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Cape Town - It was a day of surprises on the second-day O’Neill Cold Water Classic South Africa, as a number of the event favourites were eliminated from the event in the second round held in massive surf at Outer Kom on the Cape Peninsula, on Tuesday.
Among the upsets was Cold Water Classic Tasmania winner, Stuart Kennedy (AUS) who prior to this event was sitting in first place on the CWC Series rankings alongside Cape Town local Royden Bryson. Kennedy finished third in his heat behind Nicholas Godfrey (St Francis Bay) and Indar Perez (EUK).
Also knocked out in Tuesday's round of 64 were last year's semi-finalist, Jarrad Howse (AUS), and South African star Casey Grant (Scottburgh). But not all the surprises were negative. Among the most positive was the heat win of 14 year-old local surfer Benji Brand, who achieved the highest heat score of the day with 16.34 points out of 20.
"I'm really stoked. I surf here a lot at Outer Kom. It's a really fun wave," said Brand. "There was quite a bit of kelp today but I managed to get 2 good scores. I've been surfing 9 years and I've lived in Hawaii as well as just on the point here, which I think helped."
Board selection was the topic of conversation on the rocks between surfers as they watched the heats, readying for their own. "I came down with a car packed full with everything from 6"8, 6"6, 6"4, 6"2, and 6"0 and a couple of short boards as well," said Bryson assessing the wild conditions.
While all on the shore were waiting to see the current World Number One, South Africa's own Jordy Smith, in action, the suspense continues as wild conditions forced organisers to call the competition off at the end of heat 9 in the round of 64.
