Michael February (Kommetjie) and Sabrina Scott (Glencairn) claimed the U16 Boys and U16 Girls titles respectively at the 2009 Rip Curl GromSearch, held in perfect 3-4 foot waves and offshore winds at Long Beach, Kommetjie on Saturday and Sunday (June 27 & 28).
The Under 16 Boys Final featured all four members of the South African Junior team that competed in the ISA World Junior championships in Ecuador earlier this year and lived up to its billing as the premier division of the contest.
Fittingly, the result of the U16 Boys final was in the balance going into the final seconds of the heat but in the end it was a determined Mikey February who claimed victory over fellow Kommetjie surfer Davey Brand with the last wave of the event.
Robin de Kock, General Manager of Surfing South Africa said that “the conditions were perfect for all of the surfers”. Luckily, the storms that had been smashing the Cape the previous week had disappeared and with the swell dropping to a contestable 3 - 4 feet combined with light offshores de Kock said that “we saw some really high heat scores throughout the event”.
The Rip Curl GromSearch is an national event, with the winner of the Boys Under 16 division winning an all-expenses paid trip to the Rip Curl Pro Surf & Music Festival at Bells Beach next April. February, the South African representative, will be competing in the Rip Curl GromSearch International Finals against the best young surfers from countries such as Argentina, Australia, France, the United States, Brazil, Indonesia, and New Zealand.
In the U16 Girls final Sabrina Scott posted her best ever victory since winning the SSA Academy Cup a few years ago beating Cara Mac Donald another up and coming young surfer from East London.
