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Champs: Swell Guru

posted by Olivia Jones on 25th September 2005

Legendary swell forecasting guru Steve "Spike" Pike has looked into his crystal ball ahead of the SA Rip Curl Bodyboarding Championships and predicts plenty of wind swells for the five day national tournament which runs from Monday September 26 to Friday September 30 at Herolds Bay in the Southern Cape.

Herolds Bay which is known for being exposed to a lot of swell is expected to be hit by a few fronts in succession with two low pressures causing a strong Westerly surge over the next few days. (Detailed report below)

Defending Pro Champion Marc Jucker (Eastern Province) will be back in a bid to reclaim his title and the lion's share of the R8 500 prize purse. Other 2004 division winners who have re-qualified to represent their provinces this year include Women's star Robyn Sorenson (Central KZN), Drop Knee extraordinaire Vaughn Harris (SC), Masters winner Steve Polinski, Wayne Beekman (Southern KZN) in the Men's category, U18 title holder Grant Lee (Southern KZN) and U16 Girl's rider Lize-Mari Ras (CKZN).

The event which is sanctioned by the South African Bodyboarding Association (SABA) has attracted over 150 entries and is guaranteed to be an exciting affair with individual as well as team titles at stake.

Development clinics will be run during the event to attract newcomers as well as uncover and develop fresh talent to add to the fast growing sport of competitive bodyboarding.

This is the final event on the 2005 SABA circuit; in addition to crowning new SA champions, the points count towards the crowning of the 2005 national series SABA champions.

Teams include the Maui and Sons Western Province Team, the Science Boland Team, Southern KZN, Central KZN, 360 Surf Shop Northern KZN, Eastern Province, Border and Reef Southern Cape.

The SA Rip Curl Bodyboarding Champs briefing will take place at De Bof in George on Sunday 25 September at 6.00pm. The event prize giving takes place on Friday 30 September at the same venue at 6.30pm.

Detailed Swell Forecast for SA Rip Curl Bodyboarding Championships:

Monday 26 Neap Tides
High Tide:	10:52 AM	1.38m
Low Tide:	5:32 PM	0.93m
Dropping weakening WSW swell 4-6' at short period 9-10 seconds, small to medium and shallow energy windswell leftovers from the cold front buster on Sunday 25. Herolds could be solid 4' at first in glassy leftover frontal conditions, dropping to 3' by evening, depending on how much West swell it picks up. Another front is forming off SW Cape, and fresh NW winds build between Cape Point and Agulhas, which seems to keep Herolds area glassy or light NW.
Tuesday 27
Low Tide:	5:59 AM	0.82
High Tide:	12:32 PM	1.47
Low Tide:	6:50 PM	0.80
The fronts are lining up, and the winds have gone fresh WNW or W since the early hours, a hard West wind 20-25 kts blowing by breakfast, potentially fresh to strong SW by evening. A storm swell builds all day, a mixed bag of ragged windswell heights and periods, potentially rising from 2-5' washy white capped WSW swell to 3-6' West (WSW) at shallow energy based 9 second intervals. Could be messy and windy, but sheltered bays okay.
Wednesday 28
Low Tide:	6:55 AM	0.73
High Tide:	1:17 PM	1.59
Low Tide:	7:29 PM	0.68
Solid high frequency 4-6'+ storm swell leftover from the front. Could be messy and mixed swell directions (W, WSW and SW) with fresh W winds blowing early. Swell is mostly windswell at 7-9 second intervals but goes more direct SW in direction and potentially developing more of a groundswell push up to 8' SW in the afternoon at 11 second intervals as the wind is dying towards glassy calm conditions and/or light SW/SE.
Thursday 29
Low Tide:	7:31 AM	0.63
High Tide:	1:49 PM	1.70
Low Tide:	7:58 PM	0.57
Swell much straighter and cleaner and more manageable at 6-7' SW at 11 seconds in glassy light variable NW on the dawnie, with light var NW becoming light var East during the day, the swell dropping down to 4-5' maybe smaller. Light SE seems to be through by afternoon/evening.
Friday 30
Low Tide:	8:00 AM	0.54
High Tide:	2:17 PM	1.80
Low Tide:	8:24 PM	0.47
Calm early with light SE wind and small 2-4' surf with possibly a moderate 10-15 kt SE building in the afternoon. The swell jacks in the afternoon, potentially to 6' SW at 13 seconds by evening.
Saturday 01 (day before New Moon)
Low Tide:	8:27 AM	0.46
High Tide:	2:42 PM	1.88
Low Tide:	8:49 PM	0.39
Swell is solid 6-8' SW at 13 seconds in light becoming moderate, possibly fresh SE, but accuracy hampered by volatile inter-season transitions and sometimes unpredictable atmospheric pressure transitions between Lows and Highs.

For more information about Spike�s forecasting please visit www.wavescape.co.za.

This press release is brought to you by Factory 7. Visit www.factory7.co.za for online boards & apparel. Launching October 2005.

Issued on behalf of:
SABA and Factory 7 (www.factory7.co.za)

Issued by:
Olivia Jones
SABA SA Bodyboarding Championships Media Liaison
Mobile: 082 537 8840
Email: [email protected]

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