Located just 30 minutes from Knysna, in the heart of forest land lies Portland Manor, South Africa’s newest tournament waterskiing venue which recently hosted its first successful tournament.
During December and January, Anton Viljoen (current chairman of SA Tournament Water Skiing) and his team had the task of building an internationally homologated slalom course complete
with a judge’s tower while setting up all the required electronic camera equipment.
Over the eight weeks before the tournament, the site transformed to a fully certified site of the highest calibre. The course was readied for national and international events.
The skiing got under early on Saturday morning, with upcoming young skier, Jason Stegmann showing us why he is one of South Africa’s top skiers with a best score of five buoys at 52km/h.
In the under 17 boys, Nicholas Stegmann, who was skiing in his first tournament since breaking the SA Under 14 record in December 2015 and now skiing at 58km/h, scored a phenomenal five buoys on a 12m rope at 58km/h.
In second place was Dylan Lowe scoring three buoys on a 12m rope at 58km/h, improving his personal best by six buoys. Nicholas and Dylan have the potential to place high in South African and international events.
In the Under 17 girls, Hannah de Jongh finished in first place, with a best score of four buoys on a 16m rope at 55km/h.
Skiing in her first tournament, KZN local, Shea Sutton scored three buoys at 52km/h to finish second and also take home the best newcomer trophy.
In the Open Men division, Travis Fisher finished first to take home the title with a best score of two buoys on an 11m rope at 58km/h. Simon Fairbank finished in second place with a best score of two buoys on a 12m rope at 58km/h. In the Open Ladies division, Michaela Wilson took home first place with a best score of two buoys on a 16m rope at 55km/h.
In the Under 21 Men’s division, it was Western Cape local, Rory McGregor who took home the gold medal.
In the Over 35 Men, Gauteng skier, Richard Levy scored an impressive five buoys on an 11m rope at 55km/h to take home the win and also the highest slalom score of the weekend.
