by Greg
29. November 2010 08:22
The O’Neill World Cup of Surfing is on hold for the 3rd day running as the small swell keeps the contest off. It has been a good season so far in Hawaii with a couple of lovely swells already hit and a selection of great photographs that have accompanied them. Although there has been plenty of surf, the swell has decided to take a breather over the last few days including Thanks Giving day where the surfers take some time out to give thanks and gorge on some tasty turkey. The bad news is that the outlook is not great for the rest of the waiting period with a few mid sized NW swells predicted. With this in mind it looks like the contestants will be surfing Sunset Point more than the actual bowl, as swell may not get big enough to break on the bowl.
This is tense times for some competitors who are on the brink of Qualification and the waiting is not making things any easier.
So far in the event the standout has been South Africa’s Rudy Palmboom who has reveled in the big walls of Sunset Beach. Rudy scored an 8.67 out of 10 for a two-wave heat total of 15.34 and the highest heat total on the opening day of competition. Rudy is from Durban’s Bluff and he has been brought up surfing solid waves so it is no surprise that he is comfortable in the powerful surf of Hawaii. South Africa Jordy Smith, Travis Logie and Royden Bryson are yet to surf and should hit the water when competition resumes.
On the local front things have been fairly quiet but there are a few up and coming events our local surfers can take part in. First off is the Roll in with RVCA at Port Alfred this Saturday. Then there is the Lizzard Summer Surf Challenge from 10-12 December at Umghlanga main Beach. After that will be the biggest of the lot, the 2 A rated PST tour event, the South Coast Summer Fever held at St. Mikes.
Remember to support these events as sponsors have put up the money to run them and if the surfers don’t show interest the sponsors will be the ones not showing up next year!
Greg Emslie
Rudy Palmboom