Gabbi rides waves of surf success
The surfing enthusiast is the current SA champ for the U12 division.
LOCAL surfer, Gabbi Herbst (10), took the top title in her age group at the 2017 Billabong SA Junior Champs in Jeffreys Bay recently.
The victory margin was the closest in the 21 history of the trophy with the team from Cape Town reclaiming the cup they won in 2015 by scoring just 63 points more than their arch rivals from eThekweni.
eThekweni (42,777) finished as runners-up with hosts and defending team champions Nelson Mandela Bay (41,792) in third place and Buffalo City (40,277) in fourth.
The 2017 edition of the national junior championships will be remembered for the incredible waves across all five days. Billabong South Africa’s marketing manager, Chad Darcy, said, the U12 groms were a pleasure to watch as they fearlessly charged the overhead waves.
In the girls’ final, Gabbi Herbst (eThekweni) held the lead with a series of great scores while Scarlette Van Jaarsveldt (Cape Town Surfriders) earned a well warranted second place.
In third was Nelson Mandela Bay rider Zia Hendricks, and in fourth was Maya Figl (Cape Wineland.
Going into the competition, Gabbi was racked with nervousness as she was knocked out of the first round and was forced to fight in the repo rounds to podium make it.
She still has two years left in the division and looks forward to not only defending her title, but meeting and going up against new groms.
Her next competition is the KZN Champs in uMhlanga from 1 to 3 December. She encourages other girls her age to grab a surf board and learn to swim and noted there are a few surfing schools in the Durban area they can go to for lessons.
“I would like to thank my sponsors, Paul Canning of Oneill South Africa, Jason Ribbink of Lost surfboards South Africa and Justin and Gary Maisch of Maisch Fins,” said a proud Gabbi.
