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A STRONG contingent of Deep South surfers are heading for St Michaels-on-Sea on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast this week to compete in the first of five events in the Billabong Junior Series, the country's most popular series of surfing events for surfers 20 years of age and younger.

The list is headed by 16-year-old Tarryn Chudleigh (Scarborough), who is top seed in the Pro Junior (u/20) girls' division, while Brandon Roberts (Sun Valley) and Dave Richards (Kommetjie) are the second and fifth seeds in the Pro Junior boys event respectively. Also to compete is world tour campaigner Damien Fahrenfort, who has been allocated a wildcard into the event.

Jarred Veldhuis (Sun Valley) has secured second seeding in the u/12 boys, while the u/14 boys includes Kommetjie residents James Lowe, the Kahuna Surf Series champ and former u/12 star Michael February, who has moved up a division this year.

Daniel Mace, Gavin Hutton and Matthew Bromley, all from Kommetjie, will be vying for the u/16 crown in the series, which celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2006 and offers a total of more than R200 000 in prize money over the five events, along with invitations to the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships in Australia next January for the top four boys and top girl in the Pro Juniors.

A recently published letter bemoaning the lack of etiquette in the surf by the so-called "Long Beach Brat Pack" and reporting on an explosive verbal exchange between parents of the offender and an "older surfer" made a number of valid points on the demise of the "spirit of surfing" in modern times.

Having served my time in the days when the "pecking order" in the surf was strictly adhered to, and enforced with a swift "snot-klap" when transgressed, I can vouch for the fact that the lack of respect for other wave ri-ders creates plenty of tension in crowded line-ups.

However, it is precisely the crowded, survival-of-the-fittest environment of Long Beach that has made it one of the hotbeds of competitive surf talent in the country, boas-ting a dozen national junior champions.

It is also the "entry level" break for those honing the skills learnt in the mushy False Bay surf on the powerful Atlantic waves and attracts surfers, kneeboarders, boogie boarders, longboarders, surfski paddlers and even kayakers of all ages and abilities.

Fortunately the South Peninsula is one of the world's most consistent surf zones and has a diverse range of more than 25 high quality breaks, most of which still embrace the spirit of surfing as they command respect from surfers challenging themselves and the true power of the ocean rather than flying around in the easy access, low-consequence waves of Long Beach.

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