ISA World Juniors

ISA World Juniors

Team Puerto Rico celebrating with Joseph Biasotto Photo: ISA / Pablo Franco

Greeted by dreamy 6-foot peaks at La Bocana, Round 3 of the Main Event in the Boys U-18 division immediately filled the highlight reel. Luke Thompson(RSA) claimed an 8.50 in the first heat of the day before Daniel Emslie (RSA) one-upped his teammate with a 9.00 in the third, but it was Luke Swanson(HAW) who found perfection with the event’s first 10.00 ride.

Luke Swanson – Hawaii. Photo: ISA / Sean Evans

Floating a barreling section on his backhand, Swanson quickly comboed it with a vertical re-entry and gigantic end hit for an explosive finish.

“The waves are firing. I found a double-up towards the end of my heat. I could have safe-surfed it and got a small score, but I thought why not just go for it. I threw a couple turns on a couple big sections and luckily rode out. I’m super-stoked.” Swanson said.

While Swanson held today’s highlight, so far Team Hawaii have been the clear frontrunners across all divisions.

In Round 3 of the Girls U-18 Main Event at La Bocana, Kana Nakashio(JPN) drew a long arc on a bottom turn before unleashing on the face, garnering herself the highest single wave score (8.50) and heat total (14.50) of the division.

Kana Nakashio from Japan  Photo: ISA / Sean Evans

Meanwhile in the first heat of Girls U-16 Main Event Round 3 at El Sunzal, Isi Campbell (AUS) claimed a 9.00 for highest single-wave score out of both Girls divisions today. In the final heat of the day for Girls U-16, the 13-year-old surfer representing Thailand, Isabel Faye Higgs, accrued today’s highest heat total out of both Girls divisions (15.85).

The first eliminations took place this afternoon as the entirety of Repechage Round 1 was held for Boys U-18 and Girls U-16. A handful of heats in Girls U-18 and Boys U-16 Repechage Round 1 also ran. Those divisions will be completed Wednesday morning.

Boy’s U-16 Repechage Round 1 opened with a bang as Puerto Rico’s Joseph Biasotto caught just two waves but made them count. A pair of 9’s made it clear that he is not willing to be relegated to cheering his fellow teammates just yet; his heat total of 18.55 landing him the new event high score.

Mateo Christodulu is extremely proud to be the first surfer to represent Greece in the ISA World Juniors.

“I feel honored and very grateful and happy to represent Greece because I am the first junior representing my country in this tournament. This championship gives me the opportunity to compete against the best juniors in the world and maybe to qualify for the Olympics one day.”

ISA President Fernando Aguerre said:

“Another day of amazing performances and amazing waves. It’s always hard to see athletes eliminated, but every one is a national hero. But what’s unique about these events is that everyone can still play a part as a fan cheering their own team. The ISA spirit is strong in each of the competitors as we move towards crowning the first junior World Champions in three years.”

The 2022 Surf City El Salvador ISA World Junior Surfing Championship will be broadcast live until June 5 on isasurf.org.

The event schedule is as follows:

June 1 – June 5 – Competition at La Bocana and El Sunzal
June 5 – Closing Ceremony at El Sunzal following the close of competition

99 Shades of Crazy

99 Shades of Crazy

What do you do when you combine an American Southern Soul Rock musician and surfer from Florida, with South African professional surfer, Beyrick De Vries’ (Beyrick is on track to be the first surfer ever to represent the Netherlands at the 2024 Olympics). Well it appears you get the above edit, hit play to rock, roll and rotate. 

• JJ Grey •
“The nearest thing I’ve ever done to playing music, besides playing music, is surfing. The wave is the rhythm and what happens on it is all the twists and turns of melody.”

From the days of playing greasy local juke joints to headlining major festivals, JJ Grey remains an unfettered, blissful performer, singing with a blue-collared spirit over the bone-deep grooves of his compositions. His presence before an audience is something startling and immediate, at times a funk rave-up, other times sort of a mass-absolution for the mortal weaknesses that make him and his audience human. When you see JJ Grey and his band Mofro live—and you truly, absolutely must—the man is fearless. On stage, Grey delivers his songs with compassion and a relentless honesty. Grey and his current Mofro lineup offer grace and groove in equal measure.

