The surf forecast was spot on, big and onshore and without exaggerating it was 8ft plus and 40km an hour winds from the North East, it was going to be one of the toughest events these young men were going to take part in. Day two we woke up to an sweet offshore and cooking waves but like clockwork the onshore came busting through right on time and dashed anyone hopes of getting anymore barrels.
However that morning saw three epic barrels go down, Kacey Grant blowing up with two barrels on one wave scoring himself a 10 point ride. Right behind him on barrel skill was Slad Prestwhich finding a deep clean sick barrel, clearly these two guys from the same area surf some really good waves.
In these very testing conditions it the titles and contest wins would go to the person prepared to work the hardest, in these condition it was about getting the job done. Two waves, if you lucky, your first wave had to count with at least two turns on it and within the first 5 min. This would hopefully give you enough time to paddle back out and find another wave amongst all the chaos. That's only if you could get out at back line on your first jump in time for your heat.
In the premier Under 16 division, Brand went into the Southbroom leg of the Quiksilver King of the Groms as joint ratings leader with fellow Kommetjie local and close friend Michael February, and it literally came down to the wire with the first surfer being eliminated effectively losing the series title. And with a trip to France to contest the world finals of the Quiksilver King of the Groms up for grabs, as well as the overall honour of such a prestigious win, both surfers were focused and committed to the task at hand.
Once again Brand used his mechanical backhand attack to muster up the points, while Prestwich found a bank in the middle of the bay to snag two high scores, and with the heat slowly drawing to a close February found himself in third place and facing elimination. Realising that a loss would see his hopes of a repeat of his 2008 Quiksilver King of the Groms Series win, the defending champion stroked into a frothy wall just seconds before the siren signaling the end of the heat. February tried to pull into the barrel but the wave refused to co-operate, and even the close-out turn February executed wasn't enough to pull him through and save his title dreams. As February bowed out, Brand left the water with the 2009 Quiksilver King of the Groms series title and a ticket to France securely in his belt.
With the seeding the way they were it allowed for Kane Bennewith to claw his way through the opposite side of the draw to Brand to the final, hats must go off to this kids sterling performance.
With the minutes ticking past Bennewith took two smaller insiders and posted low scores to take the heat lead, while Brand sat and waited.Bennewith had just pulled out of a smaller inside wave and ended up getting caught by the rogue sets and dragged into the middle of the Southbroom Bay.
As Bennewith struggled against the surging current, Brand quickly made his way back to the lineup to await a second wave which he eventually picked off and again bashed relentlessly with his stylish backhand.
In the Under 20 division, 16 year old Beyrick de Vries from Umhlanga Rocks made it clear that his is a name to look out for in future years.
Sadly for Leppan faulty equipment was to see his title hopes dashed in a dramatic moment in the quarter-finals. With de Vries having advanced through the previous quarter-final heat, Leppan knew he had to get through his quarter-final against Casey Grant (Scottburgh), Matt Bromley (Kommetjie) and Davey van Zyl (Durban) to keep his title dreams alive. But tragedy struck about seven minutes into the heat when the Umhlanga surfer was steam-rolled by a three metre wall of water that snapped his leash and washed his surfboard to the shore. With another three huge waves behind it Leppan found himself floundering in the middle of the Southbroom bay at the mercy of the sea as the other three surfers in his heat continued to surf and build their heat scores.
In the final between Casey Grant and Berryick De Vries with the minutes ticking away de Vries turned and paddled into the smaller wave, and pulled two polished off-the-lips to post a 4.5 and push his lead further out of Grant's reach. With the ocean refusing to play ball, Grant took off on one last wave in an attempt to attain the points he needed to take the title, but the wave closed out on Grant along with his title hopes.
De Vries left the water victorious, collecting the R5,000 winner's cheque for today, a further R5,000 for his series win, and a return air ticket to surfing's most hallowed ground - Hawaii - for the 2009 winter season.
Awsome contest with an awsome result well done to everyone that competed and took on the very testing conditions
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