The highlights reel and full low down on the Tand Invitational 2024 by Pierre Marqua. Cover shot Benjy Oliver by Seth Phitides.

Diamonds in the Mist

Wedged between two massive cold fronts and in the middle of the most brutal Cape Winter in many decades, the Eagle Lighting Tand Invitational 2024, presented by Jack Black Brewery, was bestowed with a day of blessings. On Thursday, 25 July, the warm African sun shone down on Onrus local and multiple world champion Tristan Roberts, who came out all guns blazing to dominate the competition, claim his fourth Tand trophy, and walk away with the R30,000 winner’s cheque.

Calling the green light for a specialty bodyboarding event is always a gamble. The event organisers spent many agonising hours analysing charts and consulting with locals who know the secret combinations to get perfect waves, offshore winds, and crisp sunshine all in one day. The 2024 edition of the Eagle Lighting Tand Invitational hit the jackpot with all the elements lining up in the face of the continuous cold front onslaught to produce another historic event down at Tietiesbaai, on the west coast of South Africa.

For those making the pre-dawn drive up from Cape Town, the day’s journey started with fog so thick you required the assistance of GPS just to see where to turn off the main west coast road to head in the direction of Paternoster.

Normally, the event organizer would be looking for a swell in the 3m range, which produces the large, dangerous waves Tand has always been associated with. However, this year, due to the brutal winter, it’s been hard to find a gap in the swell where it wasn’t wild and woolly. A day was needed that could showcase the sport of bodyboarding in all its glory, but the cold fronts have been relentless since the opening function down at Jack Black Brewery in Diep River on the 10th of July.

With a month-long window period to run the event, the organizers left it to the final week of July to call it on. According to outgoing Tand organizer, Deon ‘Mumbles’ Meyer, “It’s a total gamble calling it on when the charts are only reflecting 2.2 meters, but the wind and tides are perfect, and there looks like a gap in the rain. I guess we will only know at first light if we made the right call.”

After navigating the fog and safely arriving at the Tietiesbaai campsite, the first rays of the day peaked over the sand dunes, making it clear that the gamble paid off, and the world was in for a treat. Without a cloud in the sky and a gentle offshore wind, Tand had woken up and was delivering clean four-to-six-foot sets in the early morning golden light. With the start time set for 9 am, the event was blessed by the Khoisan King (The Khoisan are the oldest living custodians of this beautiful land) in a traditional ceremony of giving thanks and appreciating the day for what Mother Nature had gifted the event with—an abundance of waves and safety for all.

The Tand Invitational is a lot like T20 cricket; it follows a different format to traditional surfing contests. Only the best riders are invited to enter, there are only seven heats in the event, and that allows for more focused action and a faster pace. Tand played her part with every heat jam-packed with high-scoring rides, big barrels, and sky-high aerial manoeuvres. This created a vibe that engaged well with the hundreds of spectators who all found a way to take a random Thursday off work or school to attend an event at a remote location far from normal cell phone range. Their sacrifice was rewarded with nonstop action and plenty of lead changes. The use of the live heats system and constructive beach communication kept everyone on the edge of their seats with blow-by-blow updates of who did what and why.

Tristan Roberts came out swinging, scoring the highest heat total of the event with a 9 and a perfect 10 in the opening 40-minute exchange. The multiple world champion set the bar high, and the rest of the field responded accordingly. Sacha Specker put up a solid battle, with the lead changing multiple times during the heat, but in the end, he had to settle for second place and a spot in the semi-finals. The top two riders of the four-man heat advance; thus, we said goodbye to Luke Bruton and Nic Westman. Both these young riders gained valuable experience in bodyboarding’s meanest arena.

Heat two started off slowly, causing a bit of anxiety as the first 10 minutes passed without a bump in the ocean, but as the beach DJ changed the pace of the music, the waves turned on, and the action resumed. Long-time world tour campaigner and one of the best bodyboarding exports South Africa has ever produced, Richards Bay’s Mark MacCarthy adapted to the cold water and turned up the heat, beating local legend and one of Tand’s original pioneers, Ruan De Bruin, into second place. Hankus Loubser narrowly missed advancing; again, the strategy of patience got the better of him, and he just couldn’t find a backup score to keep his campaign alive. Cato found a bomb but couldn’t find another. Thanks for playing.

Heat 3 was possibly the most anticipated heat in the event, as this was when the greatest bodyboarder of all time, Hawaii’s Mike Stewart, hit the water to take up his place in the lineup and in the annals of South African Bodyboarding history. Today was the day Mike Stewart came to town and took on Tand.

Tand is a wave where experience counts, and small fractions in position can be the difference between a good wave, a great wave, or a nightmare. Mike has only had the opportunity to have one warm-up session out at Tand, and this was capitalized on by the local lads. Luke Staniforth pushed hard, Benjy Oliver snuck in a few bombs, and Mike and Ismaeel Grant had a paddle battle to see who could sit deeper. The action was relentless, and the wipeouts were getting more brutal as the tide dropped out. At the end of the heat, Luke stood victorious with Benjy hot on his heels. Mike found a bomb and missed a bomb, but it was enough to get him an honourable third place in the heat and a first place in all the hearts of the adoring public lining the rocks. As he left the water, the spectators, young and old, formed a guard of honour to congratulate and thank Mike for being part of this year’s Tand experience. It truly was a humbling experience.

