Sponsors In, Cash Up, Points in the Sky
At the Port Alfred Easter Festival, not everything fits neatly into a heat.
Make way for the Expression Sessions.
Kids With Cash
From the outset, the GromSearch expression session sets a different tone.
A lineup full of kids who have been surfing heats all week suddenly gets told to forget the script. No building a house. No two to the beach. No playing it safe. Just go.
And then someone nice, a big fan of junior surfing, starts throwing cash around.
Actual notes. Bucks. Gorillas. Bokke. Mandelas Clipa. Stena. Ront. Cash. Handed out for moments with no envelopes. One move, one section, one decision that lands clean and gets the beach reacting. It changes everything. Kids start swinging harder, taking off deeper, trying things they probably shouldn’t be, and every now and then, someone sticks one that shifts the vibe into now.
It is messy, loud, and completely watchable.
The Marina Session
R10,000 on the Line
With that, the energy shifts again.
The Royal Alfred Marina Expression Session brings in the QS surfers and puts R10,000 on the table, thanks to the Royal Alfred Marina as sponsor. The prize is split across two standout performances. Enough to matter. Enough to make every section a decision point. Five grand for one turn. The Expression Session is open to Men and Women, but the best moves win.
At this stage, things get interesting.
Creativity, imagination, and progressive surfing. Everyone can do a clean forehand air reverse. It’s as passé as a sliding 360 these days. The judges have seen that clip on repeat. It lands, it counts, but it does not separate anyone.
They are looking so far past that paradigm.
Bruce Irons Straight Airs
They want something pushed. Something committed. A Hail Mary when the section looks sketchy. A full-blown alley-oop that rotates clean. A double-grab flip, Kerrupt, Club Sandwich if the section lines up. Something tweaked and extended, held just long enough to feel different. A big straight air that goes higher than expected and comes down into the flats with enough momentum to ride it out, the kind that would make Bruce Irons proud
And it comes with risk. Because for every one that sticks, there are a few that do not. The risks make it exciting. Late take-offs, missed grabs, ankle-destroying lands, rails against heads, and the danger of fin cuts.
Backed By The Royal Alfred Marina
The Royal Alfred Marina, as the official sponsor of this session, is a cool fit.
They are backing the festival, surfing in Port Alfred, and the idea of pushing things past the safe option. This is the part of the event where surfers step away from the rulebook and look for something further out.
The Marina itself sits calm on the Kowie, with tranquillity, clean lines, water access and that easy coastal rhythm. But this move shows where their head is at.
The Marina is invested where things get interesting – where surfing might be heading next.
No Script, No Ceiling
Expression sessions don’t really follow any sort of pattern.
You get moments you would never see in a heat. Surfers going for something radical because the section lines up and there is no reason to hold back. No prizes if you kick out. A crowd reacting when something lands or when someone slams.
And when a surfer sticks something crazy and gets a pocket full of cash, even better.
Photos from the 2025 GromSearch Expression Session
all photos by Kody McGregor
