All aboard

Zululand bodyboarding award winners include Carrera Phillips - Girls U16, Michael Janse van Rensburg - Pro, Royd Williams - Most Progressive, John Cawood - Chairman, Rheinhard du Toit - Dropknee and (front) Warren van der Merwe - Boys*

John Cawood

THE Northern KwaZulu-Natal Bodyboarding Association held its annual AGM and prize-giving.
The evening began with an enjoyable meal, followed by the awarding of certificates and trophies to the top achievers at the Zululand Championships.
The team riders, chosen from the best results of five trials, were then awarded their certificates, team kit and provincial ties.
The 360 Surf bodyboard raffle was drawn and won by Sean Roberts with the evening concluding with a preview of the latest local DVD filmed and edited by Rheinhard du Toit.

SA Champs
A team of 24 bodyboarders from Northern KZN took part in the SA Bodyboarding Champs.
The week-long event took place at Uvongo Beach on the South Coast and attracted over 200 riders from seven provinces as well as TV cameras from SABC sport.
The event was regarded as highly successful even in the face of adverse weather conditions.
Torrential rain washed entire beaches away and huge swells with dangerous currents saw the contest moved to Scottburgh, 80km away on day three.
Once the storm had cleared and beaches were cleaned up, it was all systems go.
But on the final day, a mist bank came in from the sea and the contest was postponed for two hours due to poor visibility for the judges.
There were highly contestable waves throughout the event and some awesome action was seen in the water.
Central KZN (Durban) were the eventual winners of the provincial event.
Alistair Taylor, eight-times champion and current SA Bodyboarding Chairman, was the winner in the Pro Division.
South Coast locals, Inge Pieters and Derek Footit, took the top spots in the female and Dropknee Divisions respectively.
Northern KZN were unfortunately unable to better their performances of last year and ended up in seventh place.
The inexperience of a lot of the riders showed, especially in the first rounds where some extremely low scores were recorded.
Riders fought back hard in their second round heats but it was not enough to get them through to the finals.
There were some exceptions with Royd Williams of Richards Bay in the junior division making it to the quarter finals and Mark McCarthy of Richards Bay making it to the semi-finals of the pro division.
Mark was on his way to winning the entire event, an opinion shared by many on the beach, with his consistently high performance but fell short at the semi-finals with a stroke of bad luck.
He was, however, awarded with a special award and prizes for the most radical and impressive rider at the champs.
All in all a good trip was enjoyed by all and a lot of experience gained.
Northern KZN Bodyboarding Association would like to thank everyone involved in helping out this year, including the sponsors.