EL SALVADOR 2019 – Repo Rounds and Vuvuzela’s

by | Nov 30, 2019 | El Salvador World Championships, ISA, South African Surfing Championships, Stand Up Paddle, SUP Events, SUP Surfing, Surfing South Africa, Uncategorized

Surf – Day 2

With yesterday’s round 2 Men being moved out to day 2 meant that we had Dylan’s round 2 and repo rounds lined up for us. This had the South African team start their Friday – relaxed and ready for a surf-filled day.

Dylan’s round two didn’t go exactly as he would’ve preferred. He had a few great waves with scoring the highest scored wave in his heat, but the last seconds of the heat did not provide the expected set that only arrived after the cut off time. Dylan placed third behind the Peruvian – Dave de Amas – and the United States of America’s Zane Schweitzer, getting him into the repo rounds.

Three South Africans in repo rounds offered great entertainment for the crowds – with a lot of vuvuzela bellows and waving of the South African flag on classic rock ‘n roll oldies, including Thunderstruck, Eye of the Tiger and a Man’s World. Matthew Maxwell and Dylan Frick were sorted in the same repo round 1 with Sean Hovell and Jamie Andrew, both from New Zealand. Our objective – 1st and 2nd place. Matt had a great first wave, scoring him a 5.33 followed by Dylan with a 5.17. The two Saffas kept on ruling the score board until the end with Dylan ending first and Matthew in second place. They will be surfing in round 2 of the repo rounds on day 3, without having to face each other until the very end. 

Khara’s repo round followed with battling it out against Alejandra Brito from Mexico, Natalia De La Lama from Argentina and Laura Del Pont from Italy. The swell had grown throughout the day with great sets coming through, paired with a cross wind and pulling rip. Khara ruled the score board from her first wave until the very last, with Argentina, Mexico and Italy battling to keep up. Khara ended the heat with first place and Argentina with second. 

Our day 3 will have an 8 o’clock start when Dylan battles it out against Moritz Mauch from Germany, Jose Gomez from Peru and Geronimo Rogers from Argentina. He will start at 8:20 am (16:20 in South Africa). Matthew is in heat 3 of day 3’s repo rounds (H39) going up against Jefferson Tascon from Columbia, Franco Bono from Chile and Daniel Hughes from the United States of America. Matthew will be on directly after Dylan at 8:40 am (16:40 in South Africa). Khara’s next repo round will take place at 9:40 am (17:40 in South Africa) against Candice Appleby and Lara Claydon from the United States of America and Aline Adisaka from Brazil. 

Remember to check in with us on Whatsapp and on the ISA Live Streaming page. 

Great images taken by Ben Reed and Sean Evans. 

 

EL SALVADOR 2019 – Let the surfing begin

by | Nov 29, 2019 | El Salvador World Championships, ISA, Prone, South African Surfing Championships, Stand Up Paddle, SUP Events, SUP Racing, SUP Surfing, Surfing South Africa, Uncategorized

Surfing – Day 1

A good, great, sunny day in El Salvador and the surfing is getting everyone hyped up and ready for the entertainment. Matt, Dylan and Khara had their first round in the World Championship Surfing. All surfers had quite a challenge to get waves in their heats because of the swell that died down throughout the week – so it was all about getting waves where you could and showcasing as much skill as possible on the waves you got.

Matt started off with a great first wave with a few critical turns on the below average conditions and managed to hold second place until the last 20 seconds where the New Zealand surfer got a great set and jumped from third to first. Matthew will be partaking in the repo rounds on day 2. Dylan was up next and got to surf a few killer waves keeping a steady second place behind Tamil Martino from Peru. The commentators enjoyed Dylan’s board swimming below sea level but this didn’t stop him getting great turns on every wave he went for. Khara partook in heat 5 with Hannah Finlay-Jones from Australia, Takayo Yokoyama from Japan and Viania Torres from Peru. Khara went for the first wave and scored well with 5 turns placing first in the first 5 minutes. Vania from Peru got the second wave and jumped the scoreboard to first place. Khara ended her heat at third place behind Australia and will be going through to repo rounds with Matthew.

