Maree waves others goodbye

Cape Town’s Jordy Maree pulled off a stunning victory in the final of the World Surfing League (WSL) qualifying series-rated Royal St Andrews Hotel Port Alfred Classic yesterday.

After losing out in the semifinal against David van Zyl last week in Port Elizabeth, Maree had his work cut out for him.

He went one-on-one against Australian Jordan Lawler, who pulled off a perfect 10 in his semifinal heat against the legendary Greg Emslie.

In the battle of the goofy footers, Maree was quickest out the blocks with a 7.25 on his first wave, followed later by a 6.45 to end the heat on 13.7 and edge out Lawler by the narrowest of margins – only 0.8 points.

“I am really happy to be here on the podium. I didn’t even think I would make it through the first round,” Maree said.

In what was arguably the most exciting heat of the day, Steven Sawyer carded the highest heat score of the day with a 9 and 9.5 to crack the 18.5 mark in his longboard semifinal against last week’s champion, Michael Hill.

The former WSL No 2 could unfortunately not produce a repeat performance in the final and went down to two-time world longboarding champion Matthew Moir.

Moir was highly impressed with how well the contest was run and extremely grateful for the opportunity to compete in a QS rated longboarding event in South Africa.

“It was amazing that the sponsors let longboarding be part of the shortboard contest and it is so good that the WSL recognises longboarding again in South Africa,” he said.
The women’s shortboard event was won by Josefina Ane of Argentina who ousted Nicole Pallet and Sophie Bell on her way to the final.

Ane was up against up-andcomer Zoe Steyn, 14, who got the better of well-respected competitors Emma Smith and Crystal Hulett, who won the women’s longboarding event.

With long lulls between sets on the low tide at East Beach, scoring was tricky but in the end Ane managed a 13.75 to 7.5 victory over Steyn.

“It is my first QS win and I am really happy and thankful for all the people who came out. I am really happy,” Ane said in a heavy Spanish accent, smiling from ear to ear.

In the women’s longboarding final the day before, Hulett outclassed Marishka Myers on a board borrowed from Steven Sawyer.

She lost her board last weekend in Port Elizabeth and has been trying out different boards to find one that works for her.

“This win represents the start of my longboarding career because I really want to try and excel and push myself a little bit more,” Hulett said.

“After losing my board, I was grateful to find one that suits my style of surfing.”

The next stop on the City Surf Series calendar is East London for the Mitchum Buffalo City Surf Pro presented by Reef Wetsuits, taking place next weekend from April 13-15.