Surfing trials heating up

The third trials event for the Ethekwini Surfriders Association team was held over the weekend in Ballito at Willard Beach.

The trials are usually held in Durban, but was moved to Ballito for this event only.

Organisers were considering moving it back to Durban on Saturday morning due to a lack of swell at Ballito.

They decided to stick to their guns however and the surfers had to make do with the one to two foot waves, testing their skill levels.

There is one more trial event to be completed before the KZN junior team will be announced to surf in the South African Junior Championships in Jeffreys Bay later this year.

Ballito ripper Calvin Goor made it three out of three in the U15 boys division and is leading the ranks.

Bevan Willis from Umdloti is still leading the charge in the U17 division, while Ballito’s Richard Kidd is tied with Salt Rock’s Shane Sykes in the U20 mens rankings.

The North Coast girls kept on representing with the local ladies ripping hard.

Gabriella Lailvaux from Umhlanga is leading the U13 girls rankings, with Salt Rock’s Sophie Bell in top spot so far in the U15 girls, Sam Cele leading the U17 girls and Nicole Pallet has the lead over Teal Hogg in the U20 womens.

In the master’s division Ballito resident, Jaco Kapp, surfed into first place in his age group, putting him in a strong position to be selected for the KZN team that will participate in the SA Surfing Championships to be held in Richards Bay in August.