In short:
The waves are picking up out in Mozambique with the girls taking on some clean 3-4 foot surf. Be sure to drop in on the ROXY WEBSITE for all the latest.

Here are the latest video highlights from day four:

In long:

Check out the press release below:

(Ponta d’Ouro, Mozambique) The swell is starting to build at Ponta d’Ouro, Mozambique, and with it the anticipation of the twelve invited surfers contesting this year’s Roxy Invitational. Having arrived in Ponta on Monday 4 May to be greeted with knee high waves running down the fabled point, the surfers were ecstatic to find clean three to four foot waves breaking a good couple of hundred metres down the sandbank, and hit the lineup en masse at first light.

The Reunion duo of Cannelle Bullard and Johanne Defay joined Faye Zoetmulder (Port Elizabeth) and Tanika Hoffman (Cape Town) at the very top of the point behind the Ponta rock ledge, while the rest of the girls positioned themselves sporadically further down the sandbank.

“The surf here in Mozambique is really good,” said Bullard after her session. “I had seen a lot of photos the night before and now that the swell has gotten a bit bigger I can see how good the waves here really are.”

Durban locals Tasha Mentasti and Sarah Baum surfed the sandbank in the middle of the bay with Nikita Robb (East London), Bianca Buitendag (George) and Tarryn Chudleigh (Cape Town) and enjoyed some long walls. Goofy-footers Chudleigh, Buitendag and Robb even managed to find a few left-handers which they reveled in on their forehands.

After the surf the girls enjoyed breakfast before heading out on a dive boat to search for some of the many dolphins that frequent this beautiful stretch of coastline, and for many it was a dream come true as they found several pods and enjoyed almost two hours swimming with these majestic creatures.

“Swimming with all those dolphins really was an amazing experience,” said seasoned world tour surfer Heather Clark. “I have surfed with dolphins dozens of times, but actually being so close to them and playing with them is incredible. One came right up to me and was within arms reach as it circled me, almost as if it wanted to play. I’m still blown away by the experience.”

The afternoon was then spent reflecting on some on the morning’s experiences, playing hackie-sack on the beach, swimming and relaxing. A short walk down the beach Chudleigh and Robb unveiled a two foot mid-break wave that had come to life on the high tide, and was offering fun A-frame peaks for the girls to play around on.

A crew consisting of Chudleigh, Buitendag, Alice MacGregor (East London), Nikita Robb, and Tanika Hoffman (Cape Town) headed down the beach and spent just over an hour surfing the small waves as the sun slowly dropped towards the horizon.

With the swell continuing to build and the forecast for the next three days looking very promising, the decision was made to announce the heat draws for the event as it is likely to run very soon. At this stage the prediction is for tomorrow to be a practice day, with the first round of competition being surfed on Saturday 9 May, and the final on Sunday 10 May. The final heat draw was announced to the excited competitors at dinner this evening and will be available on the Roxy website http://www.roxy.co.za/invitational shortly.

The Roxy Invitational is one of South African surfing’s most popular events, and will see ten of South Africa’s top female surfers and two surfers from Reunion compete for R15,000 in prize money and the illustrious title.

The Roxy Invitational has a one week waiting period and will be contested in the best possible conditions at Ponta d’Ouro between 4 and 11 May. At this stage the forecast is looking most promising for the competition to take place on either Friday 8 May, or Saturday 9 May, but as guru surf forecaster Steve Pike keeps the contest directors informed so decisions will be made.