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Last sixteen beckons for British champion
by George Mojo
04/05/2007:// Brazilian Carlos Bahia stands in the way of British champion Ben Skinner making it into the last 16 of the Oxbow World Longboard Surfing Championships in France.
The Cornishman outclassed Japan's David Kinoshita to book a third round clash with the talented South American at Les Cavaliers, in Anglet.
The World Games silver medallist, from Newquay, made short work of his Asian opponent leading from the start to win by four clear points in the 4ft plus beachbreak waves.
Skinner, who is the only Briton left in the ASP contest, scored 6.5 points for a classic pitching righthander which helped the England international to a 10.4 points to 6.25 victory by the final hooter.
Bahia, meanwhile, made it look easy against Brett Heimstra, crushing the American by 14.5 points to 5.9.
It was round of incredible waves, with one ride in particular standing out, caught by Hawaiian Keegan Edwards.
Edwards took off on a pristine righthander and pulled in behind the curtain. For what seemed an eternity he travelled through the tube only to exit a second or two later.
“Well, I am from Hawaii, so that’s we do, we ride tubes,” said Edwards after his heat.. “I saw that little double up and it was there, so I just rode it out. When I came out I gave a little shaka, like, ‘bring on France’ you know. I was pretty stoked.”
That wave scored a 9.50 from the judges and was the highest score of the round.
Elsewhere, it tended to be a tale of youth and endeavour taking out the aged and the experienced.
The last heat of round two saw the elder statesmen of Brazilian surfing Alex “Picaruta” Salazar taking on the next big thing in Brazilian surfing, the powerful 24-year-old Phil Rajzman.
This time though the young gun was too strong for his good friend and mentor.
“It was difficult because I have learned so much from Picaruta. He is my master,” said Rajzman. ”Still, I wasn’t too nervous, I’ve been surfing competitions since I was 14 and also the beach in front of my house in Brazil is a lot like this, powerful beachbreaks, so I really enjoy these type of waves.”
With the incoming tide, round three got under in a similar vane with 18-year-old local hope Antoine Delpero taking on the 41-year-old veteran Brazilian Amaro Matos.
Matos was the form surfer having scored the highest two-wave heat score in his opener. Again though, it was a case of youth overcoming experience with the wildcard Delpero advancing.
“It was a hard heat, with quite difficult waves,” said Delpero, “but I was lucky that I found some waves with nice open walls.”
The other upset of the round saw perennial contender Hawaiian Duane de Soto knocked over in the final minutes by Brazilian goofyfooter Jamie Viudes.
The big Brazil contingent on shore went absolutely crazy when Viudes scored an 8 point ride to sink the respected Hawaiian’s hopes.
Skinner and Bahia meet in one of the final ten remaining round three match ups.
The 2008 Beachley Classic got underway this morning, completing Rounds 1 and 2 as well as the opening two heats of Round 3 at nearby Freshwater Beach in clean two-to-three foot (1 metre) waves
Layne Beachley (AUS), 36, has officially announced her retirement from full-time competition, effective at the end of the year
Former Exeter University student Josh Lewin first heat at the Ocean and Earth Pro in the Canary Islands has been delayed because the 2ft surf was deemed uncontestable
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