Clean conditions proved an ideal catalyst for high scores and close heats at the Mercedes-Benz South African Surfing Championships hosted by Buffalo City on Friday.
Day four saw the competitors treated to the best conditions thus far at Nahoon Corner.
All divisions, except the Men’s O/35 and Open Women’s entered the water at some point on day four, with both having already decided their semi-finalists on day 3. The men’s O/50, O/55 & O/60, as well as the Women’s O/30 all entered the water for the first time.
With a change of the swell direction and a decrease in the wind, surfers had large walls to express themselves on, as well as several barrels available in great conditions.
The men’s O/50’s saw arguably the best barrel of the day from Andre Mory (Cape Town), which was good enough to send him through to the quarters. He was joined by compatriot Steve Adshade, as well as Dave Malherbe, Mike Brent (both Buffalo City), Paul Izzard (eThekweni), Richard Heath (Cape Winelands) and Patrick Cuthbert (Eden).
Into the quarter-finals for the O/40’s as heat winners were Greg Emslie, Tristan Johnson, Philip Malherbe (all Buffalo City), Warwick Heny (Nelson Mandela Bay), Dave Petersen (Ilembe) and Ross Solomon (eThekweni).
They are joined by Graeme Field, Rory Heard, Ryan Kuhn (all Cape Town), Karl Ribbink (eThekweni), Justin Maisch and Gary Van Wieringen (both Ugu).
The men’s Over 45’s surfed both Round 2 and their quarter-finals, with the standout being Pieter Ben van Rhijn (Nelson Mandela Bay), who posted the day’s highest heat score of 17.5 (9.5 & 8) to move into the semi-finals.
The O/45’s looks an extremely tough division, with Wayne Monk (Buffalo City) also posting a 9.5 on the way to winning his heat. Joining them in the semi-finals are Gareth Sepp, Andre Malherbe (both Buffalo City), Carl Roux (Ugu), Rob Moore Boye, Ryan Ribbink (both eThekweni) and Mickey Lindsay (Nelson Mandela Bay).
The women’s O/30 saw the unique situation of a five-person heat take place, with eight-time champion Heather Clark (Ugu) continuing her fine form in 2017 and progressing alongside Lynn Mackey (eThekweni) to the final.
In the O/55’s the host’s East Coast neighbours had the most success, with two surfers in Trevor Hansen and Andre Venter (both Nelson Mandela Bay) both progressing alongside Chris Knutsen (eThekweni) and Brian Heathecote (Buffalo City).
In the second-last round of the day the stalwarts in the O/60’s took to the water, and it was Gordon Harmer (Buffalo City) and Warren Wareing (Ugu) who progressed to the final.
Day four ended with the Men’s Open division and it was worth the wait. The waves were not as consistent as earlier in the day, but there were certainly great waves on offer in the sets, with both Brandon Benjamin (Cape Town) and Chris Frolich (eThekwini) scoring 9.25 wave scores to move into the semi-finals, where they are joined by Greg Emslie, Tyrell Johnson (both Buffalo City) and Cody Coetsee (Ugu).
The swell was expected to drop overnight and the day could see a return to the main contest site at Nahoon Reef on Saturday.
Picture of Mory in the best barrel of the day courtesy of Ian Thurtell