Brazil and Hawaii steal the crown in Ballito Pro Junior Series

Umhlanga's Kayla Nogueira U16 was the only local to win her final and Salt Rock's Calvin Goor took the coveted Expression Session

June 30, 2017

Allan Troskie 3 minutes read

Samuel Pupo and Zoe McDougall won the Ballito Pro Junior Series.

The Ballito Pro Junior Series came to a cracker of a finish yesterday as Brazil’s Samuel Pupo and Hawaii’s Zoe McDougall claimed the honours after some excellent surfing.

Umhlanga’s Kayla Nogueira was the only KZN local to win her final, taking the top spot in the U16 girls final. Nogueira took the win with a last minute ride that earned a 9.0 to overtake Tayla de Coning (East London) who had led the U16 girls final from the outset. S’Nenhlanhla Makhubu (Durban) hung onto third place, narrowly ahead of Summer Sutton (Kommetjie).

Pupo has been the man to beat all series long but the Brazilian was surfing in a different class to his competitors, pulling off monster aerial maneuvers to seal his victory.

Brazil’s Samuel Pupo wins the U18 Pro Junior Men’s division of the Billabong Junior Series in Ballito. Photo: Ballito Pro

Also read: GALLERY: Junior Series Ballito Pro

Pupo faced his toughest test in the final when his opponent, former South African U16 champion Ethan Fletcher of Kommetjie, took the lead at the halfway point of the 25 minute encounter with a ride the length of Willard Beach that earned 7.83. But with an excellent 8.67 in his score-line for a huge air-reverse, the Brazilian needed just 5.80 for victory and posted a 6.30 at the five minute mark to establish a lead that Fletcher ultimately could not match.

“My strategy really worked for me. Five minutes into the heat I had two scores already and that made me comfortable for the rest of the heat and I’m super-happy to have this win,” said Pupo.

“I’ve been trying airs my whole life so now I’m doing them in heats and I can get a nine, or I can get a two, but it worked for me in this final. This win for me is so important as I’ve been in a couple of Junior finals but I’ve never had a win.”

The JQS1,000 women’s final was an all international encounter between McDougall and Pacha Luque-Light of Australia that see-sawed back and forth with the lead changing hands after virtually every ride.

Also read: Locals lose out on Day 2 of Ballito Pro Juniors

McDougall, winner of the corresponding event last year and four more JQS and QS events in South Africa this year, took an early lead with a 7.33 on her first ride. But she was overtaken by Luque-Light’s 7.50 before clinching victory with an excellent 8.87 for a ride that ticked all the judging criteria of commitment, speed, power, flow and variety of manoeuvres.

‘It was fun and I guess it went according to plan, although I didn’t catch many waves and I’d like to catch more waves,” said McDougall. “I’ve only surfed against Pacha here in South Africa, but we became friends at the ISA Worlds and she’s super-sweet, super-cool and fun to hang out with, so it was just good vibes in the water.

Expression session

After all the serious surfing for the day was complete it was time for the popular ‘expression session’ where the surfers in all the age categories took to the water. Seeing as how the expression session isn’t for points, it meant that the surfers could go all out, attempting aerial maneuvers that they wouldn’t ordinarily risk. This is why the expression session is also fondly called ‘the airshow’.

Local boy Calvin Goor from Salt Rock outperformed the rest to take home the R2000 prize for the Ballito Pro Junior Series expression session.