SURFING NEWS - Nahoon Beach, East London: Durban surfer S’nenhlanhla Makhubu gave a powerful performance in the Final of the U16 Girls division at the 2017 Sea Harvest Nahoon Junior Open presented by Twizza Sunday (April 30th) to take her first major South African Surf Tour victory.
Using the contestable 2 foot beach break conditions to best effect, Makhubu posted 13,50 points out of a possible twenty in beating East London local, Tayla de Coning, into second place. De Coning scored 12.50 points to uMhlanga based SAST U16 Girls ratings leader Kayla Nogueira’s 11.8 points which gave Nogueira third spot ahead of Summer Sutton of Kommetjie.
Luke Slijpen of Hout Bay came into this event looking for a good result and his victory in this 3A rated SA Surf Tour event was just what he needed. He dominated the U16 Boys Final, posting a solid 14 point heat score.
Thomas Lindhorst of East London scored 9.5 points to claim the runner up spot. Only ,2 points separated third placed Max Elkington of Kommetjie and East London local Bryce du Preez, who had to settle for fourth.
U14 Girls honours went the way of the talented Nogueira whose 12,5 points were ,6 points more than those of East London runner up, Zoe Steyn. Fellow Buffalo City local, Aimee du Preez scored 6.65 to finish third ahead of KZN South Coast surfer Jesse Powell.
In the U14 Boys final Nate Spalding of Durban posted 13.90 points to secure the win over Mitch du Preez, whose 12.15 points gave him second place of fellow East London surfers,Daniel Emslie, who came third and Reilly Mare, who was fourth.
River Gericke of Wilderness posted 12.30 points in the U12 Final which gave him the win over ratings leader Kyra Bennie of Vredehoek by 2.1 points while C Jay Posthumus of Port Elizabeth was third and Nathan Plomaritis of Cape St Francis took fourth place. The top girl in this mixed division was Emma Bedser of East London and Zia Hendricks of Jeffreys Bay was the second placed girl.
