Boardmasters 2017 Highlights and Gallery

Boardmasters is done for another year, everyone’s exhausted, needing a detox and in need of a decent night’s sleep but as always a blast was had by all. Here’s a selection of images from across the week and the official WSL releases on the comps.
Congrats to Emily Currie finishing third in the WSL Euro Longboarding season and Jack Unsworth fourth in the mens. BM wise Jobe made the semis, Gearoid the quarters in the shortboard and Bleakers, Skindog, Emily and Jack Unsworth all made the quarters in the logs.

Time for an early finish and a long sleep for us…

 

 

SHORTBOARDING

Ella Williams (NZL), 22, and Lliam Mortensen (AUS), 20, have claimed the Boardmasters Quiksilver & Roxy Open titles today in wind-affected three-to-four foot surf at Fistral. Competition resumed early this morning and culminated with the QS finals this afternoon in front of a packed beach.

Mikaela Greene (AUS), 23, upset the defending event champion and her compatriot Claire Bevilacqua in their semifinal matchup as she belted her ticket for the final. Former World Junior Champion Ella Williams took out the second semi against Josefina Ane (ARG) to join Greene.

In a wave-starved final, both surfers built their scoreboard on mediocre waves at first, before finding better opportunities through the second half of the matchup. Eventually it was Williams who found the best scoring rides in a really difficult lineup at low tide and walked away with the win.

Williams claimed her first event win of the season and a much deserved break from a string of average results. The Kiwi surfer has been consistently placing in the Top 30 on the Qualifying Series and will need to build momentum from her Newquay win and transpose her good form on the bigger events coming right up.

“It’s such a great feeling to win an event again, I’m so excited!” Williams said. “This has been my toughest season ever so far so it’s nice to finally get back in rhythm. Winning an event makes the place all the more special and I’m excited to go back to Lacanau just like I’ll be excited to come back here next year. My mom and dad take turns travelling with me and I really like having their support, it’s really tough doing it on your own.”

Mikaela Greene placed runner-up for the second time in 2017 and adds yet another great result to her season tally. Unfortunately the young Aussie’s best finishes have only been in smaller-scale events so far and she’ll need to step her game up in the QS6,000 where the big points are.

“Ella is a really tough competitor and if it was going to be anybody to lose to I’m glad I lost to her today,” Greene admitted. “Every heat is a learning curve and I definitely took away a lot from that heat. I’m pretty happy with my performance and I definitely hope I can get that first place before the end of the season. It gives you a lot of confidence when you have a good result behind you and I hope I can follow through in the next few events. This place has that real English vibe and it’s been a great experience for my first time in Newquay.”

One of the form surfers all-event, Lliam Mortensen eliminated the last British surfer in the opening semifinal, Jobe Harriss (GBR). He was joined in the final by Kairi Noro (JPN), 18, who came out on top of a tense matchup with Luis Diaz (CNY).

In the men’s final, Mortensen and Noro got off to a quicker start, with the first exchange going the Australian’s way for an early lead. Mortensen quickly put a second good score on the board to apply pressure on his opponent, eventually claiming his second back-to-back event win after the Murasaki Shonan Open in Japan last month.

Sitting right outside the Top 100 coming into Boardmasters, Mortensen is on his way to the coveted QS10,000 events and will have a chance to shine amongst some of the World’s best surfers if he can keep his momentum throughout the European leg.

“I had a super bad season last year and I couldn’t imagine turning it around with two event wins halfway through this one,” Mortensen stated. “I’ve been to England a couple of times but never here and I loved it. It’s summer time and everyone’s here, and to surf in front of a crowd is really cool. I’m definitely going to have a little celebration at the music festival now!”

Kairi Noro (JPN), 18, was the surprise finalist at Fistral, topping a stacked field to place runner-up for the first time in a Qualifying Series event. The 18-year-old from Japan will take a massive leap on the rankings where he stood in 256th position before this event.

“I’m very happy with my result today,” Noro said. “I’ve had a great time here, we had decent waves and the people were super nice, I loved the food too it was an awesome experience! It’s only my second year on the QS and this is my best result ever so I’m excited and I look forward to my next events in France and Spain.”

 

BOARDMASTERS, QUIKSILVER OPEN FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Lliam Mortensen (AUS) 13.07
2 – Kairi Noro (JPN) 9.60

BOARDMASTERS, ROXY OPEN FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Ella Williams (NZL) 11.90
2 – Mikaela Greene (AUS) 9.57

LONGBOARDING

Antoine Delpero (FRA), 31, and Justine Dupont (FRA), 25, have claimed the Jeep Men and Women’s Longboard titles today at Boardmasters in one-to-two foot surf at North Fistral. Longboarders took it to the lineup at 9 a.m with their quarterfinals, culminating with the finals early this afternoon in front of large crowds once again.

