Young guns and veterans alike tore into the one-metre waves at New Pier in Durban on Wednesday’s opening day of the Volkswagen SA Open of Surfing presented by Hurley as the competitors completed Round 1 (Round of 160), and the first 10 heats of the Round of 128 in the World Surf League (WSL) Qualifying Series QS3,000 rated men’s event.
Cloudy skies and occasional light drizzle did not dampen the level of performances from the South African and world’s best performers, with multiple scores in the excellent range (8.0 or more out of 10).
Shane Sykes (Salt Rock) was the day’s top South African performer, winning the first heat of the event, and then slamming the door on his Round 2 rivals with a strong 9.0 in Round 2 to advance into the last 96.
Brazil’s Mateus Herdy produced one of the standout results of the day’s action, emerging with the heat win after a titanic battle against compatriot Weslley Dantas, South Africa’s Dale Staples and Puerto Rico’s Henrique Pyrrait.
Herdy burst out of the blocks with an 8.0 in the opening minutes and then produced an outstanding near-perfect 9.6, the highest single score of the day, to establish a substantial lead over his opponents. Staples held on to second place until the dying moments when Dantas delivered the score he needed and grabbed the runner-up spot and a place in R3.
‘My board is pretty good, the waves are really fun and very similar to my home break at Joaquina in Florianópolis, and this stretch of beach reminds me of Brazil, so I feel really comfortable here,’ said Herdy.
‘I’m here for 10 days in Durban and now I’m just focusing on the contest. Then I’m going to Cape Town. I came to South Africa to do all these QS and junior events, so I’m here for a couple of weeks and hope to do well.’
Another Brazilian, Peterson Crisanto, posted two rides over 9.0 to claim the highest heat total of the day, 18.17 out of 20 in his Round 1 heat. The 25-year old then just scraped through his Round 2 encounter, which was won by Australia’s Nick Callister.
Portuguese surfing legend Tiago Pires, 37, in South Africa to coach and mentor the next generation of his country’s surf stars, showed he has lost very little of the skills that saw him spend most of the last decade at the very highest level of the sport on the WSL Championship Tour (CT) by convincingly progressing to the next round.
American Nolan Rapoza won a tightly-contested heat when he held off the challenge of Hawaiian-based South African Benji Brand, who had not caught a single wave at the halfway mark. But rides of 5.87 and a closing 7.33 saw Brand join the young American in the next round.
‘That heat went pretty well and I did exactly what I wanted to do. I got the first wave on the inside, a left with a little double up at the end,’ said Rapoza. ‘Then I was fourth priority and went over to where the other guys were sitting and a bomb came in and that’s just what I wanted.’
Organisers will complete the Round of 128 and the Round of 96 in the men’s event, before ending Thursday’s action with the JQS1,000 junior men’s event.
The provisional schedule sees the junior champions crowned on Friday, the women’s title decided on Saturday and the men’s final run on Sunday.
An outreach programme will be conducted by Surfing South Africa (SSA) during the event. Participants will be involved in beach activities, water coaching, a tag team contest, beach relays and an Easter egg hunt, with all participants receiving breakfast, lunch and a commemorative medal.
Picture of Sykes in action courtesy of WSL/Thurtell