Locals excel in event finale

LOCAL surfers, James Ribbink and Nicole Pallet, were stand-outs in the Billabong Junior Series grand finale in Seal Point, Cape St Francis.

In the U20 WSL Pro Junior Women’s event, Nicole Pallet from Durban repeated her victory from the first event at Magnatubes, taking out Sophie Bell from Umdloti in the final. Nicole and Sophie had been the two stand-outs in their divisions throughout the event, and it was no surprise that they faced off in the women’s pro final. Sophie placed second in this U20 final, but she did win her U16 girls' division in this event.

James Ribbink was the stand-out in the U12 division, winning this event as well as taking the U12 boys' series win.

“I'm very very happy that I won this event. It was very hard in the beginning, and then I got the one good wave but I couldn't hear the scores. After the heat everyone told me I had probably won, and then I went and stood on two urchins, and now I can't get them out of my foot. But I'm also very stoked to have won the series,” said Ribbink.

In a nail-biting final, Dylan Lightfoot from Jeffrey's Bay won the U20 WSL Pro Junior men’s event, overtaking Adin Masencamp from Strand on the last wave of the heat. In what must have been one of the closest heats in Billabong Junior Surfing history, Lightfoot ended up winning by a mere .05 of a point, the narrowest of margins in the small but highly-contestable three-foot conditions.

“It has been a great two-event series, and we're very proud of all the junior surfers and their performances,” said Billabong South Africa marketing manager, Chad D'Arcy. “The other great thing is that most of these surfers are going to stick around to compete in the Billabong SA Junior Champs, presented by BOS, which will take place next week and weekend in Jeffrey's Bay. After we have wrapped up here, we're going across to set up at Lower Point for this very popular five-day junior event.”