Ross Taylor Surf Contest Pictures by Elle Photography
The 5th annual Ross Taylor Surf contest, held at Buffalo Bay from 9-11 August was a resounding success yet again despite the threat of nearly being closed down due to the possible oils spills.
The entry field this year was a jam packed with over 290 surfers and SUP fanatics taking to the water. Many of these ladies and gents back for the 5th time to compete in this event, and some of these are now first and second generation’s families taking part. We also had some entrants taking part in 4 or 5 different divisions, a busy weekend indeed for them.
We got through an astounding 138 back to back heats over the weekend, this equates to 2760 hours of surfing. A massive team effort by all. The group of volunteer judges certainly had their work cut out for them as there was some amazing surfing from every one. Entries from the younger, and development surfers has grown substantially, and this division, overseen by Herman, from “the Surfer Kids” Non-profit, was a busy and hotly contested division. It’s fantastic to see these youngsters, some as young as 6 coming along eager to get in the water and have some fun.
Over the last 5 years it’s been wonderful to see how much family’s take part in the event, with Mom Dad and Kids all taking to the water in different divisions. The flatwater race is fast becoming a fantastic family affair. A real thrill this year, with the first day of the contest falling on women’s day, to see how the field in the ladies divisions has grown, from humble beginnings, were we had 4 ladies, to over 50 ladies taking part this year. Including our esteemed Divas division, a new division seeing ladies over 40 getting a chance to show that age is of no relevance in this wonderful sport, the winner of this division was a lady of 66 years old lady. We salute you!
An added extra this year was the Women’s day Little Elephants and WOW (Women of Worth) celebration held on Friday. This was a festive affair with music & dancing from some wonderful local talent. Food, craft stalls and Kids activities were enjoyed by all.
The beach activities and fun walk, was a big hit amongst the younger land based supporters and the sand creations were fantastic. The now famous “happy pancake making team”, spent the whole weekend churning out over 3000 pancakes, these ladies and gentlemen, all volunteers, certainly know their stuff when it comes to the tastiest pancakes around they are hard to beat ! IF that was not enough for them this amazing team also fed the over 1000 people who attended the benefit evening.
The benefit evening saw about 1500 people come and join in the festivities, the evening also included a phenomenal line up of 6 bands that had the crowd dancing up a storm. The auction saw all of the goodies on offer snapped up, and our auctioneer Deon Bing had the crowds digging deep. There were almost 400 + raffle tickets sold, and the winners were drawn at a mammoth prize giving on Sunday. The winner of the Surf Board prize very kindly donated this back to the committee to be re-auctioned.
The amazing support received from local business this year, has overwhelmed the committee, and we want to thank all of your loyal sponsors. Their very generous donations, and prizes, ensured all the winners walked away with fantastic goodies on the day. We would also like to congratulate everyone on the fantastic performance in the water, in our eyes everyone a winner. Full list of winners will be published on our webpage and Facebook pages in the next day or 2.
The final amount raised has not been finalised as yet and as soon as we have this we will be letting everyone know. The support for this charity fundraiser has been phenomenal, and we would like to thank everyone involved. The 9 man committee has worked incredibly hard to put together the weekend, but we could not have done this without the loyal support from friends, family and locals, who all pulled together to make the weekend as much fun as it was. Please have a look at the web site and social media pages for all the pictures and results.
Our website : www.rosstaylorsurfcontest.co.za facebook.com/rosstaylorsurcontest
Email: rosstaylorsurf@gmail.com
All Images by Elle Photography