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British longboard ace delayed by bad weather
by George Mojo
02/05/2007:// Stormy weather delayed British longboard ace Ben Skinner's opening heat at the Oxbow World Longboard Championships in France.
Skinner, who won a silver medal at the World Surfing Games in California, is due to surf against Australian Harley Ingleby and Jared Neal at les Cavaliers, in Anglet.
Organisers were unable to complete the first round after strong winds and rain spread across the contest site.
Neal earlier put paid to Briton Elliot Dudley's hopes of a main event place in the semi finals of the trials.
In the previous round, Neal took the scalp of Sennen's Sam Bleakley pushing the champion back into fourth place in their quarter final trials heat.
James Parry missed out on a semi-final berth by just three points in his quarter final outing which was won by Dudley.
Adam Griffiths saw his chances fade in round two of the trials courtesy of a spellbinding display from Hawaiian Dino Mirando.
The main event has now started at the famous French beachbreak and in heat one Hawaiian Kai Sallas fresh off a victory in the Surf City Longboard Pro-Am contest last weekend at Huntington Beach, in California continued his good form and scored an emphatic victory. One wave, which scored a 9.25, has been the highest scoring wave of the heat.
But the other big names in the event also showed they were here for business with dominant first round heat wins.
South Africa's Mathew Moir also scored in excess of 16 points for his two-wave score, nailing some extra long nose rides and radical cutbacks.
He will be joined by former world champion, longboarding legend and perennial favourite Bonga Perkins, from Hawaii, who overcame Japan's Nobuhiro Ogashira and Brazilian Roger Barros.
Perkins, the 1996 world champion, will move straight into the third round, crucially avoiding the sudden death second round.
Defending world champion Australian Josh Constable and America's former world champion Colin McPhillips faced off in heat eight, with McPhillips coming out on top.
McPhillips’ efforts were particularly noteworthy as he had recently suffered a major knee injury and was rumoured to not even be competing.
“I thought I blew my knee out last Tuesday,” said McPhillips. “Even on Thursday, I couldn’t make my flight. But I straightened it out, and arrived just last night.
"That was my first surf in the competition area and I went through, so I’m stoked. Now I’m not thinking about my knee till after the event, it will start hurting afterwards, but for now it’s all good,” said the two-time world champion.
The only real major upset came from Australian Bryce Young .
Bryce, the son of surfing legend Nat and also brother to former longboard world champ Beau, had been given a wildcard into the event by Oxbow and surfed radically to progress straight through to the third round.
“I was a little nervous, but the waves were so strong and punchy and I managed some good waves. It’s so good to be here, all my family are here, so I just want to do my best, find the best waves and see how I go,” said 17-year-old Young.
His father Nat, a patron here for the Oxbow Pro World Longboard Championship, nervously watched his son surf his heat.
“Yeah I had all the butterflies of being a father, plus all the butterflies of being a surfer, because I can think what I would be doing in the same situation,” he said.
“But he was so radical out there. He does much more radical moves than Beau or I can do on a longboard. In fact, he is a much better surfer than Beau and I. He can go straight up and straight down,” added Nat.
[Carissa Moore (in yellow) receiving the winner's prize]
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[Pablo Gutierrez winner of the Superbock Pro]
Hawaiian Carissa Moore won the Roxy Pro Junior surfing in her first ever contest in France
ASP International has announce the inception of their fourth regional branch, ASP Australasia
Twenty-six-year-old Pablo Guitierrez took top honours in the Superbock Pro in Portugal after defeating fellow Portugeuse surfer Eduardo Fernandes in the final
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