Surf flag flies high’

The South African adaptive surf team returned home last week after a successful trip to the United States to compete at the 2018 ISA Stance World Adaptive Surfing Championships.

With a record number of entries from 24 countries, the city of San Diego and global supporters and families watching online witnessed history being made.

Taking advantage of the global highlights, the world’s best adaptive surfers put their elite talent on display.

With multiple categories at the event, ranging from visually impaired (AS-VI) to the least mobile category being for people who are quadriplegics (AS-5 Assist), the five-day event was full of incredible surfing, inspiring moments and a total of 12 gold medals won overall.

Cape Town adaptive surfer Anthony Smyth was in a class of his own to claim the gold medal and the title of world champion in the AS-1 division.

“So happy to have won the world title, especially against tough competition in a close heat. It is very rewarding. Congratulations to our whole team, especially Grace Anderson who won her first medal – the first of many I am sure! Our team’s success finishes off a great year of successes for Surfing South Africa, it is an honour to have played a part!Thank you to everyone who supported us,” said Smyth.

The second medal won by South Africa was from the youngest team member, Grace Anderson, who earned a well-deserved silver medal and the first for a South African female adaptive surfer in the AS-1 category. “The moment I realised I’d won the silver medal was the moment I was sure I was dreaming,” said Anderson.

“Finishing second in the world among a record number of women made it all the more special. The whole experience made me incredibly proud of being beautifully flawed.”

With semi-final finishes from both JP Veaudry (AS-1) and Elsje Neethling (AS-4), a quarter-final best for Tyler Pike, as well as an 11th place finish for Albert Rust (AS-5) the South African adaptive surfing team placed ninth overall in the team standings. With only six out of 16 surfers who were able to travel, this was a great result for the very small but extremely talented team.

A very big thank you was sent out to iXperience for donating R65 000 to the team which covered a portion of the accommodation, as well as Surfing South Africa for arranging funding from Sport & Recreation SA to help alleviate the team’s costs to get to the World Championships.

Each team member had to personally raise funds to compete at the event and without the support from private donors they would not have been able to achieve their goals and bring home the medals.

Stance, a premium sock brand, was part of the event.

Stance president and co-founder John Wilson said Stance was honoured to be a part of this event.

“This gathering is so much more than just a competition. This is a global gathering of human originals pushing the boundaries on what is possible. This group is linked together by the uncommon thread. This thread knits us together as one group of human originals to make a big impact. Most importantly, we are inspiring each other to advance ourselves to be more creative, more determined, more passionate, more resilient, and better stewards of what we have been given. This is what defines the event and makes it so special,” said Wilson.

The South African adaptive surf team returned home last week after a successful trip to the United States to compete at the 2018 ISA Stance World Adaptive Surfing Championships.

With a record number of entries from 24 countries, the city of San Diego and global supporters and families watching online witnessed history being made.

Taking advantage of the global highlights, the world’s best adaptive surfers put their elite talent on display.

With multiple categories at the event, ranging from visually impaired (AS-VI) to the least mobile category being for people who are quadriplegics (AS-5 Assist), the five-day event was full of incredible surfing, inspiring moments and a total of 12 gold medals won overall.

Cape Town adaptive surfer Anthony Smyth was in a class of his own to claim the gold medal and the title of world champion in the AS-1 division.

“So happy to have won the world title, especially against tough competition in a close heat. It is very rewarding. Congratulations to our whole team, especially Grace Anderson who won her first medal – the first of many I am sure! Our team’s success finishes off a great year of successes for Surfing South Africa, it is an honour to have played a part!Thank you to everyone who supported us,” said Smyth.

The second medal won by South Africa was from the youngest team member, Grace Anderson, who earned a well-deserved silver medal and the first for a South African female adaptive surfer in the AS-1 category. “The moment I realised I’d won the silver medal was the moment I was sure I was dreaming,” said Anderson.

