Words: Olivia Jones Communications | Photos: Luke Patterson
Umdloti, KZN – Almost 100 of South Africa’s top surfers will soon be making their way to the warm waters of Kwa-Zulu Natal for the second leg of the Quiksilver Takes One To Know One series, a three-leg surf series forming part of the Surfing South Africa Pro Surf Tour. 31 May and 1 June will see competitors from Cape Town, Jeffreys Bay and other areas of the country arriving to compete in two divisions for over R30 000 in prize money. The event will be staged at the main beach of the quiet coastal town of Umdloti.
The 3A rated Pro Surf Tour event will cater for the open men's division, surfers of all ages, as well as the pro junior boys division, boys under the age of twenty years old. The first event of the series took place in small but clean surf at Long Beach, Cape Town and saw twenty one year old David Van Zyl coming out on top in what proved to be his first career victory in the open men's division. Van Zyl will be hoping to repeat his performance in the upcoming event, “I am so glad I’m going to be home for this event, I love the surf on the KZN coast in winter and to have an event at a different spot like Umdloti is great. I gained a lot of confidence after my win in Cape Town so the series for me so far has been unreal,” said an excited Van Zyl.
Other competitors worth keeping an eye on are Dale Staples from St. Francis Bay now living in Westbrook, KZN, Slade Prestwich, who will be competing in both the open men's and pro junior divisions, Capetonians Michael February, Jarred Veldhuis and Diran Zakarian, former ASP World Tour surfer Ricky Basnett from the Bluff and brothers Daniel and Josh Redman, who both previously resided in Umdloti for over eight years and are very familiar with the tricky surf break. Beyrick de Vries from Umhlanga will also be a big threat in all conditions and will be hoping to count on his international experience to make a difference to take the title.
The Quiksilver Takes One To Know One series was introduced due to a lack of local surf events for open men in South Africa, “We are very happy to be staging the Quiksilver Takes One To Know One series, it's amazing how well it has been received by the surfers and it just shows how important and necessary good, solid local events are in South Africa. We hope that the local guys will use these events as stepping stones for bigger things, with the experience and the money that they earn competing in this series. Thanks to our main sponsors Techniblock sunscreen, Drift camera’s, Zigzag magazine, Red Bull and Skullcandy, without them this series would not be possible,” said Quiksilver Sales and Marketing Manager Dane Patterson.
Surfing is set to start at 8:00am on Saturday and Sunday with the finals and event and awards ceremony scheduled to take place around 3.00pm on Sunday afternoon. The series will draw to a close in September at Victoria Bay in the Southern Cape. To find out more about the event visit the event mini-site at www.quiksilver.co.za/totko. All aspiring professional surfers looking to take part can visit www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za to enter.
Be sure to get down to the beach on the 31st of May and 1st of June to witness some high calibre competitive surfing. #quiktotko
