Zigzag Clutch Round 1 Winners! Round 2 Underway.

The Zigzag Clutch Fueled by Monster Presented by Vans round 1 is officially in the books, and what a round it was! A true battle of the barrels. With 30 entries from surfers across South Africa and beyond, this round brought waves from iconic locations like J Bay, Cape Town, Durban and Indonesia. With such a high calibre of submissions, selecting a victor would take a lot of work.

The first step in the process was putting the decision in the hands of the public. For an entire week, surf fans could vote for their favourite entries on our website. The top three surfers with the most votes would then face off in an Instagram poll to determine the final winner. The surfers who made it to the public vote were Kane Johnstone, Rylan Jarvis, and Indie Malherbe. Fans then had 24 hours to cast their votes on Instagram, and the results were clear. After thousands of votes, the Public Vote winner was Indie Malherbe, with 55% of the vote, followed by Rylan Jarvis at 25% and Kane Johnstone at 20%.

With the public vote complete, it was now up to the judges to choose the overall winner.

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The first to vote was the Zag team.

“Yoh! That was proper! The round kicked off with a banger from Chad Du Toit and continued to deliver entry after entry. There were so many insane tube rides, from Ry Colepeper’s snipe through a thick beach break to Levi Kolnik’s bonus section down-the-line tube, but there was no doubt in our minds that Chad’s Durban spitter was the best of the bunch. He set the bar high, and in the end, no one could match it. He gets our vote.

The Local Heroes also made judging very difficult! Dan Wilson’s backside drainer was something special, but who could deny Indie’s stand-up turquoise tube?! That thing was mental!”

Monster Energy had this to say:

“The first round is clearly the battle of the barrels! Some incredible rides were submitted, which is a true testament to the level of surfing in South Africa. I wish there was another angle of Kai’s Desert Point beast; it looked massive. Indie’s Mentawai beauty was insane, but Chad’s wave is Monster’s choice for October’s winner – it was big, it was long, he was deep, he had his pedal on the gas all wave long, and he came out with (or after) the spit.

On the Local Hero front, barrels dominated here too. Blake Crankshaw, Dan Wilson, and Ry Colepeper were all deserving winners, but we feel the size and length of Levi Konik’s barrel edged him a whisker ahead of the other three for our vote. We can’t wait to see what’s up next!”

The final vote came from Monster team rider, Brendon Gibbens.

“Chad’s tube is sick! Incredible wave. Good style. I dig it. He gets my vote.

For the Local Hero, my vote goes to Dan Wilson. Backhand tube riding is difficult in my opinion. Dan’s wave was heavy AF! He’s also got a sick style. Mad respect. Like this clip.”

And so it was decided! Chad Du Toit stood out amongst all the judges and became the Round 1 winner! Yeeeew!

The Local Hero vote wasn’t as clear-cut. Indie Malherbe, Levi Kolnik, and Dan Wilson each received a vote from the judges. However, Indie managed to clinch the Public Vote and therefore takes the Local Hero win!