Sykes heading off to WSL world junior surfing champs

Salt Rock surfing champ Shane Sykes will be jetting off to Ericeira, on the west coast of Portugal next week to compete in the World Surfing League (WSL) World Junior Championships.

The event will see the world’s best under 20 men and women surfers come together from January 4 to 13 to try and gain valuable points, and so earning a spot on the World Qualifying Series (WQS).

“This will be the first event for the year so it is important to get a good result,” said Sykes.

With matric in his hands and school checked off the to-do list, Sykes will be able to direct all his focus and energy on his WQS campaign.

In October, Sykes led the South African team with a superb performance at the International Surfing Association’s world junior surfing championships and proved he can rip with consistent contest results.

“The WSL event is much bigger, and you earn money and points when you take part in a WSL event.

“If I get into the semis or finals, I qualify for all the QS10 000 events for next year,” said Sykes, fully understanding the task that lies ahead and what he needs to do to get there.

The QS10 000 events are the prime qualifying events on the WQS and includes the Ballito Pro.

“All the guys will try to get good results to get into the top 100 of the QS, so it will be tough, especially because some of the surfers have already been campaigning on the QS full time for a year or two.”

Fellow surfers Bevan Willis from Umdloti, Jordy Maree, Adin Masencamp, Matt McGillivray, Dylan Lightfoot, Nicole Pallett and Gina Smith will also compete in the event.

“Bevan and Jordy will stay with me and my parents in Portugal, it’s cool to have all the guys there,” said Sykes.

After the event, Sykes and his parents will go to France for a skiing trip, close to Biarittz, where Quiksilver’s headquarters are based.

“We have never gone skiing so we thought it would be a good idea to hop over to France and then I will pay my sponsors a visit.”

With this young ripper’s consistent results this year, there is no doubt that his sponsors will be happy and the South African surfing community is frothing to see how the Saffas will perform on the QS.

WSL Africa operations manager Colin Fitch said the WSL World Junior Championships is where some of the top surfers first made a name for themselves.

“Guys like Jordy Smith, Gabriel Medina and Joel Parkinson all won the junior champs so it really is a big event that can do so much for your surfing career. We can’t wait to see what our guys and girls all achieve over there,” said Fitch.

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