Zoë Steyn and Jordy Maree Win Longbeach Open

Zoë Steyn and Jordy Maree won the Longbeach Open presented by the Western Cape Department of Culture, Art & Sport (DCAS) and Sea Harvest QS1,000 in 4-5 foot surf on a cold and rainy day in Kommetjie, Cape Town.

Surfers were greeted with a completely different ocean compared to yesterday, as a big south west swell offered up new challenges. It all came down to wave choice and critical, powerful surfing.

The battle between Zoë Steyn and Sarah Scott continued, with Scott having to once again settle for second best. Steyn tightened her grip on the WSL Africa rankings lead with this win, banking 1,000 points and moving one step closer to qualifying for the Challenger Series.

Zoë Steyn - WSL / Sean Thompson

"I'm really happy with how the Final went, because my quarter and semi heats were a little bit sketchy. It was so wild out there, but I'm happy that the waves got better for the Final and I can't wait for Nahoon," said Steyn.

It was a tense start to the Women's Final with a few uncompleted rides, but then the energy shifted when Steyn executed one big hack in the critical section of the wave for her opening ride to score a 4.50. Sarah Scott and Natasha Van Greuneneach found a decent wave to start building on their scores, while Sarah Baum struggled to find her footing in the unruly surf. Steyn hammered the nail in the coffin when she caught a long left-hand wave to fit in a couple of strong turns and a committed finishing maneuver in shorebreak, staying on her feet to ride it out for an excellent 9.00 point ride.

Despite a disappointing fourth place finish for Baum, this was her second QS 1,000 Final after placing runner-up at the Gage Roads Port Stephens Pro last month. She'll be aiming to take this momentum into the next event at the Sea Harvest Nahoon Open

Jordy Maree - WSL / Sean Thompson

An early start, rainy weather and fighting a strong current, it wasn't an easy day out at Longbeach, but Kalk Bay's Jordy Maree put his head down and earned the win with an impressive performance in the Final.

"It was a long day, waking up early to try and get to Kommetjie before the roads closed for the Cape Town Cycle Tour," said Maree. "I was really tired, surfing four heats and it was really hard with the strong current. I just tried to pull through to the end and I was happy with my overall performance. You know you always think you can do better, but I'm really happy to take first place. Last year I dealt with quite a few things, and even though I've won bigger contests, this win means a lot to me."

As the tide dropped, conditions quickly changed for the Men's Final and it made wave selection absolutely key to putting scores on the board. Max Elkington was up and riding at the sound of the buzzer for a quick start to the Final to open his encounter with a 5.00. Maree turned up the heat with his opening ride, a long left-hand wave that ran all the way down the beach, squeezing everything he could out of the wave for a 6.25. Elkington, going for a huge hit to the lip ended up with a broken board and had to swim back to shore. Maree scored a backup of a 5.05 and nabbed the win.

Joshe Faulkner - WSL / Sean Thompson

The first semifinal of the men saw big performances from Jordy Maree and Eli Beukes, perhaps with local knowledge coming more into play. Both Maree and beukes aren't afraid to tackle big, heavy sections and that's exactly what they did to advance to the Final.

It was a disappointing outcome for Adin Masencamp, the WSL Africa rankings leader, who uncharacteristically lost his footing on a couple of waves, and couldn't reel in the score he needed. However, thanks to his big win at the Ballito Pro presented by O'Neill he still has a decent lead going into the next event at Nahoon,

The second semifinal was an electrifying heat that got the crowd on the beach jumping to their feet, thanks to the aggressive and committed surfing from Jeffreys Bay's Joshe Faulkner. Staying to the left of the line-up, Faulkner found long, running waves where he could unleash his strong maneuvers. Jumping into the lead with an excellent 8.25, he soon improved his total score with an 8.65 for the highest heat total of the event, 16.90. He also scored a nine point ride during his quarterfinal heat.

"I was super lucky to get those waves. There weren't a lot of good waves out there, very washy all over the place. I watched the waves before our Final and exactly the same kind of waves came rolling through. Then in the Final none of those waves came through and unfortunately it didn't work out for me, but that's surfing for you," said Faulkner.

Surfers now move on to the Sea Harvest Nahoon Open presented by Cell C QS 1,000 which will determine the WSL Africa Challenger Series qualifiers.