Ballito surf veteran denied historic double-double in J-Bay

Ballito’s Barry Campbell was denied a historic double-double, but grabbed a well earned silver medal at the South African Longboard Surfing Championships last weekend.

The 65-year-old surfing sensation delivered iLembe’s only medal from the event which returned to Jeffrey’s Bay this year.

He was angling to make it four South African titles in a row after winning the veteran categories at the SA championships last year and earlier this month, as well as last year’s longboard title.

It would have been an unprecedented double-double, proving his domination in the category, but top quality surfing from Eastern Province’s Greg Smith was unbeatable this time around.

“Last year was incredible, but somehow J-Bay topped it last week. I felt good in my heat, getting a solid feel for the conditions,” said Campbell.

He scored a combined score of 14.38 to comfortably breeze past Brenton Geach (WP, 5.90) and Foozie Japie (EP, 2.58).

This win sent him straight to the finals, where an inevitable face-off was shaping up with Smith, who took his heat with a mammoth score of 18.45.

“Greg is a new addition to the category and he surfed superbly. He really got into his rhythm in the heat and final and was phenomenal to watch. All credit to him,” said Campbell.

Smith took gold with another huge score of 18.13, with all three of his waves topping the 8.0 mark.

Campbell put in a solid display for silver with a score of 11.25, but the veterans category was truly blown away by Smith’s scoring.

Ballito’s Chris Morris was iLembe’s other finalist, grabbing fourth in the legends section.

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