NATIONAL NEWS - Africa’s best ever year for professional surfing was launched yesterday (Tuesday) when the 2017 WSL Africa schedule featuring 13 events totaling R13 million in prize-money was unveiled at a media function in Durban to announce the inaugural Volkswagen SA Open of Surfing presented by Hurley.
Taking place at locations that range from Lamberts Bay on the West Coast to Durban on the East Coast, and including an event in Morocco co-sanctioned with WSL Europe, the schedule comprises events for men, women, junior (18-and-under) men and women and also incorporates outreach programmes designed to spread the stoke of surfing.
Sanctioned by Surfing South Africa, the national governing body for the sport, the local events will be a huge benefit to South Africa’s current and future surf stars who will be able to accumulate prize-money and coveted World Surf League (WSL) Qualifying Series (QS) ranking points at their home breaks without having to incur exorbitant international travel costs. The points will also qualify them for entry into the major events overseas.
The season starts with the Nelson Mandela Bay Surf Pro presented by Billabong from April 7-9, the first WSL rated event ever to be staged in Port Elizabeth. Offering QS1,000 rated events for men and women plus JQS1,000 rated events for junior men and women, the three-day tournament has a total prize-pool of R80,000 and is the first of five events in the City Surf Series.
Next up is the Buffalo City Surf Pro presented by Reef Wetsuits over the Easter weekend (April 15-17), where pro surfing returns to East London for the first time in a decade followed by the Corona Durban City Surf Pro presented by Quiksilver (April 21-23). These events have the same format and prize-money as the Port Elizabeth event.
May 20-21 sees the BOS Cape Crown presented by Billabong taking place at Long Beach, Kommetjie in Cape Town. This Surfing South Africa initiated event is first of three stand-alone JQS1,000 events for junior men and women that include the Billabong Junior Series events at Ballito (June 27-29) and Cape St Francis (Sep 22-25).
Points from these events will also count towards the 2017 WSL Africa Junior titles and selection of the four men and two women who will represent the region at the WSL World Junior Championships in Australia next January.
The second annual Vans Surf Pro Classic, which takes place in Lamberts Bay (June 2-4), has added a QS1,000 women’s event to the men’s and junior men’s events this year and then the focus moves back to KwaZulu-Natal for the inaugural Volkswagen SA Open of Surfing in Durban (June 14-18).
This QS3,000 rated contest has a R1 million prizepurse and includes a QS1,000 women’s and junior men’s and women’s events.
Competitors in all four categories will be logging up the air miles as they return to Big Bay in Bloubergstrand for the QS1,000 and JQS1,000 rated Jordy Smith Cape Town Surf Pro presented by O’Neill (June 23-25) which will take place under the iconic landmark of Table Mountain.
