Cape St Francis, Seal Point. First blood came a little late for the winning Border/KuGompo Masters surfing team last weekend.
By that I am being a little cheeky with the emphasis on first — Gareth Sepp was first in his over-55 age division, with Border teammate Wayne Monk finishing second.
That was two big strikes for Border and a solid addition to the team points tally.
In truth, we had been scoring points before the Sepp/Monk juggernaut, but they were second positions in our finals tally.
In the over-65 category, our Gordon Harmer came home a close second to Eden’s Steve Hair.
In the over-60 division, our David Malherbe placed second to on-form maestro Mike Burness from Nelson Mandela Bay.
Over 60 also being this writer’s category, I blundered my wave selection and got knocked out in the semifinal round.
Team points are scored when a surfer finishes in the competition.
Take home a win in the finals of the premier division and you will score 4,000 points for your team.
Second-place points are 10% lower than first, third place is 10% lower than second place, and so on.
I am ever so slightly in a state of shock and awe at the moment.
I just can’t get over the latest Red Bull sports film/documentary, Now Days.
This is a full surf film of the current cutting-edge of women’s surfing and it is a long way beyond radical.
We are talking about eye-popping and jaw-dropping red-hot surfing here.
Even when put side to side with men’s surfing, these young women are completely ripping.
I am not much into energy drinks but next time I buy one, on account of this film, cinematography, content, format and contribution to international surfing for both men and women, I will drink a Red Bull and acknowledge “The Super Six”.
Please google “Now Days Red Bull surfing movie” on the internet and see what I am talking about.
In the bad old days, women’s surfing was somewhat relegated to bikini contests on a ramp and dismal heats in marginal waves with poor prize money.
Our own Wendy Botha (four times world champion) from erstwhile East London (now KuGompo), along with US friends such as Frieda Zamba, Lisa Anderson and Kim Mearig, as well as Pam Burridge, Pauline Menczer and Jodie Cooper from Australia, kicked against the status quo and bust down the door so to speak.
Slowly, prize money and choice of waves for women’s events began to creep up, as did sponsorships, respect and performances.
In 2011, a groundbreaking women’s surf documentary hit the ether.
Nike had decided they were going to enter the surf wear market and their opening access point was going to be women’s surfing.
They put their hand up and signalled their intent with, to my mind, one of the hottest surf films ever launched.
Nike 6.0 Leave a Message — Carissa Moore, Lakey Peterson, Laura Enever, Coco Ho, Monyca Byrne-Wickey and Malia Manuel went on a surf trip together to a number of world class surf spots and with no contest pressure but all excitement turned on, they tore the ocean to shreds.
Along with meaningful short interviews, these young women expressed words, thoughts, philosophy and affirmations that they live by and how and why they love the ocean so much and why they enjoy pushing their limits and the outer boundaries of women’s surfing.
I recall when Leave a Message came out, some guys were in shock and others were just in straight denial.
I recall comments such as “nah mate, chicks don’t surf like that, that has been speeded up and photoshopped”.
AI had not been invented for doctoring surfing movies in 2011.
This movie was a catalyst for a seismic jump in women’s surfing.
I was staggered that after entering the market with such a bang that Nike then decided not to pursue surfing?
Well, 2026 and the new young crew have got the message and they are running with it like a herald to the stars.
Now Days features Caroline Marks (US), Caity Simmers (US), Molly Picklum (Australia), Erin Brooks (Canada), Sierra Kerr (Australia/US) and Sky Brown (UK), just 17 years old!
This film tracks these young women surfing through Indonesia, Tahiti, Mexico and SA.
They are surfing better than I did in the best of my dreams in the best of my days.
I have never once even vaguely imagined an aerial 360º rotation.
Particularly Brown, who comes from Olympic skateboarding background, has translated her vertical bowl skating experience into surfing and is landing some phenomenal flips.
Brooks and Kerr, with bucket loads of wave pool perfection and consistency, have honed some diabolical skills that they have now taken to the ocean.
Picklum demonstrates her mobility, hip flex and warm up routine in an exercise she calls 90/90 level 1, 2, 3 in another short video and you can see why she is the current world champion.
