The 10-day World Waveski Surfing Championships, heading for its finale on Sunday at Nahoon Reef, has attracted over 100 participants from 14 countries, bringing about R9m new revenue into the city.
“East London is the perfect venue, but it took some selling to get the event here in Buffalo City,” said the main force behind it, Trystan Viaene.
“In 2022 the event was held in the USA. It’s biannual and each of the 20 affiliated countries is invited to submit a proposal.”
Viaene said that she knew her home town had every surfing advantage, with great waves irrespective of the wind direction, but she had to convince the international wave skiing body to share her belief and passion.
She is already skilled in the public relations aspect, having her own company, Creative Bloc.
She joined the Border Waveski association in 2016, and then SA Waveski, where she was elected secretary.
She managed the SA team in the 2022 world event.
“After the event in America the world association called for bids for 2024, and we went up against Australia — and we won. By that time I had been elected as treasurer of the international body.”
It was then that the hard work started.
It was essential to get BCM tourism on board, along with other sponsorships.
Viaene, the consummate public relations professional, ensured that East London municipality had naming rights to the event, now known as the World Waveski Buffalo City Tourism event.
“It took nearly two years to button down every aspect of the event.
"But once BCM was on board things started going smoothly."
“While the sport is growing it is not yet professional, compared to surfing. Fortunately, businesses supported us and we have over 30 sponsors.”
She said a rough calculation of the week's activities were that R5m was spent on accommodation and another R3m on things such as vehicle hire, restaurants, fuel and groceries, as well as tourism events before and after the competition.
The organisation budget was in the region of R1m.
“Initially we were a team of only three but as the event neared this climbed to over 50 for the event itself.”
Many of the 104 entrants to the championship also surfed in the DoubleTree Hilton, a franchise of the international Hilton Group, sponsored Tour d’ Afrique, in Cape Town, then travelled the coast, with surfing competitions in the Western Cape, before heading for East London, known as the gateway to the Wild Coast.
“Sport is a good source of revenue for the country and for East London. This world championship event has been well received, and it has started the momentum to capitalise on the interest."
A good portion of East London's hospitality small business community felt the benefits of hosting a world sporting event.
One such was Nahoon B&B Harewood Lodge, which hosted seven of the competitors, who spent nearly two weeks there.
“Sports bookings create a nice balance to our mainly business visitor customers,” said owner Alison Baxter.
“We do well out of annual events that are supported by sports people throughout SA. The international events add to the demand.”
Viaene said some competitors had worked their way up from Cape Town and would continue touring, mainly to wildlife destinations, before returning home to America.
“Our next step is to pivot wave skiing with other water sports. We have the beaches and rivers to create venues to for what I term a water fest. And now the challenging work starts again.”
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