The Monster Combo was off to a bang with 38 high-quality Round 1 entries for the judges to sift through. “Such, great entries for the first month,” exclaimed Monster Energy’s head of communications, Ryan Payne. “The bar has been set!”
The judges were forced to deliberate long and hard to decide on the winner. In the end, it was whittled down to Shane Sykes, Jordy Maree, Eli Beukes and Sebastian Williams’ entries. It was so heated we even called in French free surfer William Aliotti for his learned opinion.
The public vote went to Luke Thompson with 122 votes. Eli got 52 while Davey and Shane both got 27, Jordy got 16 and Sebastian 13.
So that’s 1 vote for Luke Thompson.
“Shane’s was a great entry, but the three turns was a bit too repetitive.” Explains Payno on behalf of the judges.
“Sebastian’s wave was definitely a contender, his fin drift lip smash into carve was nuts, unfortunately, the transition time between the first two turns, and the insane tail high projected reo is just a bit long.” Payno continues, explaining the judge’s collective reasoning.
“Yes, I have surfed this wave.” Added William Aliotti, rather unhelpfully of Sebastian’s effort.
Although the surfing was impeccable and met a lot of the criteria for an excellent Combo entry, the drone angle from Jordy Maree’s effort made it difficult to ascertain both the size of the wave and the air. As Ryan Payne explains, “Jordy’s wave is also dreamy, the alley-oop into carve, and closeout bash is epic, the filming angle is hard to judge wave size and criticalness… and that is where his entry fell short for us.”
“The Jordy drone is annoying!” Shouts Aliotti. “You can’t tell the wave or how high he goes, so, for me, disqualified!”
This left just 3 surfers in the running. Luke, with the public vote, Eli and Davey.
Matt Bromley quickly nailed his colours to the mast. “Eli’s flow between the barrel into that power air reverse was pretty nuts. For me, the ultimate combo is a confident transition between manoeuvres, and that’s exactly what Eli did. And the air was insane. Incredible surfing.”
“Eli’s barrel to mind-blowing first rote is a massive contender, although he is visible throughout the barrel.” Pondered Ryan Payne. “So for us, the winner for Round 1 is Davey! His barrel is super deep, and straight into a man carve that couldn’t have been more critical if he tried – speed, power, flow, tick, tick, tick!”
“When you compare the size, depth and the length of Davey’s barrel and the smooth transition into that fully committed and critical drop-wallet power carve, he takes it.” Added Zigzag’s Andy Davis.
Which makes the final score:
Luke – 1
Eli – 1
Davey – 2
Congratulations to Davey van Zyl, the Monster Combo 2021 Round 1 Winner!
And the final word from guest pundit, William Aliotti. “It’s really hard to choose. It’s all different. I would say Eli, but shame the tube wasn’t much more section. Not easy. But ultimately, I think Davey is the winner… everything is linked and clean. Yes, that seems good to me.”
In terms of the Local Hero, it came down to a toss-up between Tyde Gatcke and Janek Ferrandi’s efforts.
As Payno explains, “Tyde’s dreamy barrel was picturesque, but Janek’s alley-oop into carve was not expected, which puts him in front by a whisker.”
“Notable mentions go to all the women who have entered, Sarah Baum’s entry was considered into the main draw!” Adds Payno.
Other mentions and shout outs go to the players and contenders: Luke Thompson, James Ribbink, York van Jaarsveldt, Natasha van Greunen, Koby Oberholzer; Local Heroes Nicholas van Eeden, Roland Suttie and Kai Linder and all the groms, Daniel Emslie, Kai Hall, Clay Turrell and Kirra Hofmeyr.
There are still 2 rounds to go, so bang those clips and get your entries in!
Video: Surfing: Monster Combo Round 1 Winners!
More Info on Surfing: Monster Combo Round 1 Winners! here: https://zigzag.co.za/monstercombo/monster-combo-round-1-winners/
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