Top surfers put Eastern Cape on map in online surf contest

In celebration of Women’s Month, three of the Eastern Cape’s top surfers will go head-to-head in the opening round of the women’s category of the Rip Curl E-Pro SA on Saturday.

Kai Woolf (Jeffreys Bay), Faye Zoetmulder (Cape St Francis) and East London’s Zoe Steyn will be among the contenders looking to submit their best waves to advance into the latter rounds of the competition.

The competition, which forms part of the larger Surf Web Series (SWS), will see the addition of a women’s category after receiving numerous entries, SWS spokesperson Craig Jarvis said on Friday.

Jarvis said the Kouga municipality had thrown its weight behind the women’s event in a bid to raise awareness about Women’s Month.

“These surfers are some of the best on the women’s surfing scene.

“It is great that the municipality has got involved,” Jarvis said.

“We opened it up to 32 surfers for a combined men’s and women’s event, but due to growing interest we decided to host a separate competition for women.

In the men's category, round four of the Rip Curl E-Pro SA is set for some heavyweight battles after the conclusion of the third round of the online surfing contest earlier this week.

The Eastern Cape will be represented on the men’s side by Ari Kraak, Dale Staples, Donovan Zoetmulder and Steven Sawyer, who advanced to the fourth round after finishing in the top two of the respective heats.

Surfers to advance to round three are:

Chad du Toit, Max Elkington, Gavin Roberts, Steven Sawyer (Jeffreys Bay), Josh Redman, Ari Kraak (Jeffreys Bay), Davey van Zyl, Casey Grant, Donovan Zoetmulder (Port Elizabeth), Dale Staples (originally from St Francis Bay), Luke Slijpen, Eli Beukes, Brad Scott, Shane Sykes, Jordy Maree and Dan Redman.