Her talent, physicality and tenaciousness that she displays to be No 1 in the “Super Six” is phenomenal.
Corporate and country sponsorship has moved to a new space in supporting women’s surfing.
Sponsorship of the film and trip is a real shot in the arm for the women.
They have current digital media working for them because every time they film a radical clip, it is instantly circulated among them and the new bar height and goal is immediately set and straight away it is the next target.
Meaningful wave pool training, dieticians, sport psychologists, biokineticists, life skills coaches, physiotherapists, surf board shapers and new approaches to sponsorship and support are driving women’s surfing through the stratosphere.
It surely is a spectacle to behold.
Athletic excellence of the highest order.
The women have stepped away from trying to match men with raw foot-to-foot power and are leaning into their own lane of flexibility, agility, flow, timing, positioning, excellence and speed, and I can tell you it looks great.
I am interested to see how men’s surfing is going to respond to this.
Cheers Red Bull, you have made a fantastic contribution to the entire sport of surfing, and particularly to women. Salute.
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Daily Dispatch
In a surfing heat a surfer’s best two rides will count.
A heat is usually 20 minutes with four surfers competing. The top two advance. The bottom two are now the support crew if they know how to look after their team.
All rides are scored by five judges and positions are tallied.
In a clear win a surfer might have five first positions, which is a unified statement from all judges, but in a split position a competitor may have one first position, three seconds and one third.
The first and the third position are discarded and the three second places count. In this way, most bias is eliminated.
At last weekend’s national championships, the Border team result was in a tough place on Sunday morning.
Nelson Mandela Bay gave a very good account of themselves and had 16 surfers in the semifinals to Border’s 11. They were ahead of our home team by five surfers.
However, as Border over-45 surfer Zaheer Bhyat said in his closing message on the team group chat: “It’s inspirational how the whole team steps it up into 7th gear with their surfing and their support at every SA Championships.
“The Border family team is like no other.”
In the cut from the semis to the finals Border very much held their ground and once the momentum kicked in, first and second positions began to roll in.
Story audio is generated using AI
Big wave surfers Grant ‘Twiggy’ Baker and Stuart Fowles made local history when they surfed the Buffalo City harbour western breakwall in 15- to 18-foot waves (30- to 35-foot faces) in last Friday’s storm while the port was closed to shipping.
Three times World Surfing League champion and having surfed other big wave locations such as Cortes Bank in the North Pacific, Nazaré, Portugal, Jaws in Hawaii, Mavericks, California and Dungeons off Hout Bay, Cape Town, Baker knows a big wave when he sees one.
He said: “The harbour wall is crazy consistent, super readable and reliable and breaks like a giant Australian Kirra Superbank on steroids.”
The wave comes out of deep water onto a shallow sandbar and both men rode a good 20 to 30 waves on that day.
“It is calculated madness,” he says, explaining how he believes he is likely to survive big wave tow-in surfing, adding that at age 53 with his experience he knows how to stay out of trouble.
Fowles, 48, and Baker make a formidable tow surfing team, experience versus gung-ho, sharing jet ski piloting and wave riding.
It has taken a long time for these stars to align.
In recent times, Fowles has been surfing Dungeons with Baker, developing their combined skill set.
Baker explains that big wave safety has exploded in the last 10 years.
“All the jet ski pilots and surfers know how to do CPR. They are all trained in lifesaving and protocol.
“The buoyancy vest they wear is deflated and charged with a CO₂ canister.
“If they really get into trouble, they pull the cord, pop the canister and float to the surface,” he said.
Baker says he has only pulled his buoyancy rip cord once, while as a relative newcomer Fowles has pulled his 12 to 15 times in the last few years.
Tow-in rather than paddle-in makes a far safer drop and if trouble does crop up, the ski is already there.
“It is all about your experience and what you train for,” Baker says.
Put him in the front row of a Springbok rugby scrum and his neck could be snapped in the first impact.
It has taken Fowles a further 12 years to find the right tow partner and the right day
Out in the water, a Bok rugby player might drown in the first pass of a big wave outside set.
