Ripping up Cape waves
Ballito's Calvin Goor, Richard Kidd, Umdloti's Bevan Willis and Salt Rock's Sophie Bell touched down in Cape Town for the inaugural Cape Town Pro at Big Bay, Bloubergstrand.
A handful of North Coast surfers travelled to Cape Town this past weekend to brave the cold water for the inaugural Cape Town Pro at Big Bay, Bloubergstrand.
It was the first international event to be hosted in the Mother City since the men’s event six years ago and since 1992 for the women.
The World Surf League QS1000 event meant our local surfers could rack up some priceless points towards their qualifying series campaign without having to book an international ticket.
Ballito’s Calvin Goor, Richard Kidd, Umdloti’s Bevan Willis and Salt Rock’s Sophie Bell touched down in Cape Town, only to be met by strong winds and very little swell for the first two days of the competition.
It was very tough out there, but it gave the surfers a good idea of what QS events can be like. Goor and Kidd could not find the waves to see them through round one and two respectively. Bevan Willis surfed his way into the semis of the U18 boys, while he earned a well deserved equal seventh in the open men’s competition.
In the U18 girls, Bell tackled the tricky conditions for a spot in the finals, but in the open women’s competition, she unfortunately dropped out in round two.
In the men’s final on Sunday, the only remaining international competitor, Joaquin del Castillo from Peru, had the speed and rhythm to find the best waves in the small, but clean conditions.
Local knowledge played in Tanika Hoffman’s favour when she took out the women’s event, with Faye Zoetmulder settling for second.
The guys will travel up the west coast to Lamberts Bay this week for another new WSL QS1000 event, the Vans Surf Pro Classic, going down on Saturday and Sunday. It is all good preparation for the Billabong Junior Series that will come to Ballito’s shores in June.
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