Today is Surf Day 2 where Dylan will take part in round two at 9:20 am and Matt and Khara will take part in repo rounds this afternoon. You can stay up to date on the live streaming on the ISA website, on our Whatsapp chat (let Anja know) or on Instagram live on the SASUPTEAM profile.

EL SALVADOR 2019 – Technical Race Finals and favourite restaurants

by | Nov 28, 2019 | El Salvador World Championships, ISA, South African Surfing Championships, Stand Up Paddle, SUP Events, SUP Racing, SUP Surfing, Uncategorized

Early mornings are met with the most beautiful sunrises. We wake up, walk out on our balconies, look left and see a spectacle of colours as the sun rises. Some go out for a morning surf and are met with a crowd of SUPs and surfboards already catching waves before 6 am.

Wednesday started early with a 7:30 am start for the Technical Race Finals for Prone boards, Juniors and Open Women and Men. The technical race consisted of 5 buoy turns in a lap, which the athletes repeated three times. Tyra and Ethan showed up with skill and endurance with Tyra placing 7th and Ethan placing 9th in each of their races. The Junior Technical Races followed the prone board racers. Migael, finally, got on the water to race. Migael was the youngest athlete by three years out of all the athletes. Some double his size but he was ready nonetheless. Migael rode a brilliant wave in the first lap but could not find any other waves in the last two laps. He placed 11th out of the junior boys. Congratulations Migael, you have learnt and grown so much this year, and we are incredibly excited to see where Stand Up Paddling takes you. Dylan Frick competed in the Men’s Final Technical Race to end off the day. This race was a very fast Technical Race. The waves died down and the wind picked up. He caught some great runs on the down-wind, overtaking the 11th spot but when he got to the wave area, he could not manage to catch any wave. Dylan placed 12th in the Men’s Final. Well done Dylan, what a great race!

The SA SUP Team has a few favourite lunch and dinner spots. Some of our favourites: Burrito Café for burritos, Dale Dale Café for smoothies and veggie burgers or the pesto and prawn pasta, Taco Surf for their incredible burritos and pasta’s before race days, Point Break Café for the best coffee in El Tunco and the Italian Bistro for pizzas.

The Surfing starts on Thursday where Khara, Dylan and Matt will showcase their skills. They will start with Men Surfing from 8:00 – 12:00, Women from 12:00 – 14:00 and the Men again from 14:00 – 16:00.

Thank you for the support from South Africa – we can feel it out here.

EL SALVADOR 2019 – Technical Races and Relay Day

by | Nov 27, 2019 | El Salvador World Championships, ISA, Prone, South African Surfing Championships, Stand Up Paddle, SUP Events, SUP Racing, SUP Surfing, Surfing South Africa, Uncategorized

We had an early start on Tuesday. 6:00 check in, 7:00 race brief and a 7:30 start to 4 very exciting Technical Race heats. Khara had a tough heat to compete in and paddled into 9th with 0.24.34, which would’ve landed her a 3rd in the first heat where Candice Applebey paddled a 0.24.39 placing her third. Drained and heated, Khara had a great race. Dylan’s heat followed the women’s second heat. A tough group but with a great start he made it into 7th from the front knowing that he would have to keep his pace and overtake at least 1 paddler to make it to finals on Wednesday. He gave it all he got. Went for a wide on the surf to paddle Panama in, which sent him a little bit further from the buoy than preferred. But with a perfect run in the last 100 m. Dylan made it to the beach, jumping on the sand and making his way across the finish line a few meters before Panama, getting him his 6th place and into the final.