Baker had been chasing the swell up the coast since it savaged Victoria Bay and Plettenberg Bay.
His first stop was the fabled outsized waves of Bruce’s Beauties at Cape St Francis.
While local surfers have been mind-surfing the tip of the harbour breakwall for decades.
In 2014, in similar conditions, Fowles jumped off the rocks in front of the Wimpy along the Esplanade and paddled all the way out.
Riding two waves and wiping out on two others, he proved it could be done.
It has taken Fowles a further 12 years to find the right tow partner and the right day.
Jeweller, surf photographer and thalassophile Pierre de Villiers has been watching this wave and dreaming about last Friday’s tow-in surf session for the past 37 years.
The tip of the wall was visible from his classroom as a Hudson Park scholar.
“On Tuesday I spotted what looked like a special swell, a big cut-off low pressure with a pulsing 5m plus south to south-east swell. It looked epic.
“The only wrinkle in my plan was the wind. It was going to be howling,” De Villiers wrote on Facebook.
Explaining that the first person he called was Fowles and then Baker, as they had been chatting about it for a number of years, he said both expressed keen interest.
“Friday and Saturday morning looked like the best window for some big barrel activities and the decision was made to commit,” he said.
Formerly from Buffalo City, now a resident of Cape Town, Fowles drove 1,048km from Cape Town, towing his 1800cc jet ski, to meet Baker who flew in from Durban to ride Friday’s storm surf.
Friday’s wind was brutal, collapsing many tube rides, with Baker escaping his tube rides clean given his experience while Fowles took a “chandelier” on the head — where the lip of the wave collapsed on him — and the tons of water injured his knee.
Recently, Fowles has spent a month in Nazaré, Spain.
Giant waves have put Nazaré on the world map and the local harbour there welcomes surfers when it is closed to shipping.
One wonders to what extent big wave surfing might put Buffalo City on the world map?
De Villiers says the wave breaks about 30 times a year of which about five or six times a year will be world-class.
A call to the port confirmed that the Buffalo City harbour is closed to shipping five or six times a year.
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Surfer of the contest Greg Emslie (over 45) had our home team roaring with approval when he opened his final on the buzzer with a fantastic, perfect 10-point ride.
In his victory speech, Emslie thanked his wife, Chantel, for holding the fort in their family hospitality business while he was out leaning into fierce practice sessions.
Emslie’s speed, flow, class, precision, timing, aggression and particular hunger were exhibited in a masterful display of top-tier surfing.
The problem for opposing teams is the depth of excellence in the Border masters team.
Right behind Greg, last year’s over-45 winner and surfer of the contest, our own Tristan Johnson put in a solid account of himself to lock in a very well-deserved second position.
In the over-40 division, the one-man demolition squad of Tyrell Johnson “blew up”, in surfing parlance.
Usually even the best surfer needs the best wave to win, but not Tyrell Johnson.
He can take a mediocre wave and tear it apart with such speed and violence that a ride which should be only a 3-pointer is suddenly 7 or 8 points.
The man can manufacture points out of nothing.
On one particular wave he faced a very difficult take-off over a rock. He clawed his way over the edge and used the white-water foam as a cushion and freakishly excellent timing to get over the rock.
On the face of the wave, he was now too far back with too much ground to cover.
Where he found so much speed, I do not know, but he had the time and wit to crack three huge off-the-tops on the small wave as he came flying through at superhuman speed.
It was no surprise when the judges awarded him national champion in his age division.
“We were all brave together” — Meeghan Heenop tells me about being scared out of her wits at the Surf Emporium SA Longboard Championships, but paddling out with her teammates anyway in giant waves at Jeffreys Bay Lower Point.
This is both the beauty and the beast of a surfing competition.
Sometimes you are “forced” to go out in waves that you think are far beyond you, and in the end you generally find out that you are tougher than you think.
At a competition like the SA Championships, where the Border longboard team achieved third place, there are enough eyes on you to help quickly if anything starts to go wrong.
Readers might recall last week when monster surf came through Buffalo City.
