Shane Sykes held off strong competition to win the South African Surfing Championships (SASC) in his home district of iLembe this afternoon.

Willard Beach erupted in partisan support for their hometown hero, who won with a score of 15.83.

He was unblemished on his way to the semi-finals, winning 3 heats and a quarterfinal, but snuck through behind Luke Slijpen in his semi-final to set up a 4-man final at around 12.30pm.

After Slijpen rushed to an early lead and Max Elkington made a late surge, Sykes stayed calm, delivering a final wave of 9.33 to clinch the final and the championship.

It was big-match-temperament of the highest order, choosing the right time to strike for maximum impact.

In the women’s final which was surfed just before the men’s, Adriel Wolmarans from Buffalo City won with a score of 9.70.

She was poised in the final in front of a large crowd, leading from the front against both future stars and veterans alike.

Both Sykes and Wolmarans won R5 000 from O’Neill and a hamper worth R8 000 from Vodacom.

In the team competition, Cape Town Surfriders finished first, with iLembe coming in fourth.

Also hosted on the day was the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) development surfing tag-team competition.

Teams from eThekwini, iLembe, Ugu and around KZN competed in a 45 minute event where each competitor had 2 waves each.

Surfers not Streetchildren from eThekwini finished first, with iLembe coming 4th.

From tomorrow, the youngsters will get their turn when the Rookie Rippers Junior Pro begins.