LOCAL surfer Heather Clark from Port Shepstone has qualified for the 2000 Women’s World Championship Tour (WCT), making her the only South African woman to reach the top echelon of international surfing since Wendy Botha in 1987. Although Clark failed to advance to the quarterfinals of the World Qualifying Series (WQS) Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa, she will still rank amongst the top 14 seeds for the 2000 WCT. Wendy Botha from East London won world championship titles in 1987, 89 and 91 and 92, and Clark’s qualifying for the 2000 WCT brings a glimmer of hope for the future of women’s surfing in South Africa.