Just as a beautiful swell started rolling into the bay at Cape St Francis, the final event of the 2016 Billabong Junior Series presented by Bos got underway at Seal Point. The big peeling walls may have been fashionably late for winter, but were perfectly-timed for the start of one of the most prestigious and highly anticipated Junior events of the year.
All eyes were fixed on the ocean as the point churned out rippable right handers for the contestants while the free surfers ate sand in the barrels at the beach break. It was an epic day of surf from dawn to dusk.
“We are really stoked with how the first day turned out. The waves are absolutely pumping,” said Grant Beck, Billabong team and events manager. “We decided to stick in an extra four heats of the u/18 Pro Junior division to maximize on the great conditions we are having.”
The day began with the u/16 boys Round 1 with great performances as the surfers picked out the best rides in the slightly lumpy conditions. The u/16 girls hit the water next. Snenhlanhla Makhubu and Anna Jellema Butler standing out on some hollow peelers.
The premiere WSL Pro Junior boys were next to tear apart the Seal Point walls. Having just returned from representing South Africa in the Azores, Angelo Faulkner and Max Elkington, both sporting convict hairstyles after initiation, were standouts in both the u/18 and the u/16 division.Sebastian Williams was also one of the SA team members to demonstrate a whole new level of skill and experience. Luke Slijpen’s carving style was also well suited to Seal Point’s pristine conditions.
The u/18 Pro Junior women followed suite in attaining excellent scores with Sophie Bell (KZN) dropping the highest score of a 9.0 point ride with the second highest score of an 8.33 being ridden by Crystal Hulett (Cape St Francis).
“The conditions were amazing!” said an elated Crystal. “All the sections just seemed to open up. There was always just another opportunity to score. “
Tales of gnarly barrels and perfect waves could be heard across the contest site. There were many who spent the entire day in the water or soaking up the sunshine. The micro rippers surfed well beyond their years in the u/12 boys division. Leaving us reassured that the future of junior surfing is in capable hands with the likes of James Ribbink, Christian Venter and Alex Townsend.
As the wind settled and the tide filled in the conditions kept getting better. The surfers were left with burning legs from the long rides and spectators were left with burning minds from all the mind surfing. The day ended with u/16 boy’s quarterfinalists and the u/18 Pro Junior men’s semi finals decided. Surfers were perched on the rocks to jump out for a few waves before dark when the contest ended. A packed beach headed home with sunkissed faces and super high levels of surf stoke.
* Featured Image By Kody McGregor / Surfer: Angelo Faulkner
well. did all but 4 but had never heard of mosstroopers or passepartout but got that one with help from my chambers dictionary also failed on 25a cos i had creed for 21d A nice toughie for me but i can see how all you experts must be cursing it
onur, you are making the mistake of putting ages to these clusters. The emergence of a Sardinian-centered cluster does not mean that there is little input from West Asia. This will all become clearer when I present (in the Dodecad blog), the results for K=2 to K=9, as these will show the relationships between the different ancestral clusters more clearly.