Jackson styles Off The Lip

Surfers and beach goers could not have asked for more challenging conditions at this year’s Off The Lip Movember Surf Jam at Tongaat Beach’s Beach Bums Restaurant on Sunday, November 22.

Spectators had to hold on to their hats and umbrellas in a strong wind that flipped people’s pizzas off their plates and dumped them in the sand.

Surfers gathered at the infamous beachside bar in support of the Movember Foundation. Competitors were dressed up seventies surf style, surfed original old school retro surfboards and donned hairy upper lips, all for a good cause, to raise funds and create awareness for the Movember Foundation.

Fifty-five surfers took part with traditional six-man heats and beach starts in play. Old school retro surfing was the order of the day with style and flow being the key ingredient, making the event different from any other surf event.

Brandon Jackson from Durban North turned up the heat in the mens final with some stylish and radical surfing on his original Safari Spider twin fin. He finished narrowly ahead of style-master Luke Patterson from Westbrook, with Lee Bisset, Scott Venter, Chris Leppan and Shane Sykes from Salt Rock in third, fourth, fifth and sixth consecutively.

Jackson was very excited about winning one of his favourite events on the calendar.

“This event is always a blast, everyone has a good time and it is for a good cause, thanks to Quiksilver and Movember for all the effort,” said Jackson.

In the over 50 Legends division it was the popular JJ from North Beach who took out the win in the testing side-shore conditions. JJ was closely followed by Grant Gilmore, Paul Izzard, Murray Niven, Spider Murphy and Warren Weiring.

Kirsty Delport from Berea was a clear winner in the ladies Mo Sista’s divison. Delport managed to string a few clean lines together in the high tide bowl to claim first place.

Kat Steffen ended in second place with Olivia Izzard, Sophie Bell from Salt Rock, Gabi Lailvaux from Westbrook, Christy Gilmour and Kayla Nogueira making up the remaining places.

Special awards went to Luke Patterson for best Tose On The Nose, Jono Venter for Spin To Win, Jamie Irvine for Wave Waster/Worst Wipe Out, Lee Bisset for Float The Boat and Scott Venter won Larry Layback and Most Stylish Surfer.

All proceeds raised, totalling a whopping R10 000, will be donated to the Movember Foundation, which in turn funds men’s health programs.

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