Ntando Msibi of KwaZulu-Natal put in a brilliant finals performance in choppy seas and erratic swells at Port Alfred’s East Beach on Sunday November 12 to win the Royal St Andrews Hotel Amanzi Challenge Men’s surfing Open title.
Msibi outperformed and out-manoeuvred current SA men’s Open champion Thomas Lindhorst, (3rd place) Christian Venter, (2nd) and Joshe Faulkner (4th) in the Surfing SA-sanctioned event in difficult windy conditions to be crowned the new title-holder.
Msibi was the toast of his teammates as he emerged from the surf at the conclusion of the final and was hoisted on the shoulders of a fellow surfer as they sang and danced along the shoreline.
“I was just in my rhythm man …. I was just having fun,” he said while trying to catch his breath. “The waves are different to back home in Durban, but it’s fine. The waves here hold more and run longer than on the beach in KZN,” said the 26-year old surfer.
“The final I thought was going to be a bit challenging but then once I got in to the first wave I just got in to a fun mode. I believe I beat the reigning SA Men’s Open Champion Thomas Lindhorst: I am totally excited and just shocked.”
Venter who had to concede to Msibi said despite the fierce winds, the waves were contestable.
“The waves were really fine, it was windy of course but there were swells and the scoring potential was there. My heat yesterday felt good … I was confident today but the waves didn’t come my way but I had fun and I am certainly stoked.”
Contest director Luqmaan Bruce explained Msibi’s extraordinary run that won him the final: “Ntando had the highest wave of the final … for a series of back-hand manoeuvres and he had a decent back-up wave. He was challenged by some of the other surfers but nobody else could back up their good waves. Ntando really sealed the deal with his last wave to put it out of reach of his rivals.”
In the Open Ladies competition, Anastasia Venter took home first prize ahead of Adriel Wolmarans and Danielle Powis
Port Alfred’s Lily Heny who is off to Brazil next week to compete in the Junior World Cup after receiving her SA colours, swept the boards in the U16 and U18 girls’ finals winning both events. In the U16 final Heny who is known for her courageous go-for- broke style, made short work of rivals Jasmine Venter, Mikayla Jefferis and Bekie Downey before going on to do the same in the U18 competition.
“It’s pretty cool it’s actually my first win of the year, so I’m stoked. This year was a really tough year but it turned out well in the end with my selection for Junior Worlds. This is a good competition for me to participate in because it keeps me in that competitive mindset …. And I feel like it makes me more ready for Brazil,” she said in between competing.
Joshua Jefferis made it a clean sweep in the U16 and U18 Boys competition by dominating both divisions to secure the titles. Local surfer Owen Heny came in second and Carl Wiersma fourth in their respective competitions.
Bodyboarders and surfers competed together in the water as part of a combined programme. Given the intense rivalry that exists between bodyboarders and surfers, this unusual step taken, is apparently unheard of and the arrangement is said to be a huge step forward for both sports.
In the pro division bodyboarding final, Hugo Naude saw off Darren Halse and Clinton Millard in a tight duel where they showed off their skills in extreme conditions, among them air roll spins and aerial 360 degree turns. The strong westerly gusting up to 65km/h at one stage, broke the swells early and surfers and body surfers must be commended for their skills and patience to provide those spectators lining the adjacent pier with top surfing entertainment.
Well-known Port Alfred bodyboarder and former SA men’s Champion, Millard was excited about the combined surfing and bodyboarding initiative.
“There’s always a bit of rivalry between bodyboarders and surfers but we saw each of the divisions trying to push each other to try and do better in the water … and as a result, there were really big aerial manoeuvres in the water and it was great to see,” said Millard.
“It’s not usual to have the two sports together in the water in competition and we actually saw it for the first time in many many years and it was really a great success,” he added.
The inflatable boats could not make it out to sea because of the rough conditions. As a result, the Kowie River experienced the speed of the inflatables, providing a heightened adrenaline rush for spectators who lined the river banks to witness the high speed spectacle.
Stefan Lindeque who won the Martin Bekker floating trophy for accumulating the most points over two days of racing on the Kowie River said they enjoyed their stay and would definitely be back to race again.
“It was pretty good .. we came expecting fun waves but it was too dangerous out to sea. We had some good, fast exciting racing,” said Lindeque.
“Today we did a distance of 100km on the water and it went pretty quick because we managed to reach some nice speeds on the water. It was pretty much fun going so fast in the canals and seeing all the spectators on the side.”
Royal St Andrews Hotel is the sponsor and owner Justin Bekker confirmed that next year’s Amanzi Challenge has been pencilled in from September 23 to September 30, and said plans are afoot to grow the event.
“The weekend has been amazing … the surfing and bodyboarding were challenging as the conditions weren’t the greatest, but everyone pulled through. And the rubber ducks were great too with so many people lined up along the river bank to watch,” said Bekker.
“The objective over the last two years is to build up the Royal St Andrews Hotel Amanzi Challenge … so next year we are planning to host from September 23 -30 and to get World Surfing involved from the bodyboarding and surfing side. We also are busy trying to secure other sports initiatives that the local community can participate in.”
Surfing Results:
U16 Girls final
Lily Heny
Jasmine Venter
Mikayla Jefferis
U18 Girls final
Lily Heny
Anastasia Venter
Jasmine Venter
U16 boys final
Joshua Jefferis
Owen Heny
Carl Wiersma
U18 boys final
Joshua Jefferis
Oliver Pasco
Caleb Rogers
Open Men’s final
Ntando Msibi
Christian Venter
Tom Lindhorst
Open Women’s final
Anastasia Venter
Adriel Wolmarans
Danielle Powis
