Gabby makes waves at surf comp
Local Kloof surfer, Gabriella Herbst, won a gold medal in the Billabong Grom Games 2016 in Port Elizabeth recently.
LOCAL surfer, Gabriella ‘Gabby’ Herbst, took to the waves in the Billabong Grom Games in Port Elizabeth recently and brought home a gold medal.
The Grade 3 pupil at Kloof Junior Primary School said she started surfing when she was six. Two years later, she is still in love with the sport. “I was in the pool one day and standing on a boogie board when my granddad, Peter, said that I should take up surfing,” said Gabby.
While she isn’t part of a surfing club, she surfs on Saturdays and Sundays and as many days of the week after school as she can. “I can’t really describe the feeling of being out in the ocean. It is more than just fun. The best way I can tell you what it does is that when I’m feeling sad, and I go for a surf, I feel completely happy again,” said Gabby.
In this year’s Grom Games, she faced off against six other girls in her age group, U9, and surfed in three heats before she was announced the victor and claimed the gold medal. She performed a few tricks on her own out on the waves, including cut-backs and duck dives, with the judging, for her age group, focused primarily on wave selection and ride of length. “I also made a few friends with the other surfers in the competition and I want to get as far as I can in surfing,” said Gabby in the hopes of reaching the surfing level of her idol, Australian professional surfer, Mick Fanning.
The tournament is supported by Billabong, the Department of Sport and Recreation SA and the National Lotteries Commission. “I would like to thank Vaugh Makink and Vortex for sponsoring my board,” said Gabby. Her parents, Anthony and and Sally, said they were extremely proud of her achievement.
