Bianca Buitendag stamped her authority on the Pro Junior (U20) girls surfing in South Africa by winning the U20 girls title in the first Billabong Junior Series event of 2009 and denting a few male egos by advancing to the last eight in the U16 boys division on a dramatic Day 3 at Scottburgh on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast on Friday.

Competing in excellent offshore waves that grew from one metre to a board-breaking two metres during the day, Buitendag, 15, from Victoria Bay, beat SA junior teammate Kirsty Delport (Durban) by 12.75 points to 8.25 in a one-sided final with Delport, still competing on borrowed equipment after her surfboards were lost in transit returning from last week’s ISA World Junior Championships in Ecuador, needing an 8.26 point ride for victory at the end of the heat.

Finishing equal third in the girl’s event were Faye Zoetmulder (Port Elizabeth), who lost out to Buitendag in their one-on-one semifinal, and Chantelle Rautenbach (Melkbosstrand) who was ousted by Delport at the same stage. The victory sees Buitendag, who was SA’s highest placed U18 girl (11^th) in Ecuador, taking the early lead in Pro Junior girls’ rankings for the Billabong Junior Series and on the Surfing South Africa (SSA) Pro Surf Tour (PST)