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Dale Staples and Luke Thompson earned their maiden WSL event titles when they won the Men’s and Junior Men’s titles, while Nicole Pallet and Kai Woolf won the Women’s and Junior Women’s titles at the Mitchum Buffalo City Surf Pro presented by Reef Wetsuits in East London.
Dale Staples
Dale Staples raced into a commanding lead in the Men’s final, tearing his first wave apart and being rewarded with an excellent 8.50 out of 10 from the judges, before adding a 7.0 minutes later.
His opponent Matt McGillivray was left needing a massive 15.50 points before he had even caught a wave. Uncharacteristically McGillivray fell victim to a priority interference error that penalised him the full score of one of his two counting rides and effectively banished him to the runner-up spot.
Matt McGillivray
The Women’s final saw Nicole Pallet rack up scores of 5.0 and 6.25 while her younger opponent, Kai Woolf could only manage a pair of four point rides during the 25 minute encounter, leaving Pallet to celebrate her win and leap frog into the lead in the 2018 WSL Africa Women’s rankings after three events.
Nicole Pallet
The Junior Men’s final showed that local surfing is in good hands when the four finalists all went ballistic in the pumping overhead surf and the lead changing hands after virtually every wave. When the siren sounded to end the final Luke Thompson was leading by a slender 0.60 of a point over local favourite Thomas Lindhorst.
Luke Slijpen made a determined effort for victory with a great last ride, but had to settle for third place, 0.75 of a point behind Lindhorst, while Mitch du Preez claimed fourth place.
Luke Thompson
In the Junior Women, Kai Woolf narrowly escaped elimination in the semi-finals, finishing second behind Nina Harmse and just 0.20 of a point ahead of Olivia Izzard. Once in the final Woolf was unstoppable, using her patented backhand attack to rack up almost double the score of runner-up Kirsty McGillivray and well ahead of Zoe Steyn and Nina Harmse.
Kai Woolf
Mitchum Buffalo City Surf Pro Results
Men’s Final Results
1st Dale Staples 15.50
2nd Matt McGillivray 5.0
Men’s Semi-Final Results
SF1: Dale Staples 12.25 def. Greg Emslie 9.50
SF2: Matt McGillivray 16.5 def. Diran Zakarian 12.10
Women’s Final Results
1st Nicole Pallet 11.25
2nd Kai Woolf 8.15
Women’s Semi-Final Results
SF1: Kai Woolf 8.50 def. Zoe Steyn 5.15
SF2: Nicole Pallet 11.50 def. Faye Zoetmulder 7.10
Junior Men’s Final Results
1st Luke Thompson 12.10
2nd Thomas Lindhorst 11.50
3rd Luke Slijpen 10.75
4th Mitch du Preez 7.35
Junior Women’s Final Results
1st Kai Woolf 11.25
2nd Kirsty McGillivray 6.50
3rd Zoe Steyn 3.85
4th Nina Harmse 3.80
WSL Africa Men’s Rankings
1 Jordan Maree 1955
2 David Van Zyl 1720
3 Dylan Lightfoot 1400
4 Dale Staples 1185
5 Adin Masencamp 1170
WSL Africa Women’s Rankings
1 Nicole Pallet 2310
2 Kai Woolf 2050
3 Zoe Steyn 1870
4 Teal Hogg 1280
5 Emma Smith 1255
WSL Africa Junior Men’s Rankings
1 Dillon Hendricks 1280
2 Max Elkington 1050
3 Luke Thompson 1000
4 Luke Slijpen 955
5 Thomas Lindhorst 950
WSL Africa Junior Women’s Rankings
1 Kai Woolf 2000
2 Kirsty McGillivray 1145
3 Zoe Steyn 964
4 Olivia Izzard 945
5 Sophie Bell 750
Photos by WSL / Thurtell.
