With winter well on it way the South African water ski season concluded with three fantastic water ski tournaments at the end of March. See the report backs below and full results on waterskisa .co.za
SA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS REPORT BACK
The 2016 South African National Championships and All African Championships took place at Lake Grappa over the Easter weekend.
Lake Grappa, located in the Northern Cape, 100km from Upington, is a man-made lake owned and run by the Visser family.
Having previously hosted the SA National Championships, the last All African Championships and the Under 21 European and African Championships in 2012, Lake Grappa is a well established ski venue locally and internationally.
Skiing got underway with the trick event early on the morning of Friday, 25 March. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing, making the water choppy and skiing difficult, but this did not deter the skiers who posted some standout performances, despite the conditions.
In the Under 17 Girls Trick division, Hannah de Jongh took home the gold medal scoring a new personal best and very respectable score of 3350 points, as well as taking home the prize for the Most Improved Trick Skier of the year.
In the Open Men’s Trick division, it was defending champion, Matthew Nieuwstadt who won the gold medal with a best score of 3520 points. In the Over 45 Men’s Division, Belgium’s Yves
Saintviteux finished in first place with 5290 points while Dennis de Jongh, the first South African, scored 1370 points, coming home in second place.
Later that afternoon, the sun came out and the wind died down in time for the start of the slalom event.
In the Under 12 Boys, young gun, Jason Stegmann finished in first place with 2 buoys at 49 km/h at on an 18m rope. In the Under 14 Boys, local skier, TR Visser, finished in first place with 4 buoys at 52km/h on an 18m rope making the most of his home ground advantage.
In the Under 17 Boy’s division, Dylan Lowe earned himself the national title by scoring 1 buoy at 58km/h on a 12m rope. Lowe also took home the prize for the Most Improved Slalom Skier of the year. Nicholas Stegmann finished in second place with 0.5 buoys on a 13m rope at 58km/h.
In the Under 21 Ladies division, Robyn Viljoen score 0.5 buoys on a 13m rope at 55km/h to take home the honours.
In the Under 21 Men’s division, local skier, Duan Zaaiman scored 1 buoy at 58km/h on a 12m rope to take home the gold medal.
