Lost leashes and broken boards, the return of the Bog Pro surf competition took no prisoners last Friday.
An almost annual event hosted by the Ballito Surf School at the ‘Bog’ break near Willard Beach, the competition has been held six times since its first edition in 2014.
Aside from the Covid-19 affected years, the reason it is not always held is because the event organisers are very specific about what conditions make the contest worth hosting.
Photo: Stan Shaw.
“We want the competition to test the surfers, so wait for when the surf is big and gives a chance of good scoring waves,” said Ballito Surf School owner and Bog Pro organiser, Janek Ferrandi.
“We looked at the forecast and saw that Friday would give us a chance of those conditions, so we went for it.”
The forecast proved dead on, serving up some strong sets throughout the morning which got the best out of the 28 athletes in the water.
Photo: Stan Shaw.
There are no divisions in the Bog Pro, so everyone was surfing in a straight shoot-out format in search of the R20 000 first-place cash prize, regardless of age or gender.
Some top judges in Jono Hutchison, Quinton Jones and Lucky Duvile were enlisted too, ensuring every bit of skill from the surfers was picked up.
After four rounds of thrilling action, the final four was confirmed as Karl Steen, Janek and the Sykes brothers, Justin and Shane.
Photo: Stan Shaw.
And it would be Shane who claimed the top prize after a strong performance in the final, just ahead of Justin, Janek and Karl.
Shane took home R20 000 for his efforts, with the other three claiming R10 000, R5 000 and R1 000 respectively.
“The day went pretty well,” said Ferrandi.
“There were a couple of broken boards and broken leashes, but that’s the idea of the event – to make it a challenge for the surfers.”
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