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Quiksilver Surf Series Heads To Port Alfred For Final Event Of 2015 Series

Quiksilver Surf Series Heads To Port Alfred For Final Event Of 2015 Series  

Diran Zakarian (Melkbosstrand, Cape Town) will be one of the favourites in the U20 junior boys and open men's division going into the final leg of the Quiksilver Get Free Series 2015 in Port Alfred. Photo by Luke Patterson.
Diran Zakarian (Melkbosstrand, Cape Town) will be one of the favourites in the U20 junior boys and open men’s division going into the final leg of the Quiksilver Get Free Series 2015 in Port Alfred.
Photo by Luke Patterson.

Port Alfred – The Quiksilver Get Free Surf Series will, at the end of August, head to the town of Port Alfred on the Sunshine Coast for the final event of this three-part series. On the 29th and 30th of August South Africa’s best open men and junior surfers will make their way to the pristine beaches of Port Alfred, just an hour and a half’s drive south of East London to compete for over R30 000 in prize money and the final Quiksilver Get Free titles.

 

All three events in the series are sanctioned by Surfing South Africa and carry 3A PST (Pro Surf Tour) ratings points with a total prize purse of R108 000 on the line. Divisions in the series and final event include open mens, U20 junior boys and U16 junior boys. Port Alfred’s East Beach is a highly regarded surf break, given favourable conditions and swell it could make for the perfect amphitheatre for a high performance showdown. “Port Alfred is definitely a top venue for an event of this nature, when the waves are on, they are on! I can’t wait to surf a heat there, the contest should be great,” said Shane Sykes, the winner of the U20 junior boys division at the second leg of the series which was held in Umhlanga Rocks, KZN.

 

In the open men’s division, favourites for the win include Umhlanga’s Beyrick de Vries who recently placed 9th in the US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach and is currently on top form, Capetonian Michael February who was runner up to de Vries in the second leg of the series as well as the duo of experienced veterans Daniel Redman and Brandon Jackson, both of Durban North. Jeffreys Bay locals Matt McGillivray and Dylan Lightfoot will be strong contenders in the U20 junior boys division but other previous junior winners Shane Sykes (Salt Rock) and Diran Zakarian (Melkbosstrand) will also be serious contenders in the point-like conditions. There will be stiff competition in the U16 boys division with the likes of Sebastian Williams (Durban), Adin Masencamp (Strand) and Faulkner brothers Joshe and Angelo (Jeffreys Bay) all on top form and hungry for the final win.

 

Quiksilver Marketing and Sales Manager Dane Patterson has been very happy with the 2015 series and anticipates that the final event in Port Alfred will deliver great surf conditions, “I think that the series we’ve put on this year has been very well received, good for the South African surfers and for our domestic surf tour, we’re hoping that it will encourage other brands to invest more in the sport and the local surf scene. Port Alfred can be a very good venue and make for a top event when the ocean delivers, so we’re hoping that mother nature comes to the party for the final event of the series.”

 

Supporting sponsors to the series include Zigzag Surfing Magazine, Techniblock sunscreen, Drift action camera’s, Skullcandy, Neff and Red Bull.

 

For more information, videos, photos and entry details go to www.quiksilver.co.za/getfree.

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JBay on fire!

JBay on fire!

Jbay comes alive! Before the sun was up, the count reached 100 clones/clowns all out there. With so many guys grappling for the sets, it could easily be that many of these clones never even got one wave through the session?!

This clip was shot during last weeks swell, a week after the Fanning incident. It goes to show how freaky it was that a white swam into Micko’s leash, when he was the only dude out there! If that same white was there during this session, he woulda gotten tangled up in all those leashes and drowned?!

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Ebay on fire!

Ebay on fire!

Arriving in Cape Town gave a stern reminder of the harshness of winter in the Cape. But with the crazy north westerly comes not only freezing cold wind and rain, nope, the swell comes too making the whole episode worth the endurance and rubber required to surf these Cape waters.

It was five minutes into my reunion with Khimal Omardien in Hout Bay that he let lose his war cry… “Let’s go to Ebay!”. In another five minutes the car was reversed out for packing, which took a lot longer than the next five minutes. But soon we were blazing northwards perpetuating the endless chase for waves that we have found ourselves on.

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Soon we were through the towns and on that last beautiful stretch of the journey. It’s about here where my stomach turns as my soul realises what’s guaranteed around the headland. Ebay is one of the very few waves where a guarantee is kinda possible. As long as there is swell and a southerly it’s on.

The swell was decidedly from the west and a bit to big for the little sister of Jbay. But the next morning was all time as a small band of waterproof soldiers took it on. Glassy and slightly smaller, the waves move onto the high tide ledge and started screaming. It was barrelling on the right ones and everybody got waves in the calm and pleasant line up.

It was really good catching up with old surfing mate Ian and his girl Linda on the beach. We were invited to stay and enjoyed the West coast hospitality at its finest. Eating under the stars and around a fire with good mates is what its all about.

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Winter in Mozambique!

Winter in Mozambique!

Thulane Gustav making the most of the Mozambique winter climate.
Thulane Gustav making the most of Mozambique in winter. 

Nice shot sent in by Tofo ripper Thulane Gustav shot by his talented photographer Dad Volker.

Mozambique sits just outside the winter belt and in Praia do Tofo, this time of the year is idyllic. The waves are much better and more polished this far up. The water is waaarm. It breaks on sand. The sun is mild. There are no crowds. And no sharks!

And all the time we were/are being battered by huge southerly systems unloading on South Africa’s eastern seaboard, the crew in Tofo are just loving life, picking up the smooth remains of the swells we have been seeing just go straight past us!

Come to Tofo…email Sean on umzimkulu@gmail.com to make arrangements…

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Supertubes clean up set this morning

Supertubes clean up set!

Yip, the late winter is a happening with Jbay leading the war cry this morning as 6 to 8ft sets reel down the point. Supertubes has no less than a hundred crew in the water!

It’s a mellow old south swell and not quite hitting the supers section, but the top at Boneyards, it’s crunching, and also down at Impossibles, the south swell is getting right in there and breaking top to bottom solid.

The wind is still pomping and showing no sign of easing off. My fingers are frozen numb, can hardly type this! So the next few days are gonna tell a story thats for sure, especially as the front swings by and pushes the swell a bit more easterley.

Enjoy the clean up set…

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