Organisers took advantage of the solid 1 - 1.5 metre (3 - 5 foot) waves and pristine conditions on offer on Day 2 of the Billabong Junior Series Seal Point presented by All Aboard Travel to complete the semi-finals in all seven divisions, leaving just the finals still to be run before the champions are crowned on Sunday.
The country's best junior surfers revelled in the long glassy waves at Seal Point in Cape St Francis, posting numerous scores in the excellent range (8 or more out of 10) as they chased prestige, prize-money and points towards the 2017 Billabong Junior Series and WSL Africa series titles in the fourth and final event in the world's longest running junior surfing series.
The World Surf League (WSL) Junior Qualifying Series (JQS) 1,000 rated event for U18 boys saw current runaway rankings leader Jake Elkington (Kommetjie) eliminated in Round 2 by Luke Malherbe (East London ) and Calvin Goor (Salt Rock). The pair advanced to the man-on-man semi-finals where Goor's near perfect 9.0 plus a 5.0 gave him victory over Malherbe and the Dolphin Coast surfer advanced to his second final of 2017.
In the bottom half of the draw Ford Van Jaarsveldt (Kommetjie) was outstanding in Round 2, delivering scores of 9.0 and 8.17 for a heat tally of 17.17, the highest in the division to date. He was joined in the semis by 14 year-old Mitch Du Preez (East London) who had to be happy with a third place finish overall as van Jaarsveldt delivered another master-class and will take on Goor for the event title in Sunday's final.
The JQS women's event followed suit with former Jeffreys Bay star Kai Woolf, now surfing under the New Zealand flag, showing superior manoeuvres and heat strategy to earn scores of 9.0 and 7.67 to ease into the final at the expense of Tayla De Coning (East London)
Woolf will be up against Taghiti Gericke (Wilderness) who outpointed rising star Summer Sutton (Kommetjie) in their semi-final encounter on her way to a career first one-on-one JQS final.
With the swell predicted to drop during the day and onshore winds forecast to increase, organisers will be keen to complete the finals as early as possible. There is also an exciting VonZipper Airshow that rewards the surfer landing the best aerial manoeuvre with a winner-takes-all R2,000 prize purse.
And the U18 boys' and girls' Billabong Junior Series champions have the added incentive of winning a coveted trip to the tropical surfing paradise of Bali thanks to All Aboard Travel,
All the event, series and WSL Africa titlists will be crowned at the awards ceremony on the beach after the finals.
The Billabong Junior Series pres. by All Aboard Travel is supported by BOS, VonZipper, Zigzag, Surfing South Africa and the World Surf League.
Finalists Decided on Day 2 of Billabong Junior Series pres. by All Aboard Travel
Paul Botha
Organisers took advantage of the solid 1 - 1.5 metre (3 - 5 foot) waves and pristine conditions on offer on Day 2 of the Billabong Junior Series Seal Point presented by All Aboard Travel to complete the semi-finals in all seven divisions, leaving just the finals still to be run before the champions are crowned on Sunday.
The country's best junior surfers revelled in the long glassy waves at Seal Point in Cape St Francis, posting numerous scores in the excellent range (8 or more out of 10) as they chased prestige, prize-money and points towards the 2017 Billabong Junior Series and WSL Africa series titles in the fourth and final event in the world's longest running junior surfing series.
The World Surf League (WSL) Junior Qualifying Series (JQS) 1,000 rated event for U18 boys saw current runaway rankings leader Jake Elkington (Kommetjie) eliminated in Round 2 by Luke Malherbe (East London ) and Calvin Goor (Salt Rock). The pair advanced to the man-on-man semi-finals where Goor's near perfect 9.0 plus a 5.0 gave him victory over Malherbe and the Dolphin Coast surfer advanced to his second final of 2017.
In the bottom half of the draw Ford Van Jaarsveldt (Kommetjie) was outstanding in Round 2, delivering scores of 9.0 and 8.17 for a heat tally of 17.17, the highest in the division to date. He was joined in the semis by 14 year-old Mitch Du Preez (East London) who had to be happy with a third place finish overall as van Jaarsveldt delivered another master-class and will take on Goor for the event title in Sunday's final.
The JQS women's event followed suit with former Jeffreys Bay star Kai Woolf, now surfing under the New Zealand flag, showing superior manoeuvres and heat strategy to earn scores of 9.0 and 7.67 to ease into the final at the expense of Tayla De Coning (East London)
Woolf will be up against Taghiti Gericke (Wilderness) who outpointed rising star Summer Sutton (Kommetjie) in their semi-final encounter on her way to a career first one-on-one JQS final.
With the swell predicted to drop during the day and onshore winds forecast to increase, organisers will be keen to complete the finals as early as possible. There is also an exciting VonZipper Airshow that rewards the surfer landing the best aerial manoeuvre with a winner-takes-all R2,000 prize purse.
And the U18 boys' and girls' Billabong Junior Series champions have the added incentive of winning a coveted trip to the tropical surfing paradise of Bali thanks to All Aboard Travel,
All the event, series and WSL Africa titlists will be crowned at the awards ceremony on the beach after the finals.
The Billabong Junior Series pres. by All Aboard Travel is supported by BOS, VonZipper, Zigzag, Surfing South Africa and the World Surf League.
Calvin Goor
Perfect waves pour down the point for the second day of competition in Cape St Francis
Big swell and an international contingent for the Mother City of Cape Town.
Great conditions prevailed for opening day at Nahoon Reef
Solid surf on the way for Mitchum Buffalo City Surf Pro pres. by Reef Wetsuits
Billabong Junior Series Seal Point
Elkington and Bell Win 2017 WSL Africa Junior titles
WSL Africa Junior Titles at Stake
Regional Titles and Spots in World Junior Championship at Stake