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History of
SALSA |
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The South African Longboard Surfing Championships is a premier event and
sets the stage for the countries best to establish the recognition and
grounding paving the way to the international arena where our sportsmen
compete at the highest level against the worlds best. |
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SALSA
The Resurgence of Longboarding |
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The Sport of surfing as we know it today is an extremely commercial
industry and touches nearly all segments of the population today who
relate to the sport through the strong fashion influence.
Back in 1987 we saw the return of the Longboard into the sport.
The resurgence of the Longboard brought about more refined traditional
9ft Longboard equipment which enabled extreme maneuvers traditional to
the Shortboard to be integrated into the traditional laid back Longboard
style. With this exciting new combination of the old and the new came
the Modern Era of Longboarding as we know it today.
Today Longboarding is recognized as a fully fledged international sport
with its own World Championships, Sponsorships and commercial appeal. |
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1964
- 1st WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS,
AUSTRALIA
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Max - Wetteland attended. Max was eventually
awarded Springbok colors for this trip. The first 'World Surfing Champ'
was Australia's Midget Farrelly. When Max returned with an 'F' type surf
board (F for Farrelly design) it caused the first advance-,in surfing
standards in South Africa. Shortly after his return several top surfers
were riding and improving themselves on the 'F' type design. |
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1965
2nd
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, PERU |
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The team was Ant Van Den Heuvel, Max Wetteland and
George Thompson, all Natal. The team surfed well with Ant making the
semis, and all did well in the paddle races. Huge purple jelly fish
covered the water during the contest which 'spooked' the team. The world
champ was Felipe Pomar from Peru. But the star was Aussie Nat Young who
out-surfed everyone - he was At least three years ahead of everyone
there. Until then the Hawaiians and Californians had - dominated, but
Nat broke their reign and set the Australians on the road for their turn
at the head of surfing. |
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1966
3rd
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, SAN DIEGO,
CALIFORNIA |
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The team was George Thompson (Capt), Natpl, Robbie
McWade, Natal, Donald Paarman, WP, Cornell Barnett, Natal, Errol
Hickman, Natal, Margret Smith, WP, Marlene Webb, Border, John Whitmore
(Manager), WP. The contest was run on La Jolla Shores at Ocean Side.
George arrived at the contest with a Wetteland Pop-Out and thought that
it was advanced as far as boards were concerned. But Phil Edwards
laughed: 'Hey man, what's that you got there.'
So the team just abandoned their boards and
borrowed Jeff Hakman's and John Peck's boards for the contest. The surf
was small walls and the style was bottom turns, hanging five, full-nose
control and sweeping cut backs on 9ft 6in boards. About 15 000 people
lined the beach each day to watch the beach was saturated! After the
contest Errol, George, Robert and Cornell went up to Rincon with John
Peck and, surfed the legendary break. On the trip and during talks with
Nat, Midget and the other Australians, the team picked up valuable tips
on board shapes and riding styles which they brought back with them. "
This time Nat Young ensured that he was the best and took the world
title. After returning, Cornell Barnett never really competed at any
high level. He put his energy and experience into producing 'Hitting.
the tip", a book on South African surfing that did a tremendous amount
for the sport in South Africa. |
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1987
Onwards |
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South African Long and Short boarders are a dominant force in the
international competition arena.
Since the beginning of the New Era Longboarding World Championships in
the late 80's early 90's representatives of South Africa have been
competing. The results achieved have always been of an extremely high
standard and we saw Jason Ribbink of Natal reaching second
place in the Oxbow World Championships held in Jeffery's Bay in August
2002 and Mathew Moir coming 3rd in the Nokia World Longboard Champs in
2004.
It is through the continued efforts and commitment of SALSA (South
African Longboard Surfing Association) and the Provincial Associations
(Eastern Province, Western Province, Border and Natal) that we have
become one of the major competitors on the Longboard World Circuit
today. |
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