SURFING NEWS - The predicted massive swell arrived in East London with a vengeance on Day Three of the Mercedes -Benz SA Surfing Championships hosted by Buffalo City forcing organisers to move the event away from an out of control Nahoon Reef to Nahoon Corner.
This decision was made by experienced Surfing South Africa Contest Director Cyril Nel who described the conditions at Nahoon Reef as “the biggest I have seen it in 30 years”.
Continuing with the contest at Nahoon Reef would have put contestant’s lives at risk and moving the rounds to the relative calm of Nahoon Corner was met with applause by the surfers.
As the mayhem continued to build along the East London coastline the SA Championship the twenty two Day Three heats ran in the relative four foot tranquility of Nahoon Corner which will probably be the venue for Day Four as the huge surf continues to pound the better known surf spots.
The Open Women Semi Finalists were decided on Day Three and the first of these semis is made up of Olivia Donald and Samelikiswe Cele ( both eThekweni), Danica Stockigt ( Buffalo City) and Tasha Mentasti (Eden).
The second semi consists of eight time SA Champion Heather Clark (Ugu), Britney Linder (Nelson Mandela Bay), Lynn Mackey (eThekweni) and Maya Shefer – Boswell ( Cape Town). The top two from each semi will compete for the SA Championship title in the Final on Sunday.
Qualifying for the first Over 35 Men’s Semi Final are Tyrell and Stuart Fowles (both Buffalo City),Rene Terblanche (Cape Winelands) and Etienne Potgieter (Nelson Mandela Bay). Defending champion Llewellyn Whittaker (Eden) is joined by Orrin Johnson (Buffalo City), Jon Sam Caswell (Cape Winelands) and Calvin Moore (Ugu) in the other Semi Final.
The Over 40 Quarter Finalists are Greg Emslie, Tristan Johnson,Philip Malherbe and Greg Harris (all Buffalo City), Warwick Heny, Simon Owen and Andrew Donaghy (all Nelson Mandela Bay), Graeme Field, Rory Heard and Ryan Kuhn (all Cape Town), Karl Ribbink and Ross Solomon (eThekweni), Justin Maisch and Gary Van Wieringen (both Ugu), Luke Meiring (Eden) and Dave Petersen (Ilembe).
