That’s it! Round 3 is done and dusted, and entries are officially closed for CLUTCH 2024! It’s been a non-stop barrel fest up until now, but Round 3 brought something fresh for the judges to consider, featuring a mix of entries including straight airs, big combos, and some solid tubes. With 69 entries from Africa’s best surfers and underground rippers, CLUTCH 2024 has definitely been one for the books! Each round has been razor-tight, and Round 3 was no exception. With such a high level of submissions, picking a winner was never going to be an easy task.
The first stage of the process put the power in the hands of the fans. For an entire week, surf enthusiasts had the chance to vote for their top picks on our website. As usual, the top three surfers with the most votes would then face off in an Instagram poll to decide the ultimate winner. The surfers who made it to the public vote were Jessie Van Niekerk x2 and Levi Kolnik. Fans had 24 hours to vote on Instagram, and the results were clear. After thousands of votes, Levi Kolnik took the Public Vote win.
With the public vote wrapped up, it was time for the other judges to weigh in and select the overall winner.
First to cast their vote was the Zag team: “Yoh, that was next level! For us, it came down to Tide’s backside KZN barrel and Levi Kolnik’s CT cylinder. But after chatting with Tide and realising he hadn’t fully read the comp rules—and that his wave, which wasn’t from 2024, was disqualified—it was Levi who took the win for us. That wave was thick, and he came from way behind it.”
The Local Heroes also made judging very difficult! But Thomas Vos’s Indo drainer was the pick of the bunch for us.”
Monster Energy also shared their thoughts:
“Tides backhand backdoor of the barrel is pretty nuts, wave was no joke either, but the absolute clutch moment is hefty front side loft to start off a wave in a heat, clean landing and straight into the demolition of the close out section is pure class. Dan Emslie, you have our vote.
On the Local Hero front, barrels dominated here too. Thomas Vos and Chris Olivier were both deserving winners, but we feel the size and length of Levi Konik’s barrel edged him a whisker ahead of the other three for our vote.”
The final vote came from Monster team rider, Matt Bromley: “For me, it’s close between Dan Emslie and Tide. I’m looking for the real wow moment… when Tide dropped into that bomb, I thought that was steep and deep. It was a crazy ride, but I have to give the win to Dan. The degree of difficulty on his wave, linking smooth surfing with big snaps of power, was next level! For me, the Local Hero prize goes to Levi Kolnik. His tube was so mental! I know how hard it is to drop in that late, lose the fins in a slide, and then still make a freight train pit. So sick!”
So we were left with a split in the votes: two votes for Levi (Zag + Public Vote) and two votes for Dan (Monster + Bromdog). To pick a winner, we decided to hit up last year’s winner, Luke Slijpen, to make the final call. This is what he had to say: “Both those waves are seriously good. I gave them each a proper watch, showed a couple mates, and we all feel that Levi’s takes the win. The tube was solid and pretty critical, and he rode it perfectly.”
And so it was decided! Levi Kolnik takes Round 3, which means that Thomas Vos gets the Local Hero prize. Barrels have dominated the comp from day one, right up until the end.
The three finalists are now locked in. Chad Du Toit, Twiggy Baker, and Levi Kolnik will now fight it out for a chance to win R25,000 and an international surf trip! Keep an eye on our socials for details on how you can have a say in who takes the win. Yewww, let’s go!
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