Veins of Ice: Greg Emslie Emerges Victorious at the O’Neill Cold Water Classic-Cape Town
He’s got ice in his veins.
Oakley’s Greg Emslie was on home soil…and water…during the O’Neill Cold Water Classic South Africa in Cape Town this past week. Massive crowds flocked to the shoreline to see Emslie and fellow South African Jordy Smith rip it up in friendly waters. Under pressure to win with the home court advantage, rip it up they did.
Greg scored the first Cold Water Classic win by a South African at home, trumping Dion Atkinson for a glorious finish to cheers emitting from the spirited home crowds.
“Jordy (Smith) won the other two local events and now I’ve won the third,” said Greg, rocking his Oakley Holbrook shades. “I was thinking to myself I beat Jordy in this event, now I can’t let the guy down and lose the final. We’ve got to keep all the trophies at home, so I’m stoked I managed to do that.”
The final day of this year’s O’Neill Cold Water Classic South Africa was played out in relatively mild conditions compared to what the Cape Peninsula produced during the week.
The winds had eased, the swell had dropped and the sun was still shining… but the water temperature offered a bit of a surprise element for all the guys jumping in for their heat.
Nevertheless, Greg charged hard in the chilly waters of Cape Town and took home the hardware.
Here’s some of Greg’s commentary from his own mouth/pen/keyboard:
I am overwhelmed with this result and super stoked! It was a bit of a surprise to be honest as I was not competing for points or anything, just fun but I guess that is when you get your best results!
I was also really happy with the rest of the Oakley team performance; juniors Shaun Joubert and Chad du Toit showed a lot of character finishing equal 5th in the event.
Shaun was surfing great but lost to Frankie Oberholzer in a heat that should have been his. Shaun was looking for the right hand Breaking waves while the left hand breaking waves offered the bigger scores!
Chad du Toit really impressed me as he adapted to the changing conditions between Outer Kom and Long Beach. Chad is super competitive and gives it his all in every heat he surfs and unfortunately lost out to eventual runner up Dion Atkinson. Chad needs to get more vertical with his surfing as he is a bit horizontal at times and when he does get vertical, the scores reflect on his surfing.
Royden Bryson disappointed me a little in this event as he lost a pretty easy heat due to bad wave selection. One of Royden’s goals for the year is to win the O’Neill Cold Water Classic series and although he is in the lead, he will need to work hard in the remaining 2 events to secure the win and the USD 50 000! Come on Royden!
World Number 1 Jordy Smith was a huge draw card to the event and had the fans flocking him on the beach. Jordy is a huge inspiration to the young kids and his maturity he has gained and time he takes to give the kids autographs and a bit of advise here and there will go along way!
Well a long month of surfing events on the local ASP Africa schedule have come to an end. What an eventful time it has been. For South African surfing it has been unreal with all the trophy’s been kept at home. The crowds on the beaches have been the biggest I have ever seen which tells me that surfing is in good stead in South Africa.
On the Oakley side I feel we have put in a huge amount of work to make our presence felt. I don’t believe that there are other team managers out there from different companies that are as passionate about their surfers doing well as what we at Oakley are, it is awesome to see!
The highlights for me from an Oakley perspective have been Adam Melling finishing second to Jordy Smith at the Billabong Pro and moving from last on the World Ratings to 19th, Adriano getting to the Quarters at the Billabong Pro and moving into the top 5 in the World, Myself winning the O’Neill Cold Water Classic Cape Town, Roydens 3rd Place finish at the Mr Price Pro and the all round presence our team showed at all the events wearing the latest product and making the team proud! Well Done.
Thank you to all involved in making this a success for Oakley.
Greg Emslie
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