With great excitement, Dylan, Khara, Tyra and Ethan got ready for the Relay race. The relay started with the Prone men (Ethan Buncombe), followed by SUP women (Khara Doyle), Prone women (Tyrs Buncombe) and finished with SUP men (Dylan Frick). Lined up and off they went. Most of the field of prone men cleaned up by a big set as they rounded the first bouy on lap one but Ethan survived and recovered to end his 400m in 4th place. Khara and Tyra paddled well to maintain our position, with Khara catching a great wave and Tyra keeping up brilliantly. Dylan started the last leg in 7th place and was sitting in 8th by the time he rounded the outside mark. He spotted a large set wave approaching and paddled wide of the bouy to allow himself room to catch it and surf past 3 paddlers ahead of him. Japan just managed to catch the same wave on the inside and because they were closer to the finish chute had a shorter run and just managed to sprint to the line ahead of him to claim the Copper medal position.

The event ended early today – which allowed everyone to get sme good El Salvadorian food and rest, foolowed by an ocean and pool swim, smoothie, siesta and walk on the beach.

 

EL SALVADOR 2019 – Long distance races and a gold

by | Nov 26, 2019 | El Salvador World Championships, ISA, Prone, South African Surfing Championships, Stand Up Paddle, SUP Events, SUP Racing, SUP Surfing, Surfing South Africa, Uncategorized

Who thought long distance races could be so exciting. It started out to be a sunny, warm morning in El Salvador. Tyra spent the first hour of the day getting used to the England Team board and the rest had a surf. 7:00 – check in; 8:00 race brief and 8:35 – Tyra got on her prone board and off she went. 18 kilometers. El Salvadorian heat. And salty water. The first 6 km’s went good for all athletes. The problems starting coming in on the second round where a lot of the athlete’s missed the 2nd or 4th buoy. Everyone, on land and on the streaming were running around, asking questions and stating bold statements about possible disqualifications, but all had to wait for ISA comments. As for the athletes, they were unaware of it all and continued on their race. Tyra almost missed buoy 2 but luckily corrected it as she almost passed it. Little did she know that she was one of only two prone athletes who made all the buoy turns, resulting in a gold or silver. Read our Press Release below.

Women long distance were followed with a two hour rest and the men final. Conditions looked different, but Ethan was ready to take it on. After a cut in his foot while celebrating Tyra’s gold, he got on his board and started his 18 km journey. It was a fast, grueling 18 km for the men with great excitement as the exitted the water. Ethan ended with a 7th place, showing great skill, calls on the water and good wave surfs in round 1 & 2.

A massive well done for both of our athletes, we are incredibly proud of you! Thank you for all of the support back home.

South African wins Gold at the 2019 International Surfing Association World Stand-up Paddleboarding Championships in El Salvador.

 

Tuesday November 26th: Tyra Buncombe of the Western Cape was crowned the 2019 ISA Woman’s World Long Distance Prone Paddleboard Champion yesterday, after winning the 18km race in brutally hot conditions at Playa El Tunco, El Salvador.

In a day of high drama, numerous competitors in both the Woman’s Stand Up Paddleboard, as well as the Woman’s Prone Paddleboard Races, completed the three lap course incorrectly and were disqualified.   

Twenty year old Buncombe, who is competing in the World Championships for the first time, navigated the course correctly and was awarded the Gold Medal.

Her win was made even more impressive by the fact that the young South African was paddling an unfamiliar paddleboard which she borrowed from the English team. Logistical problems in getting her own board to El Salvador meant that she was unable to train or familiarise herself with the course since arriving in El Salvador five days ago.   

The 2019 Surf City El Salvador ISA WSUPP Championships began on November 24 and ends on December 2. It includes various SUP and Prone Paddleboard Race Disciplines as well as SUP Surfing.

The six member South African Team are competing against 150 athletes from 27 Countries in the eighth edition of the annual event. In 2018 Tarryn King from Cape Town became the first South African Gold Medallist at the event when she won the Woman’s Stand Up Paddleboard 200m Sprint Race. 

More information on the event is available at www.isasurf.org

Stand Up Paddling South Africa (SUPSA) is a partner of Surfing South Africa, the recognised governing body for all forms of surfriding in South Africa. SSA is a member of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), the African Surfing Confederation (ASC) and the International Surfing Association (ISA).