Stormy Cape weather in late July forced the postponement of the first of three inaugural Lizzard Tag events, but on the weekend of 15-16 September seventy girls and boys in 14 teams participated got their chance to take to the water.
The contest got off to a chilly start, but the second day of competition was held in ideal light offshore winds, 2 foot surf and under sunny skies.
Teams included boys and girls featuring national team members, provincial surfers and rookies from all parts of the Western Cape got under way in forty-minute heats, using the International Surfing Association’s tag-team rules.
Each team member had to catch two quick waves, leave the water and tag a team-mate in their enclosure within the 40 minute time-limit.
Surfers who failed to finish within the time limit lost points, holding thumbs that their Power surfer did enough on each of his or her three counting waves, to see the team through to the next round.
Team surfing takes far less time to complete than normal contests, and is probably surfing’s version of 20/20 cricket and sevens rugby. Team members, coaches and spectators get involved in the action, and unlike most surfing contests, tag surfing demands team work.
Over the weekend the focus was on fun as well as competition, and with this in mind surfers were encouraged to come up with names for their teams which gave them an identity and team spirit.
After a total of five 40-minute heats and two semi finals had been completed, the four teams that reached the final were the Geckos, the Great Whites, the Wannabees and the Conquerors.
For many of the young surfers in the finals it was the first time that they would earn prize-money as Lizzard had put up a generous prize-purse of R5000 which would be divided among the surfers in the finals.
With R2000 on offer for the winning team to divide five ways, the finals were a pretty serious affair, and amazingly the top two teams were tied at the end of forty minutes.
Organisers used the scores achieved by the Power surfers to break the tie, and with a score of 50 (Mellish) to 48 (Bromley), honours went the way of Jacob Mellish’s Gecko team, with Matt Bromley’s Great Whites having to settle for second and a share of R1500.
Jeandre Blignault’s Wannabees came third and the Conquerors, led by Power surfer Daniel Wilson were fourth.
The next Lizzard Tag Series event will take place at St Mikes on the KwaZulu Natal South Coast on November 3 and 4, and the final event in the series is scheduled for The Pipe at Pollock Beach in PE on 24 and 25 November.
Only surfers from each region may compete in the Lizzard Tag Series events. Information on the series and entry forms can be completed online at the Surfing South Africa website , which also publishes photos from the Strand contest.
Full Results
1. Gecko Team : 82 Points
Jacob Mellish
Jonah Paarman
Dylan Frick
Phillip Carstens
Tammy Wynand
2. Great Whites : 82 Points
Matthew Bromley
Tristan Veen
Chad Herman
Rylan Page
Tylah Terblanche
3. Wannabees : 70 Points
Jeandre Blignault
JP Olivier
Sabrina Scott
Brandon Benjamin
Anoush Zakarian
4. Conquerors : 66 Points
Daniel Wilson
Papi Makanyane
Benjamin De Castro
Sheney Veen
Luanda Sephong
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