MEET OUR 4 FINALISTS -
SHANE SYKES
The dynamic young natural-footer from Salt Rock in Durban has been slowly but surely building up his online profile. Shane has been ripping late though, up and down the coast. He's been doing it in style – blowing minds with his quick surfing style, new-school contest airs and huge flairs when the rest of the competitors are doing safety floaters. After taking some time off last year, and working on filming, he started amassing some excellent footage. He managed to release a clip before the world closed down. This was the clip that he dropped during the lockdown. https://vimeo.com/440808579
His performance thus far in the Rip Curl E-Pro has been rock solid, and he has played a good strategy, not dropping the best clips, but always giving enough to get through. He always throws out a combination that includes proper barrels and big hits, throwing caution to the wind.
Shane has loads of contest experience, but it is often in free surfing that he does the wild stuff, with a huge aerial arsenal. He is also very much at home inside a solid north coast barrel.
The Rip Curl E-Pro has totally suited his surfing. He is looking solid for a finals berth, depending on what heat gets thrown down tomorrow from the rest of the remaining contestants. If he has another banger up his sleeve, then this event could be his.
DALE STAPLES
He grew up in St Francis Bay, the town made famous by Bruce Brown in "The Endless Summer" With Jeffreys Bay less than 20 miles down the road, he was surfing Supertubes from a very young age, grooming his styling regular foot attack. After a highly successful junior career which saw multiple titles, he turned pro. Staples did a solid few years' stints on the QS, racking up some solid results before the weak local currency put an end to his contest career.
The regular footer morphed into a free surf and content creator who shoots drone edits and video clips. He's not shy to load up his trusty Land Rover Discovery and drive 1000s of kilometres chasing waves. You just know that whenever there is a swell of consequence at the good spots, the man known as "Ducky" will be on it. And he will be a standout. He is also a consummate all-round waterman, often fishing off his jetski way offshore.
He still competes in speciality events or when the contest schedule suits his work and travel calendar. He has achieved excellent results in trials events at JBay and is renowned as one of the best power surfers in the country, as well as one of the best tube riders. results Look out for clips of big airs and bigger barrels from various spots up and down the South African coastline from Staples.
JOSH REDMAN
One of the most versatile surfers out there, Josh Redman loves to surf when it's solid and is also one of the best barrel riders when it gets nice and round. Josh and his brother Dan have been around forever. Whenever the waves are pumping, they are both on it. Both fit and strong, they love it when it gets a bit of juice, and the adrenalin gets flowing.
Josh is also a big fan of big waves and loves to have a go at places like Dungeons and Sunset in Cape Town when he can, as well as places like Jaws in Hawaii, where he is a standout. The Rip Curl E-Pro was a perfect format for Josh to show some of the east coast bombs that he scored this year as well as last year. The waves before and after the lockdown comprise the
majority of his entries. Josh is a friendly, affable sort of guy who at times, grows an incredible beard. He is focused on his surfing, however, and does not like to miss a swell. Ever. When he can, and we don't have a pandemic going around, he likes to go down to JBay to get a few runners at Supers.
He is still holding a could of good clips close to his chest. We know that he has another banger or two in his kitty, but will he have enough to take the title of the first online surf contest of it's sort in the country.
CHAD DO TOIT
As the head coach of the High Performance Surfing Academy, Chad needs to be on his game when it comes to high-performance surfing. He also needs to know, competitive strategy, fitness and other advance coaching skills and tips. Chado puts it all into place when he competes himself, having a successful run last year on the QS. He had a good result in Nias as well as a few impressive results in the City Surf Series in South Africa last year. He often still competes, when time and his schedule allows. So he has the skills and the knowledge, but does he have the clips? It seems he does, as he was also one of the lucky few who scored on the east coast and had a few videographers with their eyes on him. His wins so far in this event have been mainly thundering east coast barrels, but he also has a few big air moves and solid hits in his arsenal. He knows how to play the game when it comes to contests like the Rip Curl E-Pro, and it will all come out in the next day or two if he has those bangers or not.
