Jeffreys Bay Surftrips

Team Lizzard emerged victorious in the BloodScan Industry Cup division of the Jeffreys Bay Surf Challenge. Their team, comprising of Antonio Bortoletto, Casey Grant, Klee Strachan and Gavin Roberts, blasted their way through the earlier rounds, and at the end of the day accumulated enough points to claim the trophy.
First place in the Industry Cup division went to Mikey February, surfing for Team BloodScan, who pocketed R 15,000 for the victory. February also won the U20 Boys division and added a further R 7,000 to his winnings, taking home R 22,000 for a long weekend’s work.
The first couple of heats of the day were dogged by a strong northwest berg wind blowing up the point and making it difficult for the surfers to get good scores. Some surfers however, quickly worked out that the same wind that was ruffling the wave surfaces, was also good for aerial moves. Mikey February and Warren Dean were two such surfers who started pulling air moves into the wind and landing them for some good points from the judges.
The U14 Girls final saw St Francis Bay ripper Crystal Hulett take the win from Ashleigh Vaughn. Third and fourth slots were Kai Woolf and Lauren Ridge respectively. In the U14 Boys division Adin Masencamp took the honours, with Jake Elkington, Ethan Fletcher and Jose Faulkner filling up the minor slots.
By the time the U20 Girls headed out for their final heat, the northwest wind that had been blowing all day disappeared, and a few fun little lines started reeling down the point. Tanika Hoffman surfed to victory against Heidi Palmboom, with local sisters Emma Smith and Gina Smith coming in third and fourth respectively.
Mikey February, who had been the topic of conversation all day, picked up two good rides in the beginning of the U20 Boys Final, and kept the lead all the way to the final siren. Davey van Zyl was second, with Max Armstrong and Dylan Lightfoot coming in third and fourth. Mikey was getting good scores from the judges by constantly pulling off those big forehand reverse maneuvers in the micro conditions.
Greg Emslie opened up the Industry Cup final with a solid ride, linking big turns all the way through to the inside on a wave that many thought was the heat winner. Greg went into the lead with an 8.2 score for the wave. Shaun Payne surfed a good final but couldn’t find the right waves and came in fourth place. Gavin Roberts fought hard as well, but could only get one good scoring wave and came in third. Emslie was winning all the way to the end, when Mikey picked up a medium wave and pulled a big reverse air and a few linking turns before launching into another similar air move on the inside, nailing it, and getting the score required for the win.
“It has been a great event,” said a grinning February on receiving his prizes and trophies. “Thanks to BloodScan, my supporters, my sponsors and my family.”
Event sponsor Lewis Khoury from BloodScan was very happy about the event and the participation from the surf industry.
“This event has been awesome,” said Lewis. “It enjoyed a great turnout, and the South African Surf Industry participation has been amazing. So many of the surfers in the industry have expressed their appreciation at the event, which has been very positive.”
Lewis continued to say that there will be more participation from BloodScan in the future. “We will definitely be holding this contest again next year, but it will obviously be bigger and better,” said Lewis. “Everything worked out well at this event except for the surf, which was small throughout, but everyone knows that we could easily score some magic surf in the future. This is Jeffreys Bay after all.”

more pics from this unique event can be found here:
http://www.wavescape.co.za/breaking-news/breaking-news/what-s-in-a-name.html

Mahalo to this unique event form the entire J-Bay Surftrip Crew.