Adaptive surfing champs crowned
Six champions were crowned at the Championship in various classifications.
TWO-TIME world champion Antony Smyth won the Build for Better Adaptive South African Surfing Championship held at New Pier in Durban over the weekend.
In the final, Smyth, who won gold at the ISA World Adaptive Surfing Championship in 2016 and 2018, took on long-time rival and friend Jean-Paul Veaudry from East London in 2-4 foot surf and freshening onshores.
Six champions were crowned at the Championship in various classifications from prone assist (AS5) prone (AS4), sit (AS3) kneel (AS2), stand (AS1) and visually impaired (ASVI) divisions.
Organiser Julia van Zyl, the founder of the Made for More non-profit organisation in Durban, said that that they had 36 entries who had travelled to Durban from around South Africa. “Darian Haynes came all the way from Hawaii to be with us,” said Van Zyl.
“It’s an incredible privilege for us to run this event. So much goes into preparing for an adaptive surfing event of this magnitude, from beach and vehicle permits, to contest infrastructure, coordinating volunteers and personnel, and then there are the logistics around acquiring the specialised equipment,” Van Zyl said.
“We need to organise and set up access mats for accessibility for wheelchair users on the soft sand as well as water chairs to assist them in and out of the water. We also require specific surfboards that are generally thicker and wider for surfers who lie prone and are assisted onto waves.”
A team of 20 volunteers had their hands full in the shorebreak at New Pier assisting the prone surfers.
“The atmosphere and support on the beach was the best, biggest and warmest we’ve ever had. We are so proud and in awe of the bravery, courage, commitment and talent of all the surfers and competitors in both the contest and the expression session.”
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