This event is to honour his contribution to the George community and surf community as a whole.
The Vic Bay Quad has become one of the most prestigious surfing competitions in South Africa and some of our greatest surfers have won the event over the years.
Archie Swanson has fond memories of the Quad from its humble beginnings to it becoming a favourite among local surfers as well as the contribution John made while turning it into a successful competition.
"As chairman, first of the Victoria Bay Surf Club and later the Southern Cape Surfing Association, John really was the leading light in setting up the Cape Quad that was always traditionally run at full moon over the Easter Weekend - usually in epic surf. At one stage it was almost as big as the SA Champs with teams from Western Province, Boland, Eastern Cape, Border, Defence and Southern Cape all competing. Southern Cape has a proud history in the Quad, winning the cup three years in a row from its inception. The many Springboks who have come from the Southern Cape can trace their success back to the competition roots laid down by John all of those years ago," said Archie.
Archie also remembers when he first met John back in 1976, "The first time I ever had contact with John was when I called him in 1976 as chairman of the Stellenbosch Surf Club and suggested a competition between Vic Bay Surf Club and ourselves as the head of sport at Stellenbosch, Danie Craven, wouldn't let us compete at the South African Universities Surf Champs until we had competed with other clubs. John didn't know me from a bar of soap, but immediately backed the idea and we had a really successful comp in closeout 10ft waves at Vic won by Kenny Liston. I think this was the first surf comp ever held at Vic. Following this, with the support of Robin De Kock, we formed the Southern Cape Surfing Association and, under John's leadership, started hosting the Cape Quad, which was initially just between Boland, Eastern Cape, Western Province and Southern Cape so that's where the name 'Cape Quad' came from.
"Besides everything else John was just the most awesome, friendly human being and he really does deserve to be honoured as a founding father and legend of surfing in our region.
"Well done on your efforts and long may the Quad live on," he concluded.
The Vic Bay Quad takes place from 22-24 August with the opening function at Primi Piatti George from 18:00 to 19:00 on Friday with Primi George and Primi World jointly sponsoring R5 000 towards the events prize money pool.
So come out and show your support at the 'Cape Quad' in honour of the late John Pfaff.
Last year the Eastern Province surfing team won the 2013 Vic Bay Quad in memory of John Pfaff.
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