Broken Boards, Rashes & Entry Fees

South African surfing has come a long way in recent years. Every year more and more South Africans are qualifying for places on the elite World Championship Tour (WCT), and those vying for places on the WCT are blowing up the World Qualifying Series (WQS) with progressive turns, and aerial and barrel riding manoeuvres. Last year, the International Surfing Association (ISA) World Surfing Games saw a plucky Mossel Bay local named Shaun Joubert dominate the Panamanian waves and win South Africa the gold medal. Even the perfect right hand point that is Jeffery’s Bay is once again being featured as a stop on the WCT. Despite these leaps forward, there are, however, still some major drawbacks for aspiring surfers in this country.

Professional surfing is not all sunshine and perfect barrels. There are some major financial drawbacks that come with the decision to turn a passion into a life-long career. For example, when team SA went to Panama for the ISA World Surfing Games last year, they had no financial support from the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC). This meant that a national team of athletes representing this wonderful country had to pay for everything out of their own pockets. These expenses included entry and travel fees, along with accommodation and all the other necessities one needs while executing massive carves on the rippable waves of Santa Catalina that put other teams to shame. These expenses were so high that Dale Staples, an original pick who was second in the world during his stint in the junior circuit, had to reject his place on the team.

This problem of funding is not limited to national participation. Several South African surfers such as Staples, Beyrick de Vries, Michael February, David van Zyl, Faye Zoetmulder, and even big wave legend Grant “Twig” Baker, have to be selective about which events they choose to enter around the world. Contrary to popular belief, sponsors do not pay for plane tickets, accommodation, entry fees or the emotional scarring caused by being dropped in on or a bad rash from a new wetsuit. They only pay for new boards, wetsuits and other merchandise.

This selective style of competing can result in a vicious cycle, not unlike being caught in the impact zone. If a surfer misses an event, they risk a huge drop in the world rankings as everyone around them climbs, and this can lead to surfers losing places in higher rated events, and can eventually lead to a loss of sponsors and a dream that has gone from a perfect glassy 10-foot Pipeline barrel to two-foot onshore slop in Muizenberg.

This lack of funding is certainly not a new problem to South African surfers. Even the mighty Shaun Tompson slept on a thin piece of foam while he was leading the charge and revolutionising the sport of surfing forever on the North Shore of Hawaii in 1975 (watch the documentary "Bustin' Down the Door" for more on this, it's mindblowingly amazing). Even he had to scrape money together to compete in events, both locally and internationally, although professional events during that period were few and far between.

One theory about this severe lack of funding is the stigma of a dreadlocked, laid-back, anti-society, weed-smoking, slacker way of life that still surrounds surfers today. This was certainly the case during Tompson’s time, but during his reign as a top South African surfer, he and a few other Australian pioneers systematically shattered that stigma by proving that surfing can be a legitimate professional sport. Local and international icons like Jordy Smith, Joel Parkinson, Kelly Slater and Travis Logie have been part of a professional movement that has furthered the progress, with Slater’s career winnings exceeding $3 million. 

While there is some funding to South African surfers, the large majority are left scraping together some coins for a plane ticket in hopes of furthering their dreams, even if it means sleeping on the beach in their boardbags. The dedication of these few brave souls is exactly what the sport needs, and this begs the question, what if the next Shaun Tompson, Kelly Slater or Bianca Buitendag is sitting at home, or more likely at work, watching their surfing brethren rip on the world’s best waves in a webcast on a small computer screen sitting in an uncomfortable office chair, all because they couldn't afford an entry fee?