award and the Most Stylish Surfer of the contest.
A whopping R10 000 was raised through the surfers’ entry fees and raffles conducted on the day; this money will be donated to the Movember Foundation, which in turn is used to fund various men’s health programs and promote healthy living for men. Sponsors of the event included Skullcandy, Gunslinger, Red Bull, Island Style, Wicked Finz and Ocean Azul Guesthouse.
For more information about Movember please visit www.movember.com. For photos and more information about the Off The Lip Movember Surf Jam please visit www.quiksilver.co.za.
