We knew going into it that it was going to be hard to pick a winner. Each round had the judges puzzling. Over the four months South Africa’s biggest names and best underground surfers entered some of the craziest ride we’ve ever seen! After nearly a hundred entries, thousands of votes and much deliberation from the judges, we were left with the final four: Luke Slijpen, James Ribbink, Davey Van Zyl and Luke Thompson.
Luke Slijpen’s was the first entry of the competition and set the standard for the next four rounds. He stylishly navigated his way through a deep Llands tube and straight into a monster full-rote on the close out section. With minimal downtime and a perfectly executed ride in tricky offshore conditions it was always going to be in the mix for the win.
James had several entries from all over the globe and they were all bangers! From Pipeline to J-Bay to Mozambique, Jimmy is on most swells and is always a standout. Every wave he entered was in contention but his late drop Backdoor screamer was on another level! He was so late into that thing and got spat out leaving the videographer and everyone else watching it in shock.
Davey Van Zyl is king of the right-hand point break! He must be one of the most barrelled South African surfers ever. We received at least ten entries of Davey, all of him getting spat out of crazy right hand tubes and putting his blade into heavy sections. His read on a wave is up there with the best and his execution is flawless. His winning wave was on another level! Two crazy deep tubes combined with perfect rail work in between. Pretty much surfed to perfection.
Luke Thompson is one of SA’s next surfing contenders. He’s currently competing on the Challenger Series and looks to have the kind of BMT needed to make it to the big leagues. In between competing he managed to head up to Skeleton Bay to clock in some backside tube time and he made sure to maximise it! On his Round 4 winning entry, Luke navigated a thick, fast and lengthy tube at Donkey to perfection.
The judges are currently deliberating on the overall winner. As you can see it’s a tough decision to make and so they’re taking their time with it. Stay tuned for the announcement…
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