Update on EP team @ Hurley SA Junior Champs

10/5/2012

EP's Gina Smith racing the Point wall

South Africa’s top junior female surf stars lit up the waves at the Point in Jeffreys Bay on Day 2 of the Hurley SA Junior Champs, revelling in the clean 0.5 to one metre swell pulsing along the rocky shore fanned by a stiff offshore wind.

Occasional morning rain squalls did nothing to dampen the spirits of the nine competing provincial squads at they gathered at the water’s edge to encourage their peers to greater heights with the smaller teams such as Zululand and the SA Development Academy matching the enthusiasm of their larger counterparts from KwaZulu-Natal Central, the always passionate Border crew and Southern KZN.

Gina Smith set the standard by hooking into a couple of clean lines that reeled down the point in the first heat of the day, enabling the J-Bay local to perform a series of manoeuvres that impressed the judges and gave her the heat victory and passage straight into Round 3.

Reigning SA U13 girls champion Kai Woolf (EP) showed that she is the one to beat in her home surf by posting a comprehensive win in her Round 1 match-up. The diminutive blonde caught the best waves and punctuated her rides with solid turns to progress directly to Round 3 in the youngest division.

Ashley Vaughn from PE really surfed well racking up scores of 6 to 7 per wave and impressing all spectators with her performance of the day. Robin vd Merwe (PE) earned a well deserved second for her heat, showing she had improved dramatically in the two years since she had started surfing. Crystal Hullet battled it out in a very difficult heat to score a 2nd place.