Lindhorst rides big wave of success in King of the Kowie

SA Open Surfing champion Thomas Lindhorst put his best foot forward to win the King of the Kowie  event hosted by Kowie Boardriders at East beach on Saturday. Meanwhile Lily Heny is confirmed as number 1 junior surfer on the WSL (World Surf League) Africa Junior Tour rankings. 

Bringing hot form in to the contest following his recent success at Victoria Bay, Lindhorst showed his mettle by pushing visiting Scot, Craig McLachlan in to second  place and fellow KBC colleague and former King of the Kowie winner, Andrew Laverge, in to third spot. 

KBC chair Mickey Wittuhn said the contest was surfed in good clean conditions with contestable waves throughout. “We were going to start at 8am but decided to delay proceedings by an hour as we waited for the tide to drop a little bit.” 

“The waves got pretty hollow … the sandbank is shallow out at East Beach which made for faster waves and the surfers enjoyed it. There was a little bit of a rip but as the tide turned it subsided and made for very, very good surfing,” said Wittuhn. 

“There was a great vibe on the beach; the judging was of a great standard. We had some Scottish guys who were on holiday who joined in the competition.  Craig McLachlan was the top surfer with the best results among the Scottish crew.  

“There was a great festive air around the event with all the parents watching … and great support from the surfers too. It was good to see Andrew Laverge making it to the final, as a former King of the Kowie a few years ago, before Lindhorst started taking over the reins. 

Among the juniors it was Levi Rogers who ended up winning the U18 division and also making it to the open final where he got a fourth position.   

Wittuhn is upbeat about the high standard of surfing in Port Alfred and the performance of the juniors. 

“Our junior crew that I have been coaching, Lily Heny, Charlie Napier, Levi Rogers, Carl Wiersma … one can see their surfing had improved significantly with the extra training.  

“Lily won the U18 girls division with Bekie Downey coming in second and repeated the same in the Ladies division. It was also good to see young Catherine Wiersma surfing in the grom division … and great to see her trying to begin her surfing career.” 

In the longboard division it was veteran Richard Heny who took the honours while Clinton Millard, a former SA Bodyboard champion, surfed in the over 30s heat to get in some practice runs for the SA Open Bodyboard championships taking place in Port Alfred in two weeks’ time. 

“Our KBC event was also a good rehearsal for the youngsters (in the Border team) for the SA Junior championships to be held at The Point in Jeffrey’s Bay … so yeah, the surfers were pretty amped up .. all in all a good day and the weather played its part,” said Wittuhn. 

“We have one King of the Kowie left and then the series winners will be announced at our AGM at the  end of the year. So far it seems like Thom (Lindhorst) could be on track again to retain his King of the Kowie title,” said Wittuhn  

“We have also welcomed Bekie Downey [U18 surfer] on the KBC committee as environmental officer in charge of beach clean-ups.  It is important to get younger people on to the committee especially in these important roles.”  

Lily Heny ranked #1 

A development that has KBC’s camp amped up is Lily Heny being confirmed as number 1-ranked junior surfer on the WSL (World Surf League) Africa Junior Tour rankings. With one event to come, the 17-year-old now has her sights set on the WSL Juniors competition early next year on a still to be announced date. 

Only the first and second-ranked junior surfers in Africa are eligible for the u21 WSL World Juniors competition. 

Heny said she was hoping to cement her top ranking at the Nelson Mandela Bay Pro Junior competition this weekend that will earn her points towards confirming her spot on the WSL Junior team. 

“It was kind of a long term goal to do well in that series. I came third in my first contest in Ballito where I surfed against a few internationals; it left me at the top of the rankings and that was great because I wasn’t even planning to do well so soon.” 

Lily further made progress toward qualifying for the WSL juniors by claiming second spot at the Buffalo City Pro Juniors at Nahoon Beach two weeks ago. 

“I have won the competition before at Nahoon and I was confident. Unfortunately I didn’t win it but it boosted my ranking.”    

“I am very excited with the prospect of surfing in the WSL competition. I’m very happy with my ranking and it has given me a lot of confidence. I’ve been competing a long time against girls who beat me often … I have been the underdog for some time and it feels really good to be on top and have recognition for that.” 

Lily who lists Louise Le Pront and Anastasia Venter as her fiercest rivals in her division, said coming from a smaller town could be seen as a disadvantage. 

“Surfing is 70 percent mental ability and 30% skill … and possibly I have not had a lot of recognition coming from a small town. And it’s taken me a bit of time to realise I can beat my rivals and I can do better than them,” said Lily. 

 Other King of the Kowie results: 

U18 boys: Levi Rogers, (1st) Carl Wiersma (2nd), Owen Heny (3rd). Over 30s: Mook Lion, Jason Sharrock, Tristan du Preez. Over 45s: Warwick Heny, Anton Wiersma, Alley Campbell. Bodyboarding: Clinton Millard. 

• This article was first published in Talk of the Town, September 12, 2024. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.