Very soon Ballito will be buzzing as the biggest event on the North Coast’s calendar -The Mr Price Pro – hits the surf at Willard Beach.
Locals and visitors have the chance to see some of the best surfers shredding up our waves at the ASP Prime surfing event.
The beach festival is the not only the biggest on the North Coast but in the country with over 100 000 people expected to visit the area during the week-long festivities.
A number of big name surfers will battle it out for the Mr Price Pro title and cool R2.7 million in prize money. Overall, 96 surfers from 18 countries will compete in the week-long tournament.
Five of South Africa’s best surfers will look to capitalise on home ground advantage. However local boys Beyrick de Vries (Umhlanga) and Travis Logie (Durban) will hope to have an upper hand over their countrymen with the Pro being in their “backyard”.
Many will be backing Jordy Smith to take the title after he came second at last year’s event and won it in 2011.
To date Smith is currently ranked 10th on the ASP World Championship Tour. He will be looking to use the Pro as a preparation for the J-Bay Open (July 10 to 21), which was reinstated to the elite ASP World Tour.
“I find surfing Primes a great opportunity to fine tune my surfing, especially in the lead up to a World Championship Event. It’s sometimes easier to stay focused when you surf every day, too many lay days in a row can be the biggest distraction,” Smith said.
Mr Price RedCap Foundation communications manager Pierre Tostee is optimistic about the surf next week.
“We are expecting favourable conditions throughout the week,” said Tostee. “I have been chatting to some of the surfers and they are all pretty excited. Ballito has a world class wave, it really has something to offer every surfer.”
Tostee said most preparations for the festival havebeen finalised amd that they are all “good to go”.
The surfing gets underway on Monday next week with the first heat of round one. The final heat schedule had not been released at the time of going to print.
Surfing is not the only thing to look out for at the festival. A large retail area will be open every day at Willard Beach while extreme sports, beach activities and a kids corner will run throughout the week.
On June 30 and July 1, festival goers can check out the Coastal Living Bru exhibition at La Montagne hotel. Two nights of free music on July 3 and 4 promise to be worth visiting with Gangs of Ballet, Matthew Mole and Mafikizolo among others coming to entertain the crowds.
You can find more details on each event in the festival brochure in this week’s Courier.
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