Local boys bail at Ballito

LOCAL surfers competing in the Mr Price Pro Ballito surfing event were crushed when they were all knocked out of the competition by Tuesday, 1 July.
Beyrick de Vries (uMhlanga), who won the competition in 2010, was the first South African (SA) to be eliminated during the first round, on Monday. The local golden boy made a critical error when he took off on the wave that belonged to his Brazilian opponent, Alejo Muniz. His points were halved and he only managed to secure third place  on 6.13 points.

“Although the Mr Price Pro would have been the dream event to win this year, things did not go according to plan. I made a fatal error by taking off on a wave that did not belong to me. Pro surfers are all getting used to the new priority system and I learned a lot in that heat and am certain I will never make the same mistake again. I have a lot to look forward to as there are still six out the annual eight prime events to surf this year.”

Other SA surfers, Davey van Zyl (Glenashley), Jordy Smith (La Lucia) and Travis Logie were eliminated during the second round of the annual surfing event.
Van Zyl and Logie were eliminated during the second heat, after placing 3rd (with 11.23 points) and 4th (10.50 points), respectively. They were beaten by Heitor Alves (Brazail) and Davey Cathels (Australia) who scored the 1st (16.76 points) and 2nd place (12.37 points.)
The La Lucia based surfer, Smith, was eliminated after he placed 3rd (12.97 points) during the sixth heat. He was narrowly beaten by USA’s surfer, Tim Reyes (14.27 points), and Hawaiian surfer, Torrey Meister (13.94 points).

“It was a total bummer. We all got a real shocker. The waves were really tricky, and it was difficult to get a great take-off wave. You were just lucky if you got one, and I guess we just weren’t lucky. I think I was also a bit intimidated by the other surfers. I am a lot younger than most of them, and I guess I did not compete as aggressively as I should have. With my next competition I will definitely going to fight for an inside position and be more aggressive,” said Van Zyl.

On Monday Logie performed much better; earning first place (13.60 points) during the sixth heat and beating USA surfer, Dillon Perillo (13.44 points). David Van Zyl expressed his excitement when he earned second place (13.44 points) during the eight heat, beating Hawaiian hotshot, Sebastian Zietz (12.77 points). Smith also scored a victory (14.33 points) when he thumped Brazilian surfer, Krystian Kymerson (12. 20 points).

Despite their devastating losses the SA boys are not discouraged. De Vries and Van Zyl accumulated enough points while competing in various surfing events to compete in the Prime Pro Surfing events. Only the top 100 surfers are eligible to compete. The duo, along with Dale Staples, are the only three SA surfers who will be competing in the prime events. De Vries said, “My next adventure takes me to Huntington Beach, California for the US Open of surfing which I really look forward to every year. Now it is back to organising the best equipment for California and working closely with my coach QJ and my surfboard sponsor Hurricane Surfboards.”

Smith and Logie will also be representing SA, as two of the top 32 surfers, at the World Championship Tour, at Jeffreys Bay next week.