iLembe’s youngsters fly at KZN surfing champs

iLembe’s best surfers capitalised on home break advantage to deliver four golds at last weekend’s KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Surfing Championships.

Held at Willard Beach, the event drew more than 100 surfers from around the province across age categories from under-10 to over-60.

KZN’s surfing fraternity is made up of three organisations, namely iLembe on the North Coast, eThekwini and Ugu on the South Coast.

There is a friendly rivalry between the group, with the annual championships providing bragging rights for an entire year, as any past winner will tell you.

For iLembe, it was largely the youngsters who grabbed silverware.

Tyler Balfour went unbeaten in the U10 boys event, winning his first heat with an age-group high score of 15.0 and a single wave high score of 8.17.

The final proved closer in trickier conditions and he was chased all the way by iLembe teammate Jackson Myers (8.76), but held off to deliver a winning score of 9.14 from his two waves.

Showing more good signs for iLembe’s future, Levi Vosloo fought back well in the U12 boys category, eking out second place in his heat behind Ugu’s Travis Turrell.

But once the bright lights of the final beckoned, Vosloo delivered a fantastic score of 13.30 to beat eThekwini’s Melokuhle Zotshana (9.32) by almost four full points.

Rounding out the youth, Cassidy Duncan was pushed close at every step before going unbeaten on her way to an all-iLembe final in the girls U16 group.

Across two heats and a final, Duncan’s combined winning differential was only 0.64, showing her ability to keep calm in the clutch and finish strong.

The familiar faces of Riley Kauffman (7.40), Mayah Potgieter (6.66) and Keira Fletcher (3.78) all surfed well, but Duncan’s 7.54 total was enough to claim a deserved gold.

iLembe’s only adult win came from Ian Duff, who grabbed the over-35 men’s title.

He won his heat ahead of iLembe’s Mark Campbell, before scoring well on his second to last wave in the final to post a score of 8.10 to beat eThekwini’s Mikael Vawda (7.40).

iLembe’s Ella van der Made, who finished second in the U10 girls category, was awarded the most improved surfer award.

The overall spoils went to eThekwini, with iLembe’s hungry youngsters ready to take on the challenge next year.

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