This past weekend saw 28 of the best bodyboarders in South Africa, battle it out in perfect surf down at Llandudno Beach near Cape Town and after a day of high drama and a lot of action, Hankus Loubser was crowned the inaugural champion of the Cape Town Pro 2024.
In the world of Bodyboarding, South Africa is well represented with several world champions holding the crown high over the last decade. South Africans have a reputation on the world tour, which we put down to the fact that the
waves around South Africa are the perfect ground for breeding world champions.
Llandudno is one of those waves. Local legend, Sacha Specker became the 2012 World Dropknee champion and went on to win twice at Pipeline in Hawaii, having spent his youth training in the hard-hitting waves at Llandudno.
The Cape Town Pro aimed to offer the bodyboarding community in South Africa – and the world, an event that captured the true spirit of the sport: namely, big, radical maneuvers on dangerous, heavy waves for the ultimate prize of hard, cold, cash. R25 000 for first place, R15 000 for second and R10 000 for third.
The contest was open to everyone to enter, it didn’t matter your age or your gender, which saw an awesome selection of riders entering. Of the final 28 riders, there were two ladies, Pam Bowren from Cape Town and Caitlin Steenkamp from KZN, eight juniors, and 18 men who took part. The first round was a non-elimination round, with the winners progressing directly to round 3 and the rest going into round 2, giving them another attempt to make the business end of the competition.
Saturday started wild and wooly, with a dash of rain and a ton of anxiety. By the time the event kicked off, the conditions had started to clean up and would continue to do so with each passing hour of the day, resulting in perfect four to five-foot waves that were freshly groomed by the Cape doctor for the final that evening.
The riders showed true metal when it counted, tackling the large chunky waves pounding the shallow sandbar at Llandudno without fear and with total commitment. Eventual event winner, Hankus Loubser went down hard in his opening round, attempting a reverse spin in the barrel, the lip clipped his head, sending him directly into the sandbar below, he lost some skin on his face and bruised his ego big time. This lit the fire for the day that was to play out. Everyone had brought their A-game and everyone wanted that winner’s cheque.
By the end of round 3, all the juniors had fallen out of the competition but had gained a world of valuable experience that can be built on going forward. For young groms like Ilyaas Samaai and Max Shewitz just being able to surf a few heats and rub shoulders with their heroes will do wonders for their confidence going forward. This is what 
development in the sport is all about.
The last lady standing, Pam Bowren fought her way to the quarter-finals with big powerful rolls and fearless tube riding, unfortunately falling to Nik Martin from Plettenberg Bay. As for the rest of the riders, the quarterfinals were the turning point where everyone suddenly had to move it up a gear.
The Cape Town Pro offered a final in two formats, one for the winners of the semi-finals, they progressed to what was known as the Grand Final, and the gents who lost out went into a four-man mini-final that is known as a podium final to fight it out for the converted third place on the podium and the R10 000 that was on offer for that position.
The podium final was claimed by Dylan Muhlenberg, who snatched victory away from Alex Nutt at the last milli-second, taking off on a wave just before the buzzer sounded and executing a massive roll to ride the heat out and take the prize money.
The Grand Final of the Cape Town Pro was a nail-biting affair that went down between Aden Kleve of Fishhoek and Hankus Loubser from Simons Town. The lead switched back and forth as each rider gave it their all, in the end, it was Hankus who emerged victorious with a combination of patience, a big-match mentality gained from years of competitive experience, a dash of local knowledge, and a powerful combination of tubes and explosive moves. Having come so close in previous events, this was a well-earned victory for Hankus, especially as his face got sandpapered in the opening round. It seems you have to lose some skin to light the fire of victory in bodyboarding.
The final results of the Cape Town Pro were:
1st Hankus Loubser – R25 000
2nd Aden Kleve – R15 000
3rd Dylan Muhlendberg – R10 000
⦁ Alex Nutt
⦁ Sacha Specker
⦁ Nik Martin
Special Prize winners
⦁ Best Maneuver: Sacha Specker for his huge invert, he walked away with a GoPro for that effort.
⦁ Best Wipeout: Bengy Oliver! From a perfect tube ride to having his board blown out from under him by the spit of the wave, to trying to bodysurf out and eventually going over the falls. It would have been a 10 if he made it.
All photos by Louis Wulff
