2005 Peugeot SA Masters Surfing Championships

The huge cold front and massive southerly swell which battered the South African coastline over the weekend (August 25 and 26) had a major impact on the inaugural Peugeot SA Masters Championships when conditions at St Michaels on Sea on the KZN South Coast, the venue for the tournament, became so dangerous that organisers feared for the lives of surfers in the last two or three heats on the Saturday morning of the event (August 25).

As ten foot waves poured down the St Mike's point like freight trains the paddle into the lineup became almost impossible and at times downright dangerous and surfers and officials alike had their work cut out for them as they battled to make the right decisions.

Numerous surfboards broke and some of South Africa's most experienced surfers found themselves in life threatening situations as they were swept across the St Michaels Bay.

Zig Zag staffer Mike Frew had a lucky escape when he was caught in the impact zone after riding an 8 foot monster during his Saturday heat and said on getting to the beach, " I was very nervous. I was right in the impact zone and I knew the only way to get in was to swim. It was impossible to bodysurf out of the danger area and with sets coming I really was worried that I would not make it to the shore"

Some surfers spent up to 25 minutes paddling in an effort to get into the lineup but had to give up when they were washed into the impact area while some made it to the back, caught just one wave and won the heat. Sense prevailed and after running only 12 heats, the event was placed on hold at midday.

Conditions at St Mikes were even more scary on Sunday (August 26) the final day of competition and although Boland surfer Morne Van der Merwe was the fist surfer to brave the conditions early on Sunday morning he only managed to ride one wave before returning to the safety of the beach.

SA Champion Shane Thorne, local Gary van Wieringen and Jeffrey's Bay surfer Craig Els were unable to paddle into the lineup and when this happened organisers made a decision to move the whole event to Durban's Bay of Plenty some 200km away. Ironically the only other time a major national championship had moved from a fixed venue was in 1984 when sardines and sharks disrupted the SA Championships at St Michaels.

Thanks to great cooperation from KZN Surfing Association officials, who organised and set up an infrastructure at Bay of Plenty good enough to run an event of this stature,the final nine hours of competition was completed in time. Split peaks were used to hold two separate sets of heats and finals and despite really difficult onshore surf, the 2005 Peugeot SA Masters Championships was completed just before the sun disappeared completely.

The move to Durban disrupted hosts Southern KZN's fundraising efforts and lost them home advantage in the bid for the Peugeot trophy, which is awarded to the winning team, but they fought hard to maintain their momentum and were rewarded with their fist ever national team title and a morale boosting victory over KZN, the strongest province in the country.

Another boost for the province was the victory by Southern KZN stalwart Frikkie Van Den Berg in the Legends final. Van Den Berg has represented his beloved Southern KZN at 35 National Championships and his win in the Legends division at the Southern KZN hosted event brought tears to the eyes of his teammates and supporters.

Border were third behind Southern KZN and KZN, with rookie province Zululand putting together an outstanding team performance to come fourth. A well organised and committed Boland made history when they beat Eastern Province into sixth place. Boland's more established neighbours, Western Province, were eighth making the Peugeot masters the first ever contest in which Boland have beaten WP.
The President's Team were seventh.

There was strong competition for individual honours in each of the four age divisions despite the marginal onshore conditions.

The Senior Men's crown went the way of 2004 champion Ryan Ribbink of the Bluff who produced two of the highest scoring rides of the contest in the final heat of the event.

Andrew Banks of Southern KZN, who won the equivalent title in onshore surf at St Mikes in 2003, came second. Banks was one of the standout surfers at the Peugeot event, both in and out of the water and was a popular runner up to Ribbink.

KZN surfer Dale Bamford was third behind Banks and Frankie Oberholzer of Warner Beach, another member of the President's Team, was fourth.

With just a few minutes to go the Masters final looked all over with leader Mark Wright of KZN's nearest challenger needing a nine point ride to take honours. That surfer was Andre Malherbe of Border, the only surfer in the final who had never won a national title at any level. Incredibly with just seconds to go Malherbe produced a ride in excess of nine points and Wright had to settle for second place.
Malherbe's more experienced brother David, was third with fellow Border surfer Gareth Sepp finishing fourth.

In the Veterans division Bluff local Rudy Palmboom (Snr) produced the goods to beat former five time SA Open champion Chris Knutsen of Zululand into second place.An indication of the high standard of this division which featured surfers over 40 years of age, was the fact that Palmboom was awarded the Zig Zag Blowing Up Trophy and R10000 and Knutsen the award for the surfer who scored the highest heat score of the event.

Border surfer Brian Heathcote was third and Boland's only finalist in the four divisions, martin Rennhackamp, was fourth.

The Legends division, for surfers 55 and over, had to wait until the last hour of the three day contest to surf their five man final and their only heat of the contest but they gave their all in the tough conditions and showed that surfing could still be a competitive sport well over retirement age.

Frikkie Van den Berg of the host province Southern KZN, beat Andy Austin of Border into second place with St Mikes local, Dave Clark, a member of the President's team came third.

Clark is the father of ASP world Tour surfer Heather, who delayed her flight to a World Championship event so she could support her father at the Peugeot Masters.John Scheepers of Eastern Province was fourth and Mike Patterson of Zululand came fifth.

The inaugural Peugeot SA Masters Championships was a major success despite the disruptions caused by Mother Nature and credit must go to the hosts Southern KZN,the contest officials and the teams of surfers who entered into the spirit of the event..

At the prizegiving Peugeot National Sales manager Johnathan Mc Conkey praised the surfers and organisers and said " we will be back next year".

FULL RESULTS : 2005 PEUGEOT SA MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS

PEUGEOT TEAM TROPHY
1. SOUTHERN KZN 33840
2. KZN 32368
3. BORDER 31455
4. ZULULAND 26930
5. BOLAND 25065
6. EASTERN PROVINCE 24534
7. PRESIDENTS TEAM 23217
8. WESTERN PROVINCE 18340

SENIOR MEN (28-34)
1. RYAN RIBBINK (THE BLUFF, KZN - PRESIDENTS TEAM)
2. ANDREW BANKS (PORT EDWARD- SKZN)
3. DALE BAMFORD (DBN, KZN)
4. FRANKIE OBERHOLZER (WARNER BEACH, PRESIDENTS TEAM)

MASTERS (35-44)
1. ANDRE MALHERBE (EAST LONDON, BORDER)
2. MARK WRIGHT (DURBAN, KZN)
3. DAVID MALHERBE (EAST LONDON, BORDER)
4. GARETH SEPP (GONUBIE, BORDER)

VETERANS (45-54)
1. RUDY PALMBOOM ( THE BLUFF, KZN)
2. CHRIS KNUTSEN (DBN NORTH, ZULULAND)
3. BRIAN HEATHCOTE (EAST LONDON, BORDER)
4. MARTIN RENNHACKAMP (SOMERSET WEST, BOLAND)

LEGENDS (OVER 55)
1. FRIKKIE VAN DEN BERG (ST MIKES, SKZN)
2. ANDY AUSTIN (EAST LONDON, BORDER0
3. DAVE CLARK (ST MIKES, SKZN)
4. JOHN SCHEEPERS (PORT ELIZABETH, EP)
5. MIKE PATTERSON (DBN, ZULULAND)

ZIG ZAG BLOW UP AWARD
RUDY PALMBOOM

HIGHEST SCORE
CHRIS KNUTSEN

Source: Surfing South Africa

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