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It was a close final between Lightfoot and Koby Oberholzer (Warner Beach), who put on an impressive performance throughout the event.
“It feels great. I’ve been putting a lot of effort into my surfing, both mentally and physically, and surfing a lot,” said Lightfoot.
“Oberholzer was surfing amazingly and I was on edge until the last five seconds, when, fortunately for me, the ocean went flat.”
After taking the runner-up berth at Lamberts Bay last year, Lightfoot arrived in town a week before the event to practise and the additional time spent in the waves at YoYo’s paid off.
Oberholzer continued his confident approach in the first Men’s Semifinal against Jake Elkington (Kommetjie). It was an exciting encounter which saw the lead change a few times, but it was Oberholzer who clinched the win in the end with a 7.60 ride.
The high performance surfing continued with Lightfoot and Jordy Maree (Kalk Bay) both produ-cing excellent rides in their semifinal clash, but Lightfoot prevailed with a nail-biting 0.05 points more than Maree.
In yet another dominant display from the Japanese girls, Hinako Kurokawa and Ren Hashimoto, the lone South African still in contention on the final day of the Women’s event, Natasha van Greunen (Muizenberg), was eliminated in the semi-finals.
Australia’s Piper Harrison was quick to start and locked in her first ride in the final for a 7.75 to take the lead, but Kurokawa waited patiently before smashing the lip and adding two beautiful carves for an 8.1.
Kurokawa backed it up soon after with a decent 7 and took her first QS win.
Kurokawa and the rest of the South African and international competitors will head to Port Elizabeth for the QS3,000 Volkswagen South Africa Open of Surfing, the highest ranked QS Women’s event on the continent, which runs from June 13 to 17.
