Testing conditions for surf final

CAPETONIANS Adin Masencamp and Luke Slijpen mastered the testing conditions to take the men’s and junior men’s titles respectively at the Zigzag Durban Surf Pro presented by G-Force at North Beach in Durban on Sunday.

The stiff onshore winds turned the contest area into a maelstrom of whitewater and the inclement weather kept the crowds away on the final day of the fourth event of 13 on the 2018 World Surf League (WSL) Qualifying Series (QS) and the third of five on City Surf Series. But the surfing performances produced by the men and junior men (18-and-under) remained red hot with multiple rides in the excellent range (8.0 or more out of 10)

Masencamp and Slijpen were the form surfers on the final day with the former delivering the two highest heat totals, 15.75 and 15.25 (each out of 20), in Round 4 and the semi-finals, while Slijpen produced a near-perfect ride that was awarded 9.0 by the judges in his semi-final.

The men’s final was an anti-climax after the great surfing that went on earlier with current WSL Africa rankings leader Jordy Maree (Kalk Bay) and Masencamp only managing to produce short rides as they searched the length and breadth of North Beach.

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With five minutes remaining and Maree holding the lead with a heat high 5.25, Masencamp found a wave that produced some workable sections and the 18 year-old from the Strand smashed an 8.0 point score. Along with his backup of 2.90, Masencamp’s 10.90 heat tally was enough for him to clinch his first QS event title in South Africa.

On his way to the final Masencamp eliminated local favourite and top seed David van Zyl in a high scoring, man-on-man semi-final and also finished in first place in a stacked Round 4 heat that included van Zyl, Steven Sawyer (Jeffreys Bay) and Ethan Fletcher (Kommetjie).

Maree’s path to the final included ousting Durban local Chad du Toit in their semi clash after heading a Round 4 lineup that included du Toit and Jeffreys Bay residents Joshe Faulkner and Dylan Lightfoot.

The win saw him leapfrog into the lead on the WSL Africa JQS rankings where he has set his sights on finishing in the top four at year end to secure a spot in the squad that will represent the region in the WSL World Junior Championship in Australia in January.

The women’s champions in the Zigzag Durban Surf Pro were crowned on Saturday with Zoe McDougall (Hawaii) successfully defending her QS1,000 women’s title and Kai Woolf (Jeffreys Bay) clinching her third consecutive JQS1,000 event win of the year.

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