De Vries surfs to victory in Port Alfred

Excellent surf conditions greeted competitors at the final event of the Quiksilver Get Free Series this weekend in Port Alfred, Eastern Cape.

 

Over 70 of South Africa’s best surfers were welcomed by clean 3-4 feet swell at Port Alfred’s East Beach for the two days of the 3A-rated Surfing South Africa (SSA) Pro Surf Tour (PST) event.

 

Umhlanga Rocks surfer Beyrick de Vries was on top form in the premier open mens division final managing to score a perfect ten point ride for an incredible double barrel tube ride.

 

"The waves were so good today, I love surfing in Port Alfred and this win gives me a lot of confidence going into my next few events overseas. Events like the Quiksilver Get Free Series are really good for competitive surfing in South Africa," de Vries said.

 

East London’s Greg Emslie was one of the event favorites and took a close second place behind De Vries. Michael February from Cape Town looked at home in the point-like conditions but came up short to end up in third position. Durban’s Josh Smit impressed in the semi finals by getting tubed across the beach for an excellent score but couldn’t repeat his performance in the final and finished in fourth place. 

 

In the U20 boys final Strand’s Adin Masencamp managed to put together two great rides to claim victory ahead of an inform Shane Sykes from (Salt Rock, KZN). Sykes, who won the second leg of the series in Umhlanga Rocks, put one huge score on the board with some massive manoeuvres but failed to back it up with a second decent scoring ride. Tristan Lev of St Francis Bay surfed well to place third and Jason Harris of Scottburgh, KZN rounded up the final in fourth place. 

 

The boys U16 division was a competitive affair in the perfect four feet waves, it was Sebastian Williams of Durban who stamped his authority on the final with an early lead, backing it up with two more great rides surfing with maturity and power. U20 winner Adin Masencamp surfed back-to-back finals and was a close second behind Williams. Jeffreys Bay local Joshe Faulkner was as consistent as ever to turn in a solid third place result with East London’s Luke Malherbe finishing in fourth place. 

 

Dane Patterson, Quiksilver Sales and Marketing Manager said, “We’re very happy with such a good 2015 Quiksilver Get Free series and the great waves in Port Alfred for the final event just ended it off perfectly. We’ve invested in the sport and hope to grow on this. We need to create a solid platform for our local surfers to use as a springboard to gain the necessary experience to compete at an international level and earn some prize money at the same time." 

 

The Quiksilver Get Free Series sponsored a total of R108 000 as prize money. Key sponsors for the series include Techniblock sunscreen, Drift Action Camera’s, Skullcandy, Neff, Zigzag Surfing Magazine and Red Bull. For more information, results, photos and videos of the series visit: www.quiksilver.co.za/getfree

 

Final Results:

 

OPEN

1 – Beyrick de Vries (Umhlanga Rocks)

2 – Greg Emslie (East London) 

3 – Michael February (Kommetjie, Cape Town)

4 – Josh Smit (Amanzintoti)

 

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