What an exciting weekend with champions crowned at the Sun City SUP Classic, it was an action packed weekend starting on Thursday with everyone getting used to these unique waves in Africa’s only wave pool at Sun City. Stand Up Paddle surfing and Stand Up Paddle boarding (SUP) are sports originating in Hawaii as an offshoot of surfing. Unlike traditional surfing where the rider is sitting until a wave comes, stand up paddle boarders maintain an upright stance on their boards and use a paddle to propel themselves through the water.
Friday started with a Sprint event on the Waterworld dam with great tunes by Ultimate ears, the scene was set for an exciting fun filled day. The first ever knockout sprint event in South Africa had the contenders very excited to take part in this new event. SUP Paddle boarders raced each other on 14ft race boards in an elimination process, each round allowed the top two moving paddlers onto the following round.
With a great Strategy, Nick Park-Ross took the men’s title. Jackie de Billot won the woman’s title. After the serious sprints, it was some time for fun, random teams were selected and a series of head to head races on the Red Paddle dragon boards began. Dragon Board racing is a team sport which comprises of 4 team members. In this event, you need to work together to move forward and ultimately move forward as fast as possible. There was a lot of fun had by all and we managed to get our Surf judges who have never been on a SUP before to enter. By noon it was a wrap, time for some lunch and to recharge, getting ready for the Sup Surfing at Valley of Waves later.
Late Friday afternoon going into the evening from 3pm till 10pm, were the next rounds of SUP Surfing. The competitors surfed under floodlights adding a new dimension for all. Bonfires were lit on the beach for the spectators and also to allow the surfers to warm up between waves. Each Heat consisted of two surfers, with waves coming through every 3 minutes, this on its own was a different way of surfing a contest, as it allowed the surfers to be social with the spectators and discuss their wave whilst warming up next to the bonfire and watching the next surfer. Each set entailed 4 waves per rider, 2 rights and 2 lefts. Competitors had the benefit of knowing you were guaranteed waves, they just had to make them count as your 2 highest scoring waves made up your final score. This proved tough as most surfers prefer either right or left but in these heats, they had to surf both.
Saturday was the main day, a 10km race at the Waterworld dam with Ultimate Ears playing music in the background. Firstly, a race briefing was held, where the course was explained including the explanation of the super lap, this always makes the race super exciting and interesting. A super lap is the shortest lap of the 8, which the competitors can utilize once only, at any time. It is a calculating maneuver and if you plan your super lap well it can change the entire race. With 8 laps in total it was a tough race especially with the midday sun. It was a hard-fought race for the top 4 men, Kimon dos Santos pulling the pack for the first 6 laps, then falling back and allowing Chris Couve to take lead. The four battled it out until the 6th lap where Nick Park- Ross decided to take his super lap and broke free of the draft train. Leaving the other 3 contenders Chris Couve, Tom King and Kimon dos Santos to maintain the draft train, all three of them took their super lap on the last lap and came out top at the end of the race. With 1st place going to Chris Couve, 2nd Tom King , 3rd Kimon Dos Santos and 4th Nick Park-Ross. The Ladies race saw an early lead with Jackie de Billot breaking out in front from the start taking the win with Lande Williamson 2nd and Junior Karissa Grace in 3rd place
After the race, there was time for everyone to relax around the pool, enjoying the many activities that Sun City had to offer giving all quality time with family and friends before getting ready for the final SUP Surf contest at 6.30pm.
The evening kicked off with the Diva and Juniorette with 1st place Diva (over 45 years old) going to Sue Maxwell from Cape Town and Juniorette (under 18 years old) to Karissa Grace from Durban. Then it was time for the lady’s finals, this was nail-biting with favorite Tammy Foster getting a bomb of a left but just not getting her 2nd wave to back it up, Khara Thomson took the opportunity and showed us what she was made of with an impressive round taking the lead and securing her first win in a National Surf contest, 3rd place went to Jackie deBillot. All three of these ladies will be representing South Africa in Worlds.
A social Category has been added to all SUPSA sanctioned events for those new to the sport to encourage eager enthusiasts to come and be part of the sport. This division is seeing some new faces and we had young gun Dylan Maxwell scoop the win. Then it was time for the Legends (over 45 years old) show us that they still have it , the experience and talent is immense with Brandon Ribbink taking the title just short of a year after representing South Africa at Cloud Break in Fiji 2016. The final was a hard fought contest between two of South Africa’s top talented SUP Surfers, Tom King and Dylan Frick. They showed off some fins free move and massive sprays, with Tom King current South African Champion taking the win.
Prize giving was held straight after the contest as we celebrated the performances of the event. Of course, celebrating with all the athletes that came out on top.
A big thank you to our Sponsors Sun City and Logiteck Ultimate Ears that made this event possible.
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