Jeffreys Bay was not spared by this storm and the waves stood up to such epic proportions that the competition was put on hold for a time.
By the time Meeghan, Neve Bowen and Anne Steiner paddled out, the waves had dropped to a more manageable state, but still looked outside of their abilities.
The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is that Meeghan, Neve and Anne are living their best lives, riding the challenge with the rest of the 37 members in the Border longboard team, and regardless of results in the event, exited the water victorious.
Some days your opponent is your competition and on other days, the sea is your competition. Exit the sea in one piece and you have won.
It is quite a surprise that in this event only two longboards were snapped in half. Waves of this size usually claim more equipment.
The Border team have reason to be proud of their result. Over the past few years, they have tended to field a team of 19 or 20 surfers, finishing sixth.
Between the likes of Wendy Miller, Jason Bowen and the local committee, the energy in our local longboard club has soared to 40 surfers and the team ramped home in third place behind Eastern Province and Western Province.
Recently converted to longboarding, U18 Ndalo Langa has a history in shortboard surfing and he picked up on the new team vibe quickly.
“Everyone is really kind and everyone supports each other,” he said. “It feels like one big family.
“The best experience was that the waves were good and people were mellow and calm. No-one was cocky.”
His mother, Vuyo Langa, also noticed the difference in the spirit of the event.
“I absolutely enjoyed the longboard experience,” she said. “As a first time parent in longboarding, I did not find myself wondering or having to ask.
“The leaders of the team were courteous and engaging. Big ups to Wendy and Jason for being very organised.
“I found the people to be very relaxed.
“Interesting observation of the surfers — you’d swear they were not in a competition.
“They seemed to be really competing for fun and probably competing with themselves more than others.
“There was no competitive tension and generally a high spirit.”
Ex-Gauteng-born-and-raised Meeghan has somehow always wanted to be a surfer.
In her high school years, she explained to her mother that she was going to waitress in J-Bay and become a surfer.
With a little bit of pressure from mom and dad, she ended up studying a BSc and qualifying as a dietician.
Dreams do come true and after marrying her man, Erhard, they moved to the coast to live in Gonubie, Buffalo City.
Coached into the waves by local surfer, Dr Welman Bartleman, Meeghan has found her tribe in the local longboard club.
Thanks to live heats broadcast on the internet, mom in Gauteng was able to watch her daughter surf the waves of J-Bay.
For some time, mom has perhaps been hoping that daughter and son-in-law might return to Egoli, the city of gold, but all of a sudden it is apparent there is more gold down at the sea than inland.
That which glitters is at the end of a good ride on a nine-foot longboard.
Ask Meeghan Heenop — she will confirm it.
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In the premier over-35 division, Border were thrilled to support home champions Keegan Nel and Clinton Gravett.
Gravett opened his account with a solid 5.5 ride to defend his 2025 SA title, closely followed by Nel with perhaps the wave of the day, huge turns and 7.67 points.
Many in our team thought he had been underscored and that a 9 or 9.5 would not have been unreasonable, but what the judges call is the way it is and suddenly the ocean went flat and the surfers were scratching for rides.
With 3 minutes and 30 seconds to go in the 20-minute final, Gravett was lying third but managed to scratch into a medium wave and hammer 4.7 points out of the ride.
Not enough to take the win but more than enough to drive the one/two combination punch for home team Border.
Keegan Nel, who has been away from competition surfing for 20 years, endorsed his welcome return to our home team with the national title in the over-35 division and a good reason to celebrate his 40th birthday last week.
With eight provinces competing and 160 of the nation’s best surfers in the water it is a feather in the cap of Border/KuGompo surfing that our masters have come home again as national champions with 18 victories in 20 events in 21 years.
Team positions were: 1. Border 40,825 points, 2. Nelson Mandela Bay 36,580, 3. Ugu 31,120, 4. Cape Winelands 29,960, 5. Cape Town Surf 29,950, 6. Eden 29,740, 7. Ethekwini 29,383, 8. Ilembe 23,459.
Nelson Mandela Bay are commended for their spirited performance.
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