EL SALVADOR 2019 – That’s a wrap

by | Dec 4, 2019 | El Salvador World Championships, ISA, South African Surfing Championships, Stand Up Paddle, SUP Events, SUP Racing, SUP Surfing, Surfing South Africa, Uncategorized

And that’s a wrap for the 2019 El Salvador Surf City ISA World SUP and Paddleboard Championships. 

We ended the last day with eyes fixed on the men and women’s surfing final where France took gold for both men and women – Benoit Carpentier scored an 8.90 on an incredible final wave and Justine Dupont continued to showcase her skill on each wave she surfed. The closing ceremony in the boiling hot sun followed at 13:00 where Tyra Buncombe took to the stage for her gold medal. South Africa placed with an overall 8th and with a proud Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika we ended the 2019 ISA World SUP and Paddleboard Championships. 

A word from Anja

Sitting on our last flight from London to Cape Town I though it best to introduce myself. My name is Anja Burger and I have been the Team Manager for the SA SUP Team for the 2019 El Salvador ISA World SUP and Paddleboard Championships. I have been making most of the arrangements for the team to get them where they have to be and have what they need. I also wrote this blog on a daily to keep our family and friends up to date on this trip. 

The trip has been a great privilege in my year. Not only was this an opportunity to travel with incredible athletes but it was an opportunity to travel with good-hearted, extremely funny and caring people and share our love for the greatest water sport. I get extremely excited to see the sport grow in our country and got a real kick out of experiencing the sport on an international platform.

We have great plans to make next year as great if not 17 times better. Makes sure you know what’s going on. 

 

 

 

EL SALVADOR 2019 – Surfing at Worlds

by | Dec 1, 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 3

Great excitement filled the breakfast room with Matt, Dylan and Khara taking to the waves again. Dylan was up in heat 2 and Matt in heat 3, while Khara would showcase her skills thereafter. Dylan had a great round with scoring a 5.37 on his second wave and a 6.10 on his fourth wave. The waves were cooking and allowed Dylan to surf them from the back to the front. With great excitement – Dylan exited the water with the top score in his heat. 

Little did we know that the next heat would include top wave scores from Matthew Maxwell from South Africa. After a 5.40 on his second wave, Matt scored a 4.40, placing him third behind Daniel Hughes. Matt waited for the last seconds in his heat, and with a shock to Daniel’s system, already being interviewed for his second spot, Matt got onto his last wave – 30 seconds from the end – and landed every turn from the back to the very end of the best wave up until then. He scored an 8.73. The vuvuzelas reflected these scores with great and loud blows. 

Khara’s heat was coming up and she entered the water with a great excitement after the previous day’s great heat. Khara had a tough heat with Candice Appleby and Lara Claydon from the United States of America and Aline Adisaka from Brazil. Khara had difficulty in getting waves while the others had priority with good sets that came through. She surfed until the end but was not able to place in the top two in this repo round. 

It was time for repechage round 4 for Dylan and Matthew. Matthew was up against Zane Schweitzer from the United States of America, Gabriel Salazar from Chile and Juan de los Reyes from Spain. Matt scored on great waves throughout his heat, with a 4.23 on his second wave. With great disappointment – the commentator announced an interference call after wave two – saying that Matt was warned that he was prone paddling more than five strokes and received the interference penalty on his second warning. This was massively disappointing especially with his fourth and fifth wave scoring 6.2 and 5.10, which would’ve placed him in second place but knocked him down to 3rd because of the penalty. This meant the end for Matt’s surfing at Worlds. Great surfing Matt! 

Dylan was next and up against Clement Roseyro from France, Guillermo Carracedo from Spain and Jefferson Tascon from Columbia. With some difficulty in finding waves, Dylan scored 5.63 and 5.10 on the two waves that he caught. It was two great waves but was unfortunately not enough to move him from third place.

And just like that – El Salvador Surf City 2019 ISA World SUP and Paddleboard Championships was done and dusted. So what did we do next? We had burritos, organised a bus, packed our boards and found our way to Playa Punta Roca where there were a couple of locals and fun waves. Great fun was found, here. We ended the day with burgers and pasta at our favourite restaurant with the Danish Team. 

What is left for today? Closing Ceremony at 1 pm on Sunday and a Closing fiesta at 6 pm. You can also watch the surfing finals this morning (afternoon in South Africa), which has just started.

Just a massive thanks to Ben Reed and Sean Evans for the great photos throughout the World Championships.  

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.