And not to forget about the action in the water, while all eyes were on Mike on the beach, heat 4 was well underway as the gents traded barrels and flips. The dark horse of the event, East London’s Dylan Muhlenberg, aka the Mule, who earlier this year was ready to throw in the towel on his competitive career, entered the Cape Town Pro via the last-minute dot-com option, then ended up on the podium and earned himself an invitation to Tand. Now here we are as he leads from the front with a powerful display of bodyboarding. Coming in second was the bodyboard coach, Noordhoek’s Aden Kleve. Another major upset came in the form of the defending champion, Wes Coetzee from South Coast KZN, not being able to find the rhythm he had last year and had to settle for third place with Teegan Coulonval in fourth.

On to the Semifinals. The sun beat down, the rocks warmed up, the layers came off, and the ocean kept on delivering. The low tide allowed Tand to really show her teeth as the boys started to jockey deeper and deeper behind the rock. The mellowness, if you can call anything witnessed thus far mellow, of the high tide had long been forgotten, and the focus now was on wave selection and direction. A mistake now would result in a sudden trip to the dentist’s chair for a mandatory root canal.

Semi-final number one was an outright slugfest; no quarter was given. Tristan and Mark went head-to-head, matching one another wave for wave. With the top two waves counting, all the scoring rides for second and first were in the excellent range. However, Tristan’s combo of an 8 and a 9 beat Mark’s hand of an 8.16 and an 8.73. Yes, it was that close. Contest surfing at its absolute best.

Feeling a little left out of the action, Benjy Oliver replied with one of the longest, deepest barrels seen ridden at Tand for a long time. Taking off way behind the rock, he vanished below sea level as the tube swallowed him up, only to be spat out halfway across the bay a few moments later. That tube earned him Barrel of the Event and a bonus pay cheque of R2000, not bad for third place. Aden Kleve threw everything and the kitchen sink into his heat; he put life and limb on the line, but it wasn’t his day. He didn’t walk away empty-handed, a bone-crunching wipeout that saw him spend a few moments underwater inspecting the crayfish stocks earned him Wipeout of the Event, now known as the Cavity Cleaner Award, and a Buell wetsuit to go with the sinus flush he got earlier.

If you thought the winning margin for semi-final number one was tight, semi-final two said, “Fine, hold my Jack Black beer.” When the spray cleared, it was only 0.04 that separated first from second place. The lead switched multiple times between the Mule, Luke Staniforth, and Sacha Specker. With every new set that rolled over the rock, someone else came out in front. Spex was in overdrive, Dylan was making the impossible seem possible, and Luke was sneaking bombs under priority. In the end, Dylan got the photo finish over Luke, with Spex just missing out on a spot in the final. Ruan was happy to sit and watch the lads battle it out; he found a couple, but nothing that matched the intensity of what the other riders were chasing.

Following tradition at Tand, the final the public is allowed to be watched from the water, thus giving any willing spectator the chance to experience this unique wave from a perspective usually reserved for water photographers, seals, and sharks. Safety for the public was a priority and the water patrol managed the frothing crowd like a border collie sorts out the sheep.

“Paddling back from a wave, past this massive crowd of frothing fans, it is something I have never experienced before, what an amazing, unique vibe for a contest. “ – Luke Staniforth. Tand finalist, 2024

Picking up from where they left off in the semifinals, Tristan Roberts and Mark MacCarthy made their intentions clear. Both found high-scoring waves early on, however, Tristan seemed to step up a gear. He again went excellent in his scoring, bagging a massive tube to the tune of a 9.75 and backing it up with a bone-crunching barrel to backflip that earned him an 8. Mark gave it his best, but in the end, Tristan dominated the heat by putting every other finalist into combo land. No one could touch him; he really was in a league of his own. The cheering crowds on the rocks were treated to a textbook display of competitive surf strategy combined with a fearless, innovative approach to bodyboarding that is so entertaining to watch. Dylan Muhlenberg backed up the podium finish he got earlier in the year with another well-deserved third place, and rounding off the final was Luke Staniforth in fourth, who got a little lost in the moment and didn’t find the waves that could earn him the big bucks.

The late afternoon prize giving went down to a backdrop of a perfect day. The winning athletes were awarded their trophies and then joined the fans in the car park for an incredibly special post-event beer with Jack Black Brewery. With the pressure off and the gees (Afrikaans for mood) high, it was the ideal way to close out another successful Tand Invitational. The party eventually moved back into town, to the sleepy seaside village of Paternoster at the infamous Panty Bar, where athletes and fans kuiered (that’s Afrikaans for partied) till late in the night.

The Eagle Lighting Tand Invitational 2024, presented by Jack Black Brewing Co. was made possible by Deon Meyer who sadly will be leaving the world of bodyboarding events to focus on building his next project, and the new Tand organiser, James Plumstead. For the last three years James, from What Goes Around SA, has had a massive influence on the organisation and media presence of Tand. He has put a professional team together that passionately grind away in the background making sure the Tand dream stays alive. This event is being well cared for and will continue to grow in the future. Watch this space.

Both Deon and James, would like to thank all the friends, family and fans that made the trip up the coast to come and support the riders and the event. Special thanks also go out to all the smaller sponsors who helped with the small details that go into putting on such a successful event: Jackery SA for the electricity in the middle of nowhere, Redbull SA, Kifflab , Ryan Boon Meats, Ornate Signs, Fabricant , What Goes Around SA, Urban Hippy, Traeger Grills, Kestrel , Smit Steenwerke, Buell Surf, Protect The West Coast, Paternoster Rentals, Sea Shack, Webodyboard, Boardtalk, ZA Boogie, Wavescape. And that’s a wrap, till next year folks.

Final Results:
1) Tristan Roberts: R30,000
2) Mark MacCarthy: R10,000
3) Dylan Muhlenberg: R5,000
4) Luke Staniforth: R3,000
· Best Barrel: Benjy Oliver: R2,000
· Cavity Cleaner wipeout award: Aden Kleve winning a Buell wetsuit.