After a week of non-stop firing waves at the South African Longboarding Championships presented by RYD Brand, sanctioned by Surfing South Africa, the finals day was truly the cherry on top.
Competitors woke up yesterday morning, 28 August to perfect corduroy lines reeling down the Point, Jeffreys Bay – the ideal canvas for surfers to execute choice manoeuvres on.
In the first final of the day, 56-year-old Charmaine Adams (Western Province) charged her way to a win in the Divas division, confidently conquering solid 4-6 ft conditions.
The Dace brothers, Rory and Joel, of Cape St. Francis (Eastern Province) supplied electrifying entertainment in the Under 16 and Under 18 Boys divisions respectively. The Daces took out the win in each of their divisions by spending the majority of their heats on the nose, keeping spectators on the edge of their seats.
Hayley Hansen (Western Province) was able to maintain her dominance in the Under 18 Girls division, claiming the win with ease. She sealed the deal with a beautiful combination of hang fives, hang tens and a switchfoot cutback, landing a whopping 9.67 to secure her win.
The Kahunas final was a nail-biter, with Greg Smith (Eastern Province) and Grant Gilmour (KwaZulu-Natal) going blow for blow throughout the heat. Seconds before the heat came to a close, Smith swooped into his last wave, elegantly gliding his way to a division win.
17-year-old Hayley Hansen (Western Province) impressively held on to the lead until the last minutes of the Open Womens Final, before Tarryn King (Western Province), a favourite for the win throughout the contest, managed to lock in a score to secure the 2021 Open Womens title in the dying seconds of the heat.
The Open Mens Final was a true spectacle, with surfers putting on some of the most creative performances of the event.
Sam Christianson (KwaZulu-Natal) continued his winning streak, pulling one after the other impressive manoeuvre out of the hat to secure the Open Mens title for 2021.