“Finishing second in the world among a record number of women made it all the more special. The whole experience made me incredibly proud of being beautifully flawed.”

With semi-final finishes from both JP Veaudry (AS-1) and Elsje Neethling (AS-4), a quarter-final best for Tyler Pike, as well as an 11th place finish for Albert Rust (AS-5) the South African adaptive surfing team placed ninth overall in the team standings. With only six out of 16 surfers who were able to travel, this was a great result for the very small but extremely talented team.

A very big thank you was sent out to iXperience for donating R65 000 to the team which covered a portion of the accommodation, as well as Surfing South Africa for arranging funding from Sport & Recreation SA to help alleviate the team’s costs to get to the World Championships.

Each team member had to personally raise funds to compete at the event and without the support from private donors they would not have been able to achieve their goals and bring home the medals.

Stance, a premium sock brand, was part of the event.

Stance president and co-founder John Wilson said Stance was honoured to be a part of this event.

“This gathering is so much more than just a competition. This is a global gathering of human originals pushing the boundaries on what is possible. This group is linked together by the uncommon thread. This thread knits us together as one group of human originals to make a big impact. Most importantly, we are inspiring each other to advance ourselves to be more creative, more determined, more passionate, more resilient, and better stewards of what we have been given. This is what defines the event and makes it so special,” said Wilson.

The South African adaptive surf team returned home last week after a successful trip to the United States to compete at the 2018 ISA Stance World Adaptive Surfing Championships.

With a record number of entries from 24 countries, the city of San Diego and global supporters and families watching online witnessed history being made.

Taking advantage of the global highlights, the world’s best adaptive surfers put their elite talent on display.

With multiple categories at the event, ranging from visually impaired (AS-VI) to the least mobile category being for people who are quadriplegics (AS-5 Assist), the five-day event was full of incredible surfing, inspiring moments and a total of 12 gold medals won overall.

Cape Town adaptive surfer Anthony Smyth was in a class of his own to claim the gold medal and the title of world champion in the AS-1 division.

“So happy to have won the world title, especially against tough competition in a close heat. It is very rewarding. Congratulations to our whole team, especially Grace Anderson who won her first medal – the first of many I am sure! Our team’s success finishes off a great year of successes for Surfing South Africa, it is an honour to have played a part!Thank you to everyone who supported us,” said Smyth.

The second medal won by South Africa was from the youngest team member, Grace Anderson, who earned a well-deserved silver medal and the first for a South African female adaptive surfer in the AS-1 category. “The moment I realised I’d won the silver medal was the moment I was sure I was dreaming,” said Anderson.

“Finishing second in the world among a record number of women made it all the more special. The whole experience made me incredibly proud of being beautifully flawed.”

With semi-final finishes from both JP Veaudry (AS-1) and Elsje Neethling (AS-4), a quarter-final best for Tyler Pike, as well as an 11th place finish for Albert Rust (AS-5) the South African adaptive surfing team placed ninth overall in the team standings. With only six out of 16 surfers who were able to travel, this was a great result for the very small but extremely talented team.

A very big thank you was sent out to iXperience for donating R65 000 to the team which covered a portion of the accommodation, as well as Surfing South Africa for arranging funding from Sport & Recreation SA to help alleviate the team’s costs to get to the World Championships.

Each team member had to personally raise funds to compete at the event and without the support from private donors they would not have been able to achieve their goals and bring home the medals.

Stance, a premium sock brand, was part of the event.

Stance president and co-founder John Wilson said Stance was honoured to be a part of this event.

“This gathering is so much more than just a competition. This is a global gathering of human originals pushing the boundaries on what is possible. This group is linked together by the uncommon thread. This thread knits us together as one group of human originals to make a big impact. Most importantly, we are inspiring each other to advance ourselves to be more creative, more determined, more passionate, more resilient, and better stewards of what we have been given. This is what defines the event and makes it so special,” said Wilson.