The Cape Town team also clinched two of the six individual titles at stake and provided eight of the 24 finalists, earning 32 576 points to finish well ahead of hosts Nelson Mandela Bay (27 956) and third placed defending cup-holders eThekweni (25 170). Cape Winelands repeated their fourth place in the team standings of last year, followed by Buffalo City, Eden, Ugu, the SA Development Academy and uThungulu.
“All around the event has been really well organised with the directors making good decisions to add heats and starting early to get more done on some days,” said Cape Town coach Chris Bond. “The waves have been absolutely firing the entire time with kids getting the best waves of their lives in heats. And the surfers have really been pushing their limits with many excellent scores and a couple of 10 point rides.”
Jody Maree (Cape Town) triumphed in the premier U17 boys’ final where all four finalists came from the South Peninsula area. Maree posted a winning heat total of 16.17 out of 20 with runner-up Ford van Jaarsveldt representing Cape Winelands earning 12.80 to finish just ahead of Cape Town’s Jake Elkington and Ethan Fletcher.
“I’ve been training really hard and it is great to finally win after so many second places – it was awesome,” said Maree. “It was hard out there, the conditions changed quite a lot from when I was watching. I managed to get two good waves but it was hard to hear the PA so I didn’t know what position I was in or who I must sit on.”
Chrystal Hulett (Nelson Mandela Bay) finished well clear of second placed Pippa Jones (Cape Town) in the premier U17 girls’ division, earning 15.87 points to the 10.40 for the runner-up. Taghiti Gericke captured Eden’s only podium finish with third place while Kia Fenton from Nelson Mandela Bay was fourth.
The U15 boys’ title went to a plucky Max Elkington (Cape Town) who recovered from a serious arm injury earlier in the year to secure a nail-biting 15.67 vs. 15.50 victory over local favourite Sebastian Williams (Nelson Mandela Bay). Luke Slijpen (Cape Town) and Angelo Faulkner (Nelson Mandela Bay) finished third and fourth respectively.
