That’s a wrap for Round 1 of the Zigzag Clutch fuelled by Monster Energy. Surfers were quick off the mark and kept their foot on the gas. Round 1 saw 31 entries from all over the SA and beyond. The round was dominated by waves from Mozambique, J Bay, Cape Town, Durban, and Indonesia. With so many top entries, it was always going to be tough to decide the winner.

First off, it was up to the public to cast their vote. So over a week, surf fans voted for their favourite entries on our website. Next, the top three surfers with the most votes were chosen for an Instagram poll to decide the winner. The top three selected by the public were Jordy Talbot, Blake Crankshaw and Luke Slijpen. Surf fans were then given 24hrs to vote on Instagram. In the end, we received thousands of votes, and the winner of the Public Vote went to Luke Slijpen by a hairsbreadth! The votes were: Luke Slijpen 43%, Jordy Talbot 41%, Blake Crankshaw 16%.

It was now up to the judges to decide who they thought was the winner…

First up was Zigzag’s Andy Davis. “Crazy how many good entries there were this round! From DVZ’s right-hand peelers to Jordy Maree’s Kalk Bay kegs, but for me, Luke Slijpen’s full-rote could not be ignored. It gets my vote. Luke knows that wave well, and his approach is a product of his environment. How he casually transitioned from the tube straight into a full rotation was wild!The Local Heroes also made judging very difficult! Jordy Talbot’s Moroccan drainer was special, but who could deny Khaya’s stand-up chocolate tube? That thing was heavy!”

Monster Energy said, “This was splitting hairs. There are so many incredible entries, Shane and Justin Sykes, Davey Van Zyl, Dan Emslie, Jordy Maree, Dan Redman, York Van Yaarsveld, Koby Oberholzer, and Luke Slijpen. They all had real clutch moments, but we think there’s probably bigger and better to come, so we’ll be Switzerland on this one and let the public vote double up as ours. At the end of the day, it’s all about the fans getting excited watching surfers do what they do best.

Chris Oliver’s Desert Point barrel was hellishly deep. Both the cameraman and we were surprised he made it. Jarred Hook had a great New Pier dredger, a steep committed take-off, and lined up a proper barrel, but in the end, our vote goes to Khaya Pullen. His take-off was as late as it could’ve been – he must still have toe imprints on his deck from holding that inside rail. There were only a few millimetres that separated a guillotining from glory. The wave was massive, the barrel was deep, and the camera guy was in disbelief. That’s what we want from Clutch.”

The final vote was from Monster team rider Brendon Gibbens. “Luke Slijpen’s barrel and air are both clean. I love the combo, and it was executed perfectly, in my opinion. It’s super cool that Luke Thompson shot it. I’ve heard those guys alternate between surfing and filming each other. Haha. Pretty sick!

For the Local Hero, Khaya Pullen gets my vote. It’s a solid pit. He has a sick style. I like the emotion and the commentary. The clip was also shot well.”

And so it was decided! Luke Slijpen, the first entry of the competition, has been crowned the winner of Round 1, getting the nod from every judge. While Khaya Pullen takes out the Local Hero prize with his deep, dark monster pit! Luke Thompson earns himself the videographer award. Could we see Luke win both a videographer and surfer award? Only time will tell.

Round 2 is heating up. Send in those clips. Send to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

-- ENDS --

Distributed by Truth Collective
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