The intervarsity surf competition between Stellenbosch University (SU) and the University of Cape Town (UCT) took place this last saturday at Big Bay, Bloubergstrand, with UCT claiming an overall victory by a narrow margin.
Held in fun, but crowded conditions, competitors had their work cut out for them to deal with other non-competitive surfers as well as their teammates and opponents while trying to catch decent waves. Andrew De Villiers (24), a Maties team member, says, “it was definitely tougher to compete in crowded conditions, so it was tough to hustle the other competitors as well as all of the other people.
“I’ve surfed Big Bay a couple of times and it’s not my favourite wave. It can look a lot better than it is, which makes it a lot more difficult to surf.”
With conditions deteriorating, the competition was run on a tight schedule, with heats constantly in the water. A warning was issued that the water quality was dangerously poor, with lifeguards advising against entering the water. The competition, however, continued unabated.
Maties surfer Jono Coffey going off on his backhand. PHOTO: Josh du Plessis
Maties surfers Samantha Sutton and Kayla Verreyne both excelled in the women’s division, taking second and third place respectively, while UCT’s Anoush Zakarian claimed the victory.
Kayla Verreyne (19), believes that Women’s surfing has come a long way in the last 10 years.
“More and more women are showing an interest in the sport and there is so much talent in women’s surfing today. It is more acceptable for women to surf today and I feel that women are more comfortable to try the sport and enjoy the lifestyle it has to offer,” she says.
On making the final, Verreyne says that winning isn’t everything. “To have made the final was very rewarding. To be supported all the way just makes the experience a lot better. Everyone in the team is so supportive regardless of the result.”
Kayla Verreyne was stoked on making the final. PHOTO: Josh du Plessis
Maties surfing club chairperson, Marc Moir (23), felt that the day was a great success.
“The intervarsity competition is very important for us universities, as Maties and UCT are probably the top surfing universities in the country, along with Nelson Mandela University (NMU). Being so close together, UCT and Maties, makes for a great competition. It is a growing sport, so to push the sport at a university level will help with development. The Intervarsity competition is really important in this regard, as competitive surfing is so different to free surfing, as it requires a completely different mindset.”
Maties teammates having a laugh between heats. (From left: Inca Horn, Shaun Joubert, Andrew de Villiers). PHOTO: Josh du Plessis
Moir, who is coming to the end of his tenure as chairman of the Maties surfing society, feels that it was a very rewarding experience. “I’m going to miss the stoke of seeing people stand up on a surfboard for the first time, and helping out the international students who come and want to learn how to surf. I’m also really going to miss going to the University Nationals every year, it’s always such a good time, the Maties camaraderie is unbelievable.”
The men’s division saw another two maties finalists in Shaun Joubert and Brendan Potgieter, who took first and fourth places respectively. Shaun (27), who was the 2013 junior world champion, felt great about the win. “I’m very happy to have been able to win. I definitely felt a bit wobbly and out of sorts after not having surfed too much the last couple months. I was stoked to win but it’s more about the team, so I would have been stoked if Maties had been able to win. This weekend was still epic though, I had a whale of a time.
Shaun Joubert ripping in his quarterfinal heat. PHOTO: Josh du Plessis
Joubert feels that the level of surfing is very high, “with the University Nationals having quality surfers in all of the different university teams”. Surfing is such a cutthroat profession, that a lot of good surfers end up getting a tertiary education, and obviously the guys then compete at the nationals and intervarsities.”