Dylan Stewart wins Movember Surf Jam

DYLAN Stewart of Umdloti, emerged the best of the 60 surfers who participated in the annual Off The Lip Movember Surf Jam which took place at Beach Bums at the weekend. The event, now in its second year, is a retro seventies fundraising surf event hosted by Quiksilver and the Movember foundation. Surfers and spectators were invited to Beach Bums on the north coast to relive the glory days, show off their well manicured Movember moustaches, dress in seventies surf gear and ride single or twin fin surfboards from the seventies era.

Participants were blessed with picture perfect weather but extremely tricky two feet onshore surf conditions. A mixture of old and young, men and women all turned up to show their support for the Movember movement. Ten six-man heats were surfed throughout the day using the traditional beach start. Judges included legendary surfboard shapers Jonno Hutchison (Ballito) and Spider Murphy (Durban). Unlike traditional modern day surf events, heat winners were determined by their style, flow and creative approach to each wave. The top six scores of the day made their way into the grand finale. Dylan Stewart (Umdloti) proved to be too strong for the rest of the field, looking very comfortable on his old-school retro surfboard he emerged victorious.

“What a rad event, it wasn’t easy surfing these old boards but we all had fun and it was for a good cause so even better,” said an excited Stewart after the event.

Chris Leppan from Umhlanga finished a close second while Justin Bing (Durban) ended up in third place. Dale Staples (Westbrook), Paul Canning (Durban) and Shane Sykes (Salt Rock) placed fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.

Other awards on the day went to Dale Staples for the most vertical manoeuvre, Justin Bing for the best 360, Ryan Bisset for the worst wipeout, Ant ‘Mogwai” Molgora for the best ‘toes on the nose’, Chris Leppan for the best floater manoeuvre, Shane Sykes for the best ‘drop the wallet/layback’ manoeuvre, Sophie Bell for the best ‘Mo Sista’ and Rein van de Wall for the ‘best dressed’. Prizes included the first place Peter Lawson handcrafted black twin fin surfboard, Gunslinger longboards, Skullcandy Movember headphones, Quiksilver gear, Captain Fin Co fins and specially developed moustache waxes and oils.

Quiksilver’s Marketing Manager Dane Patterson was very pleased with the event and said, “We couldn’t have asked for a better day, the sun was out and the surfers and spectators had a blast, we are very proud to be associated with the Movember foundation and what they stand for. This retro seventies day out is the perfect fit for Quiksilver and we hope to see it grow every year.”

Close to R10 000 was raised on the day through participation donations and raffles, all money raised on the day will be donated to Movember and their men’s health partner, CANSA.