The good guys at Jersey Longboard Longboard #Longboard Riders organized four days of longboard Longboard #Longboard extravaganza, starting with the British National Championships, a 3 stars rated European Tour of Longboard event and a big party with concerts and unplugged music performance and all. Most of the Portuguese riders from last year’s tour were stuck at home because of their Portuguese Cup, so mostly French and British were there.

First surprise was on Saturday morning, with a supposedly decreasing swell and sad weather, the 25 contestants here for this first event opened their tired eyes on a beautiful sunny morning, with perfect A-frame 2 foot glassy lines.

First heat was in the water by 9:30, and with only 13 heats to run for the E.T.L event, and a few remaining ones from the previous day for the Bristish Champs, there was plenty of time to run both of the contests choosing the best surfing conditions throughout all the week-end. No big surprise during the first round, with only two Portuguese and seven French, loads of British riders decided to compete in both contests and the best of last year’s Tour went through.

Surfing in Jersey is not an easy task, with huge tides and scattered sand banks, getting the good waves during the heat was sometimes a bit dicy, but by the end of the day, after two rounds, all the big names were still in. After round two the contest organizers decided to run a few semis and finals from the British Champs (Juniors, Ladies, Masters and Veterans), so that the day after would be lighter for both surfers and judges.

On Saturday night the LOG JAM PARTY was on at legendary bar/restaurant/nightclub/official beer provider Watersplash. Great food, insane bands (THEM IS ME, ASH GRUNWALD, ALBENAZA) crazy people…you name it. Everyone enjoyed the mood at Jersey, some French contestants trying to rule the dance floor and mingle with the local beauties, others on beer-drinking contest, anyhow this really was big time, thanks to all the good people from the organization, who even wisely chose to call a lazy late morning check at 10:30, so everybody could enjoy the best of their time in Jersey Wonderland. Local hero, longboard serious contestant and most of all gifted commentator Joe Davies was surprisingly still able to talk on the microphone after two long days and hard nights partying, and so the contest was on again in near-perfect conditions, with three foot perfect, peeling waves, even more perfect than the day before. The sun was definitely out and this was clearly going to be another great surfing day.

So Sunday began perfectly with good black coffee and bacon & egg rolls, smooth music and endless noserides. The quarters of the British were run, and as most of these contestants were also in the E.T.L event, they spent their morning running from one heat to another, swapping their colored rashvests without even having time to paddle Paddle #standuppaddle #paddleboard in.

E.T.L 2007 champion Ben “Skindog” Skinner and French powersurfer Alexis Deniel both had a bummer with an early loss, letting go a potentially good start in the ratings for 2008.

Entering the semi finals, 4 French surfers were still ready to rumble : WLT number 2 Antoine Delperro, last year’s runner-up Timothée Creignou, dance floor stripper and current French numero uno Rémy “Shaun” Arauzo, and former French Junior Champ Matthieu “Marech” Maréchal. Along with these four frenchies, usual British suspects from last year Adam Griffith, James Parry, Elliott Dudley and Sam Bleakley.

By midday the wave conditions were as good as it gets, with long walls and great sections to smash off. The two semis sounded like the Clash of the Titans, opposing our gifted contestants in an insane exhibition of stylish noserides and huge off the lips and floaters. In the first semi, “Timmy” Creignou got first in front of party animal “Shaun” Arauzo, combining big committed turns to impressive hang fives. Both Frenchmen scored more than 15 points. Antoine Delperro was definitely a standout throughout the entire event, scoring an average of more than 16 points out of possible 20 in every heat. During the second semi, he scored 6 waves above the 7 points mark to easily outscore (17 points) James Parry and fellow Frenchman Mathieu Marechal.

The final heat was insane, as the spot went totally banana, Antoine Delperro leading easily during more than 20 minutes of the 30 minutes final. He netted three excellent rides on the longest waves and used the entire repertoire to maintain his leadership ; which he lost to Shaun when, a few minutes before the final buzzer, he cracked a tremendous combination of the purest noserides, ending in a huge backside off the lip, earning the man from Vieux Boucau a 9 pointer. Third place was Timmy, who really wasn’t at his ease on a borrowed longboard he got from fellow finalist Antoine, board he finally got to understand on his very last waves, but the Basque just couldn’t find his balance on the nose and got “stuck” on the 15 points mark. In fourth came the indefatigable James who couldn’t help but getting combed, he chose a smaller wave option and did not succeed in climbing up the score ladder.

The entire crowd then gathered at legendary Watersplash bar to enjoy one perfect moment with an unplugged concert of the amazing Two Spots Gobi, just in front of the pumping surfspot in the exhausting heat of the early afternoon.

After the ceremony, all the surfers, judges and staff hugged and tried to run ASAP to catch the ferry back home. This really was a good event to start with the new season, perfect waves and level, great mood, what could the European longboarders ask for more ?

Press info Julien “Vico” Hamel

More news : www.eurosurfing.org