In the women’s final both surfers kept extremely busy right from the buzzer, and Dupont got off to a slightly better start than Steinriede with two medium scores on the board.

Things got interesting at the halfway mark with both surfers dropping an excellent score to tighten the race for the Boardmasters title. Dupont quickly backed it up with another good wave to distance herself from Steinriede a little bit more.

Eventually her lead was enough and the multi-talented French rider walked away with the Boardmasters, Jeep Women’s Longboard title at Fistral. This result rocketed her up to second on the European rankings, giving her the opportunity to qualify for the World Longboard Championships next season.

“I am so stoked to be able to do the World Longboard Championships next season again,” Dupont said. “My former sponsor kept me from doing them these last few years and I really missed it. It’s a different brand of surfing that I really enjoy, you can play with your board as much as you play with the waves and it makes it really exciting, even in small waves.”

A former World Champion, Steinriede had the best single score of the final but came up just short of finding the necessary backup to overtake Dupont. This second place marks the American’s best result so far this season.

“I was happy to make the final, Alice has been surfing great and I was stoked to get that win in the semis,” Steinriede said. “Congrats to Justine, she came back to the longboard and it’s cool to see. I loved coming here, it’s beautiful when the sun comes out. I’m also a huge dance fan, so we paid a little visit to the music festival and it was great fun!”

Alice Lemoigne (REU), 20, failed to advance through her semifinal matchup with Steinriede, but her consistency was enough to clinch her fourth European Women’s Longboard title. The Reunion Island surfer won the opening event in Caparica and placed equal third in Gaia and today, to secure the coveted regional crown.

“I’m really really happy to keep the European title again this year,” Lemoigne said. “I work really hard to improve my surfing and fitness so that’s a testament that all these efforts pay. Winning the title once is one thing but to defend it is really much harder.”

Lemoigne also placed equal fifth in the opening event of the World Longboard Championship in Papua New Guinea earlier this year and has set her eyes on the final event in Taiwan to try to belt an international win.

“I surf a lot and analyze videos with my coach Vincent Guelfi,” she continued. “That plus some work on balance, stretching and basically everything that can help get better and stronger. I need to improve on heat strategy as well, I lost my priority on a bad call in that heat and I feel like this cost me the win.”

In the men’s final, Antoine Delpero dropped the hammer early on with a solid 8.83 as his opening score, going up against younger brother Edouard in the final once again. But Antoine didn’t stop there and kept building with incredibly stylish and technical surfing for a 9.10 soon after and a perfect 10 point ride — the only one of the whole event, short and longboard included — to seal the deal.

“I was lucky all the waves came to me,” Antoine said. “That was an awesome final and thankfully it went my way, but Edouard is such a great surfer it could have easily been the other way around. We keep pushing each other to get better and better and I think without him I might not be surfing competitively still, so I really appreciate all the experiences and heats we share together.”

This win at Boardmasters also came in the form of a fifth European Longboard title. Antoine gave a heartfelt speech on stage thanking all the public who came to support the longboarders on finals day, as well as the event organizers and sponsors who have a long history of promoting their discipline.

“I’m super happy to get the title again and it’s a great motivation boost for the second and last stage of the World Championships in Taiwan at the end of the year,” he added.

Edouard Delpero had a stellar run through the whole Boardmasters event, but unfortunately failed to elevate his surfing to the level needed in the final to beat his brother.

“I won the last three heats we surfed against each other, but today he was just too good,” he stated. “I’m a little bit gutted because I’ve won relatively low-consequences heats, but when the title is on the line he always gets me! Nevertheless we both cherish all these moments we share, and especially here in Newquay it’s always great to come compete and enjoy the festival.”

With Boardmasters, Jeep Men & Women Longboard completed today, the European LQS rankings are final with Top 5 as follows:

Men:
1 – Antoine Delpero (FRA) *** European Longboard Champion***
2 – Emilien Fleury (FRA)
3 – Edouard Delpero (FRA)
4 – Jack Unsworth (GBR)
5 – Alberto Fernandez (ESP)

Women:
1 – Alice Lemoigne (REU) *** European Longboard Champion***
2 – Justine Dupont (FRA)
3 – Emily Currie (GBR)
4 – Kathleen Barrigao (PRT)
5 – Francesca Rubegni (ITA)

Boardmasters are supported by Corona, Monster Energy, Cornish Orchards, VISA, Samsung, Quiksilver, Roxy, Carve Surfing Magazine, Surfgirl, Radio X and DJ Mag among others, with MagicSeaWeed.com as official forecaster.

BOARDMASTERS, JEEP MEN’S LONGBOARD FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Antoine Delpero (FRA) 19.10
2 – Edouard Delpero (FRA) 15.00

BOARDMASTERS, JEEP WOMEN’S LONGBOARD FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Justine Dupont (FRA) 14.73
2 – Lindsay Steinriede (USA) 11.67