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Wall-to-wall junior surfing events over the past couple of weeks have resulted in a host of the Far South's rising stars enhancing their reputations on the regional, national and even international surfing front.

The WP junior team, the majority of whom reside in the Fish Hoek Valley and environs, successfully defended the Freedom Cup team trophy at the O'Neill SA Junior champs at Strand, relegating the seven-time champions KwaZulu-Natal to the runner-up berth ahead of seven other provincial squads.

Klee Strachan (Sun Valley) clinched the SA title in the u/16 boys division, while Tarryn Chudleigh (Scarborough) collected the silver medal in the u/16 girls division.

Matthew Bromley and James Woods (Kommetjie) pocketed silver and bronze medals in the u/14 boys division.

Strachan and Chudleigh are in Hunting-ton Beach, California as members of the SA junior team participating in the ISA world junior champs. The 15-year-old Fish Hoek schoolgirl started her campaign with a resounding win in the u/18 girls, recording one of the highest heat totals on the opening day. Strachan, the vice-captain of the SA team, is in the u/16 boys division, which did not compete on day one.

And this past weekend saw the penultimate leg of the national GromSearch series staged at Strand, where Michael February repeated his dominance of the u/12 boys with another victory. Fellow Kommetjie stars Matthew Bromley and the Woods brothers, James and Thomas, finished first to third in the u/14 boys. Holly Armstrong (Kommetjie), Muizenberg's Jessica Levitt and Tarryn Kyte (Marina da Gama) placed second to fourth in the u/16 girls and Sam Moore (Muizenberg) was fourth in the u/12 boys.

It's the turn of the novices to shine this coming weekend when the second of three events in the Kahuna Surf Series takes place at Big Bay, Blouberg-strand. Aimed at surfers between five and 16 years of age who have not previously reached the finals of a national event, the KSS event has attracted nearly 80 entries, including all the winners from the first event at Muizenberg in August.

The Muizenberg-based Shark Spotters held a well attended meeting last week, where chairman Greg Bertish explained the formation of the body that is now formally constituted. Procedural matters dominated the discussions and fundraising will be a major priority for the group, who have provided much of the information currently being publicised on the movements of sharks in False Bay.

The fact that the group has been performing a service for more than 12 months without a single cent from the local authorities is a damning indictment on the powers that be and symptomatic of the lack of interest that the City of Cape Town displays on matters in the Far South.

Ironically, the council-run Shark Action Group is a totally toothless body when it comes to implementing anything and with the obvious attractions of the Far South and rapidly approaching tourist season, groups like the Shark Spotters are to be commended on their initiative and deserve the support of all who use the ocean or benefit from tourism.

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