Inaugural Big McCdaddy Bodysurfing Classic wraps

A serious injury in the trials at Teahupoo, Durban's amazing sandbanks threatened, the Inaugural Big McCdaddy Bodysurfing Classic wraps. http://www.thebombsurf.com/blog/5/5256/a-serious-injury-in-the-trials-at-teahupoo-durbans-amazing-sandbanks-threatened-the-inaugural-big-mccdaddy-bodysurfing-classic-wraps

11/08/2014

Who Blew Up? image © ASP/Robertson 1. Tuamata Puhetini and Nathan Hedge. These guys surfed their way into the winner and runner up slot of the Air Tahiti Nui Billabong Pro Trials. Against 30 other hard charging tube specialists eventually it was Tuamata and Hedgy who won coveted spots in the main event. Tuamata will be a real force to be reckoned with out there as he is very comfortable at Teahupoo. Hedgy is a former top 10 World Tour surfer and no stranger to Teahupoo either, so you can be sure these guys are going to make life difficult for the WT pros when the main event kicks of on the 15th. 2. Bethany Hamilton. Check out this air reverse, seriously, this girl is so inspiring! The next time you make excuses about your surfing just think about what she has been able to achieve despite her handy cap. Big McCdaddy Bodysurfing Classic finalists 3. Ross Lindsay. Ross took out the inaugural Big McCdaddy Bodysurfing Classic over the weekend. Ultimately it was his tube riding skills, no doubt honed and polished at his local break of Kalk Bay, that saw him take the top slot. The runner up went to Julian Taylor who despite putting up a serious challenge could not find the waves that Ross did and ultimately had to settle for second place. Who Blew It? image © Surfing Magazine / Tom Carey 1. Kevin Bourez. Kevin is the younger brother of Michel Bourez and a hard charging Tahitian. He had a horrendous wipe out at Teahupoo in the Trials last week when he was driven head first into the reef. He suffered multiple head fractures and deep lacerations to his face, reminding us all that the consequences of surfing Teahupoo are very real and that even committed and skilled surfers are at very serious risk out there if things go wrong. After 4 hours of surgery the doctors informed the ASP that he is in a stable condition. Our thoughts are with the young charger at this point and we wish him a speedy and full recovery. 2. The Durban City Engineers. After years of pleading from surf lobbyists to re-fill the piers, the City of Durban finally put into action a plan at the end of last years that would see the refilling and refurbishment of The Bay, North Beach and New Pier piers. The motivation is that solid structures create far better sandbars than hollow or semi hollow structures. The initial plan was to fill the piers to the medium tide water mark. This would create a primarily solid structure, greater rip strength next to the piers, stronger sand flow out to the end of the piers, less cross shore drift between the piers (this decays the surfing bank) and ultimately much, much better surfing sand bars. Well the proof of the pudding is in the eating and the sandbars at North Beach and The New Pier have been all time for most of this year, note the Bay pier is still under reconstruction. The problem has come in with the short cuts the government contractors have taken by not filling the piers to the correct hight and the durability of the geotech sand bags has been overestimated, resulting in more breakage and settling than was initially anticipated. The result? We stand to lose these amazing sandbars almost as soon as we’ve just created them! If the city does not act quickly to fill the piers properly we could see a return to another decade of marginal sandbanks between the piers. John about to get worked. Image © Cestari 3. John McCarthy. Despite 2 years of intense and secret training as well as local knowledge and despite having a bespoke David Constance Wawa handgun at my disposal I finished stone last in the inaugural Big McCdaddy Bodysurfing Classic over the weekend. Perhaps my performance was inversely linked to the amount of el jimador tequila I consumed on Saturday night. Either way it is back to the drawing board until next year.