2016 Billabong Junior Series Final Stop Day 1

An excellent swell was on tap at Seal Point, Cape St Francis for day 1 of the Billabong Junior Series Finals, and with a guaranteed afternoon spring tide and offshore winds prevailing all day the stage was set of an amazing day of surfing.

Angelo Faulkner with an awesome display of Surfing at Day 1 of the Billabong Junior Series — Angelo Faulkner

We weren’t disappointed. The first heat if the U18 Boys in the WSL Junior Championships saw JBay local Angelo Faulker turn on, cracking the set waves, not falling, and climbing through to an easy win against Ford Van Jaarsveldt in second and Joseph Webster in third.

In the third heat Sebastian Williams showed his international experience on the open faces, racking up a pair of high-scoring rides near the beginning of the heat, snatching the heat lead early, and holding onto it all the way to the end. Sebastian relocated to JBay from Mexico a few years ago, and has been trawling this stretch of coastline for waves ever since. He is always out at Supertubes whenever it breaks, always hits Bruces Beauties when the east swell pulls in, and is no stranger to Seal Point and her famous beachbreak brother. He took the win from Luke Malherbe in second and Silas Grygier in third.

Saxton Randal surfing in the final stop of the 2016 Billabong Junior Series — Saxton Randal

The next surfer to stand out was Koby Oberholzer from Warner Beach, surfing in the U16 Boys division. Son of the legendary Frankie Oberholzer, Koby found his rhythm in the excellent conditions and proceeded to blast his opponents out of the water. He was surfing at full speed and on rail, and his rail turns were solid and committed, he left Angelo Faulkner in second place.

Max Elkington competing in the Billabong Junior Series — Max Elkington

Sebastian Williams had another blinder heat in the U16 division, once again winning convincingly against his strong competitors, with Karl Steen in second, Bryce Du Preez and Kye Mcgregor in the minor spots.

As the waves continued to improve all afternoon it was decided to keep going with as many heats as possible, until last light. The conditions look to be deteriorating slowly over the whole weekend with Sunday the sort day of the lot, so with good surf and plenty of light, it seemed pointless to stop for the day. So while JBay fired, the Billabong Pro Cascais continued in Portugal and the Seal Point beachbreak continued to throw more and more barrels for the lucky surfers, the event continued into the long shadows. We’re up for an early start tomorrow, and we’ll be on it.