The second contest in the global Surf Web Series – The Rip Curl E-Pro Online Surf Event South Africa, kicks off on the 1 August and will run through to a final on 15 August. This is the second event in the global tour, and is exclusive for South African surfers. The first event has already run to completion in Mexico. Due to the recent run of amazing surf in South Africa, competition organisers have allowed competitors to enter any waves that were surfed from 1 March 2019 until 25 July 2020.
The Rip Curl E-Pro has an R10,000 first prize and an R5,000 runner-up prize. Red Bull has also stepped in to reward our surfers, and there is an R10k Red Bull Best Tube Ride award specialty prize. It is up to surfers to work with videographers, and share their prizemoney.
Surfers such as Chad Du Toit, Max and Jake Elkington, Eli Beukes, Luke Slijpen, Dan Emslie, Mike Frew, Surprize Maphumulo, James Ribbink, Davey Van Zyl, Beyrick De Vries, Dylan Lightfoot and Dan Redman have already entered, along with a bunch of other top South African surfers. The rest will be announced soon. Any other surfers who wish to enter can mail Craig Jarvis on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to express their interest.
It is a simple format, with surfers entering one wave (one clip) per heat. Every heat they advance they have to utilise another wave and another clip. This is where the strategy comes in, with surfers deciding where to drop their best clips.
The Surf Web Series is a direct response to the current challenges the sport is experiencing under COVID-19. Primarily it is all about having some fun, showcasing some excellent clips and some incredible South African waves as well as the best surfers in the country.
In South Africa, the footage can be any free-surfing wave filmed in South Africa between 1 March 2019, up 25 July 2020. South African surfers, South African waves. One wave per heat. For this event, the wave heights cannot be bigger than eight-foot, so if you’re holding any bangers from Dungeons or Sunset, then bank them for the upcoming big wave events and tour.
Surfers have from now until 25 July to mail / wetransfer / Whatsapp their entries, as single rides, to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. If you have any excellent clips in the bag, speak to the videographers and get them ready to go.
After the South African event, the tour moves to Japan, and will then head out for the rest of the tour. It culminates with a world ranking, and a Global Final, where surfers from different countries will come up against each other for the Surf Web Series World Title. Details of the full tour can be found on the website https://www.surfwebseries.com/.
The first event of the series was held in Mexico and was a great success, with many people watching and commenting. The Mexican Contest can be viewed and analysed on the @surfopenleague Instagram account, and interested parties can follow how that surf event played out, all the way through to the action-packed final.
For this first event, it is a Combined Tour, with both men and women allowed to enter. Still, the tour founders and event organisers are committed to introducing a Women’s standalone tour soon, along with a Longboard Tour, Big Wave Tour and Bodyboard Tour.
The Rip Curl E-Pro is supported by Surfing South Africa. Surfing South Africa is the recognised governing body for the sport in South Africa and is a member of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), the African Surfing Confederation (ASC) and the International Surfing Association (ISA).
The 2020 Performance Surf Web Series has kicked off, with their first surf contest in Mexico https://www.surfopen.com/mexico, already completed.
The surfing event was hosted on Instagram - @surfopenleague - and was a resounding success. After tallying the public vote, the winner was Jafet Ramos, who took the win from Kevin Meza.
Gustavo Duccini, a surf promoter living Mexico, is the founder of The Surf Web Series. Gustavo was the man behind the surf events at Puerto Escondido, including the Puerto Escondido Challenge 2016/17, the Puerto Escondido Cup 2018/19, and several other tournaments in Escondido since 2009. He has also been promoting the Oaxaca coast as a surf capital with the government for the last 5 years and has successfully organised music and sports festivals in the area. For the Surf Web Series, he has partnered up with Gary Linden, who needs no introduction.
The Surf Web Series is an international online surf league that holds online surf contests in which surfers can participate by sending in their clips. It serves many functions, primarily to get surfing fans watching some exciting surfing, allowing surfers to compete in an innovative format, and for sponsors and surf industry supporters to get some mileage and coverage from their surfers.
The format maintains the excitement of individuals competing directly with each other without the inherent difficulties in having the best surfing conditions on a chosen day. By allowing each competitor to select his best video clips to use in his respective competitive arsenal, the fans can see the best surfing on the best waves each chosen country has to offer. Surfers who have traditionally suffered due to wave selection and the numerous rigours of contest surfing are now able to showcase their talents in a viable competitive format. This format also gives the Tourism Boards worldwide a chance to showcase their goods and encourage surf tourism.
The Surf Web Series is a direct response to the current challenges the sport is experiencing under COVID-19. It has the purpose of promoting professional surfers, diversifying their economic possibilities and adapting to the new reality. Primarily, however, it is all about entertainment.
It is also a format that opens up the competition to the next crop of rippers, underground surfers and hard-charging unknowns, allowing them to have a chance at contest success and the resultant media exposure.
An announcement revealing details about the Big Wave Web Series, the Longboard Web Series and the Bodyboard Web Series will be forthcoming, as well as information on the Women's Divisions.
The dates of the rest of the Performance Surf Web Series events are still to be confirmed.
Chile: July 2020
South Africa: July 2020
Costa Rica: TBA
Brazil: TBA
Japan: TBA
USA: TBA
Hawaii: TBA
Global Final: December, exact dates TBA.
The contest format is simple. Interested surfers need to enter through the event channels, soon to be announced. From these entries, there will be a selection of 32 surfers by a selection board. Each country will have a selection board. The 32 surfers will then compete online, in a regular 32-surfer contest format, entering one filmed wave for each heat.
Eligible rides for Chile will be any free surfing waves captured in Chile between March 2019 to March 2020. Chilean surfers, Chilean waves.
In South Africa, the footage can be any free-surfing wave filmed in South Africa between March 25, 2019, and March 25, 2020, the day before the first lockdown date. South African surfers, South African waves.
The contest format can be viewed and analyzed on the @surfopenleague Instagram account, and interested parties can follow how that surf event played out through to the action-packed final.
The judges are a mix of local judges, international judges, a head judge, and the public vote. Once surfing has officially opened up again, The Surf Open League has plans to set up hosted beach sessions for the Surf Web Series, where surfers can come and free surf and be filmed for possible entries for that country’s event.
As we gear up for the Chilean event, and then afterwards the South African tournament, surfers, sponsors, videographers and interested media are welcome to get hold of Surf Web Series on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
North Shore, Oahu, Hawaii – World Qualifying Series (WQS) surfer Matt McGillivray from Jeffreys Bay is primed to qualify for the elite World Surf League’s (WSL) Championship Tour (CT) for 2020 after placing third at the Hawaiian Pro 10,000 tournament on the weekend.
Pictured: Daniel Emslie was South Africa’s top performer at the VISSLA ISA World Junior Surfing Championships, finishing fifth overall in U16 Boys division at Huntington Beach in California Photo: ISA / Evans
The South African team finished ninth among the 44 nations who competed in the 2019 VISSLA ISA World Junior Surfing Championships at Huntington Beach in California, with Daniel Emslie (East London) posting the best performance of the 12 team members when he narrowly missed out on medal in the U16 Boys division.
Brad Scott made it three out of three in the U16 Boys Round one heats yesterday when he joined teammates Daniel Emslie and Luke Thompson in Round Two of the Vissla ISA World Junior Championships in Huntington Beach, California.
Zoe Steyn made a good start when the U16 Girls Division took to the surf for the first time in the event, cruising through to Round Two where she was joined by team mates Ceara Knight, who dominated a wave starved heat, and Kayla Nogueira.
