WAY back in 1988 when she was just starting to make a name for herself in the world of surfing, 16-year-old Heather Clark of Port Shepstone won her first national title at East London’s Nahoon Reef.
It was five years before she launched her successful pro surfing career and 12 years before she became the first South African woman to qualify for the World Championship Tour (WCT).
Now Heather has surfed a full circle back to Nahoon where she scored a heat total of 16.50 points, the highest in any of the finals, to win the women’s title in the Cool Shoe SA Masters’ Surfing Championships. Tasha Mentasti from Southern Cape took the runner-up spot with Nicky Hare from the Border team and and Carolyn Dent of Western Province sharing third place. Michelle Holmes of Eastern Province was fifth. A member of the Southern KwaZulu-Natal Masters’ surfing team, Heather’s win was her fourth national title. She also has two world masters’ champion titles to her name.
“I really enjoy the wave at Nahoon Reef and it was extra special to win there,” Heather said.
The Border master surfers dominated proceedings in their home surf, clinching their eighth successive provincial team title in Nahoon, along with four of the seven individual titles on offer. Competing in excellent one to two metre waves with stiff offshore winds, Border had representatives in the final of every division and accumulated 39 764 points to retain the Masters’ Cup.
Zululand surprised the opposition by finishing runners-up in the team standings, ahead of Eastern Province, Western Province, KwaZulu-Natal Central, Southern Cape and Southern KwaZulu-Natal.
The 2015 Cool Shoe SA Masters’ Surfing Championships will be run in Richards Bay and will be the first national event hosted by Zululand Surfing Association.
