The Ballito Pro presented by Billabong got underway in one metre, hip to head high waves at Bather’s Beach in Ballito this morning with surfers in the first 15 heats of Round 1 put on standby to compete today.

A QS 10,000 rated event on the World Surf League (WSL) Qualifying Series (QS), the Ballito Pro features an elite 96-man entry of the world top ranked surfers. On offer is a total prize-purse of US $250 000 (over R3 million) and invaluable ranking points, with the winner taking home nearly R500 000 and adding 10,000 points to his season’s tally.

Small waves at Surfer’s Beach in Ballito at dawn prompted the organisers to move the R3 milion Ballito Pro 300 metres further south to Bather’s Beach where the first 15 heats of Round 1 of the QS 10,000 rated contest are scheduled to be run today Photo: WSL / LifesaBeach
Small waves at Surfer’s Beach in Ballito at dawn prompted the organisers to move the R3 milion Ballito Pro 300 metres further south to Bather’s Beach where the first 15 heats of Round 1 of the QS 10,000 rated contest are scheduled to be run today
Photo: WSL / LifesaBeach

Organisers decided to move the event 300 metres south of the main venue at Surfer’s Beach where the waves are providing higher scoring potential.

And the move paid immediate dividends when former WSL CT campaigner Alejo Muniz (BRA) posted the first ride of the contest in the excellent category (more than 8.00 points out of 10). The judges scored Muniz 9.00 for a series of powerful manoeuvres, which along with a 7.50, saw him win the heat and progress to the Round of 48 along with second placed fellow Brazilian Marco Fernandez.

Watch all the action live right here on theballitopro.com

The competitors in the Ballito Pro will also be competing for valuable specialty prizes in the Monster Energy Expression Session presented by Zigzag and the Monster Energy Wave of the Week presented by Zigzag which will reward the respective winners with R20 000 and R25 000 each. See more details at https://theballitopro.com/expression-session/

While the surfers ride the waves, the Ballito Pro Festival is set to turn up the heat in KwaDukuza by offering the best in beach, music and extreme sports entertainment. Locals and holiday-makers will be spoilt for choice with the week-long festival featuring an extreme sports programme, the Coastal Living Bru Food & Wine Festival and an exciting retail area while the Tropika Ballito Pro Music Concerts Powered by 5FM bring some of South Africa’s most talented music acts to the stage in Salt Rock.

The Ballito Pro presented by Billabong is proudly supported by the KwaDukuza Municipality, Billabong, 5FM, Monster Energy, Zigzag Surfing Magazine, World Surf League (WSL) and Surfing South Africa (SSA).