Event Wrap-Up: Perfect climax to O'Neill Cold Water Classic as Devyn Mattheys, Tarryn Chudleigh take the titles

The final day of competition in the 2007 O'Neill Cold Water Classic was held at a new contest venue called Shipwreck, a beautiful beach break situated between Misty Cliffs and Scarborough in the Southern Peninsula. In a fitting climax to three days of unbelievably good surf at three totally different venues, Shipwreck produced seven hours of perfect 6' rights and lefts under sunny skies.

There were plenty of fine performances over the three days from a variety of different surfers. Some enjoyed the challenging Outer Kom lefts while others found the right breaking 365 waves to their liking.

On the final day though it was Devyn Mattheys of East London who made the best impression in the Men's Final to take the title, a cheque for R6000 and 1000 Surfing South Africa Pro Surf Tour ratings points. Newly crowned SA Senior Men's Champion and previous O'Neill Cold Water Classic Champion Quintin Jones of Cape Town was second with Frankie Oberholzer of Warner Beach third and another former Cold Water Classic winner, Ryan Payne of Jeffreys Bay, fourth.

Current PST Pro Junior ratings leader Tarryn Chudleigh of Kommetjie beat the current Womens PST champion Sarah Maritz of Amanzimtoti to take the Women's crown and R2000 while Penny Robarts of Somerset West was third and 2003 Cold Water Classic winner Tasha Mentasti of Durban North was fourth.

The Vans Expression Session was won by Brad Mommsen of Berea for an unbelievably difficult Aerial 360, which he completed successfully. The Vans Retro Expression session cheque which featured surfers riding surfboards from previous decades was shared by Ian Armstrong and Wesley Grey (both Kommetjie) and 11 year old Benji Brand of Kommetjie won the Cold Water Classic Event Raw Courage Award for his tenacity in the grueling Outer Kom surf on Day One.

His prize was a special edition O'Neill Swatch watch, one of just 100 that were commissioned for the O'Neill Highland Pro in Scotland earlier this year. The Zig Zag Blowing Up Award which comprises a unique replica hand grenade trophy and R1000, went to Sean Holmes.

O'Neill Brand & Marketing Manager Chris Bertish said that O'Neill could not have been more stoked with what the Peninsula had provided over the three days of competition. "It all went according to plan. Challenging, hard core, serious surf, tough conditions, three very special venues, top rate surfing from the contestants and a great final day. Next year will be even bigger and even better".

The O'Neill Cold Water Classic carries a PST rating of 3A for the Men and 2A for the Women and was sanctioned by Surfing South Africa, the national governing body for surfing. The Cold Water Classic was supported by Vans and Crocs with medical support from Netcare 911. Spike from Wavescape forecasted the event.

Day 2 Sum-Up: K365 delivers 5' - 6' surf

Day 2 at 365 was a fantastic success, held in testing 5-6ft powerful reef break surf.

Ladies division was run through to the semi Finals

Mens was run through to the Quater finals.

Day 1 Sum-Up: Outer Kom delivers heaving, cold, 8'-10' surf

O'Neill Brand & Team manager Chris Bertish commented that the event is going exactly according to script: "We are stoked the Kom was the venue for Day One and highly impressed with the cranking big surf and the level of surfing talent displayed. The conditions were exactly what we wanted - big, demanding, extreme and really hard core, and we are hoping for more of the same over the next two days."

Standouts of the day were most definitely young Benji Brand who showed courage and determination to charge his way through some big and testing conditions, Matthew Bromley who showed why he is one of South Africa's top juniors with a great display of powerful and technical surfing, and Sean Holmes showed once again why he is such a threat wherever he surfs, looking completely comfortable and at home in the solid waves of The Kom.

The Outer Kom is a left breaking point wave near the lighthouse in Kommetjie and is notorious for its hard core take off and size. Power and speed make it an unforgiving wave and mistakes almost always result in tough wipeouts and the long paddle backs through big walls of whitewater in the kelp bed to calmer water require plenty of stamina.

The early round heats were 25 minute long and each surfer's top two waves counted toward a final score. Only the top two surfers advanced in each of the rounds and some of the qualifiers had to compete in three exhausting heats.

Due to the size of the waves and tough conditions Glen Bee and the O'Neill rescue team were on hand throughout the day while Netcare 911 were on duty at the site to assist with any medical emergency.