The Wavescape Artboard Project raised a record R300 000 for ocean causes last week, with the surfboard decorated by South African artist Lionel Smit going for an individual record of R67 000.
Iconic pop artist Brett Murray’s board went for R55 000. This equals the previous record set for his board in 2013.
The previous total for the auction was R234 000, raised in 2012.
This year, proceeds from the auction will go to the NSRI, Wave For Change, Shark Spotters and the South African Adaptive Surfing team, who are on their way to California for the world championships in a few days.
The sculptured board by Jenna Barbe, who created an intricate replication of bleached coral reef, enjoyed a lot of social media attention before the event. It went under the hammer for R27 000, while the simply rendered oil painting of a calm ocean by Jake Aikman brought in R30 000.
The next board to go was Steve Pike’s painting, based on the original The Great Wave of Kanagawa by Hokusai in 1830, which raised R23 000.
A bustling crowd of several hundred people at Tiger’s Milk in Muizenberg cheered and laughed at the antics of MC Nik Rabinowitz.
Festival manager Shani Judes said it was an inspiring evening that really raised the bar for future iterations of the event.
“We just want to thank everyone for coming out to support, and a huge thanks to the 11 artists who participated, as well as the kind-hearted buyers who continue to support us year after year.”
The other artists who participated were Alexis Aronson, Manuela Gray, Jake Aikman, Peter Van Straten, Steve Pike, Sujay Sanan, Chris Burkard, Conrad Botha and Jenna Barbe
The Wavescape Festival line-up continues with Beach Reach at Surfer’s Corner at 10am, on Saturday December 10. For details, go to www.wavescapefestival.com and book through Webtickets.
