That’s a wrap on CLUTCH! 2024. The finalists had the judges on edge for weeks, trying to determine who truly deserved the win. Each round was packed with incredible barrels. All three finalists packed some proper tubes and left the judges puzzled. There was plenty of discussion between the judges as they dissected every frame of the three waves, but in the end, there can only be one winner…
Over three months, we received 69 entries from surf spots around the globe. More than five thousand surf fans cast their votes for their favourite waves, and three finalists emerged. To refresh your memory, the criteria for CLUTCH! was simple: anything that gets the audience on their feet, cheering! With that in mind, the judges cast their votes.
Let’s take another look at the three finalists’ waves:
The original judging panel was made up of Monster Energy, Zigzag, Monster Team Riders and you, the public! The public vote came down to the wire, but in the end, Chad Du Toit got the nod with 41% of the votes.
Monster Energy’s Head of Communications, Ryan Payne, spent time analysing each wave and came to this conclusion: “The battle of the barrels — wow, what a showing by our local surfers! Picking a winner out of these three incredible entries was not easy; each one deserved the title. We looked at size, and all three waves were of a similar height, which is solid. Chad’s may be a few centimeters bigger. Then, takeoffs — Levi’s was a little more under the lip and critical. Barrel time — both Twig and Chad were actively driving through the sections at Mach 3 pace. Twig’s wave was the prettiest to look at. It was throaty, wide open, and perfectly ridden in true Twig fashion, not to forget coming out after the spit. After really nitpicking every aspect of each ride, we gave Chad the win by a whisker. His wave was a touch bigger, the barrel was a smidgen longer, it looks like he navigated over a massive foam ball after driving through multiple sections, and lastly, the spit totally engulfed him before he popped out. CLUTCH!”
The Zigzag team deliberated amongst themselves and finally came to a decision. Zag’s Dave Armstrong said: “Chad’s wave embodied what CLUTCH! is all about. You can’t watch that wave and not be amazed. He was so deep and had to go full throttle to make it out with the spit. That’s our winner.”
It was then down to Monster team rider Eli Beukes to cast his vote: “I’ve decided to vote for Levi Kolnik as the winner. I remember being out there during that session and was actually right next to him, backing him up on that wave because I really wanted it as well, haha. I then saw him take off under the lip really late and didn’t think he’d make it, let alone sit on the foam ball the whole way. For me, that takes the win. Just a core Saffa cold water pit. Back it.”
In the end it was Chad Du Toit who came out on top with a convincing three out of four votes in his favour.
And there you have it folks — Chad Du Toit is the CLUTCH! Fuelled by Monster Energy, presented by Vans 2024 winner! He earns himself an international surf trip as well as a cash prize of R25,000! And Sisonke Ndumndum wins the videographer prize of R12,500! What a year of competition it was.
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