• Beyrick Thulani De Vries •
Surfing and music share an open-hearted, creative, improvisational artistry and ethos. It’s a natural, authentic relationship. We had this epic opportunity to do something unique, get creative and collaborate with JJ, integrating his music video with Beyrick’s surf edit. “I’ve always felt that surfing is like visual music. The surfer being the musician, the surfboard the instrument, and the wave the genre. After 79 days of surfing being banned in South Africa, and being cooped up inside my house, I was literally going “99 Shades of Crazy”… to say the least. I was invited on a surf trip with Mikey February whilst he was filming the first episode of his series “Sonic Souvenirs”. Naturally JJ’s song fit perfectly with the way I was feeling, and the way I was expressing myself during that surf session. Getting the crazies out, getting a little silly on the waves, and being super stoked to be able to get in the water again after so long, and just let loose!”

Noosa National Park

Noosa National Park

Perfection in paradise as Cyclone Seth whipped up a solid swell for National Parks (Noosa), breaking all the way down the point with rides of a few hundred metres easily possible. Sit back and mind surf your way through the crowd.

Boardmasters 2020 first lineup announcement!

Boardmasters 2020 first lineup announcement!

This morning, the first wave of acts were announced for Boardmasters 2020. In one epic announcement, almost 100 artists have been unveiled, including this year’s headliners Kings of Leon, Skepta, and The 1975, plus some of the world’s most exciting acts such as Dizzee Rascal, Mura Masa, Sam Fender, Loyle Carner, The Kooks, DJ EZ, Camelphat, Damian “JR Gong” Marley, Andy C, Mabel, Lianne La Havas, Little Simz, Ocean Wisdom and many more.

This year, Boardmasters celebrates its 40th year, and will bring the very best in surf and music to the Cornish coast from Wednesday 5 – Sunday 9 August 2020. Taking place across two stunning sites – Fistral Beach and Watergate Bay, tickets for Boardmasters 2020 are on sale NOW via the website from £30 deposit.

Kings of Leon will be headlining Boardmasters Main Stage as the sun sets across Watergate Bay on Saturday 8 August. Their 7th album WALLS was their first to simultaneously debut at #1 in the UK and USA. It also continued a run of 5 consecutive albums to debut at #1 in the UK. The multi-Grammy and BRIT Award-winning group will be performing songs from all 7 of their albums.

Skepta is undoubtedly one of the most influential, boundary-pushing British artists of recent times, renowned as an early pioneer of UK grime. His 2016 album ‘Konnichiwa’ earned him global acclaim and is still recognised as an era-defining body of work which won the Mercury Music Prize, and earned numerous BRIT Award nominations. ‘Ignorance Is Bliss’, released last year, sees Skepta deliver yet another brilliantly fresh and authentic album. Skepta will headline Boardmasters on Friday 7 August.

The 1975 have seen phenomenal success in the past few years, and they’re showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Their sound is distinctive, their lyrics are impactful and culturally relevant, and their songs including TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME, Love If We Made It, The Sound and Me And You Together Song are chart-topping hits. Boardmasters is delighted to welcome the Manchester four-piece to the Cornish coast to headline what’s sure to be an unforgettable closing set on Sunday 9 August.

Boardmasters has also revealed over 90 more epic acts for 2020. Festivalgoers can expect unforgettable sets from GRAMMY-nominated producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mura Masa, British grime superstar Dizzee Rascal and critically-acclaimed rapper Loyle Carner. With the 2019 BRITs Critics’ Choice Award under his belt and a No.1 debut album ‘Hypersonic Missiles’, BRIT’s ‘New Artist’ nominee Sam Fender joins the Boardmasters line up for 2020, alongside ‘Finders Keepers’ hitmaker Mabel, one of the UK’s most refreshing young musical role models.

Critically-acclaimed neo-soul grime sensation and rapper Little Simz joins the bill, along with soul songstress Lianne La Havas and exciting new talent and breakthrough indie singer-songwriter Beadadoobee, who was nominated for both the BBC Sound of 2020 and BRITs Rising Star Award. Pale Waves are set to get the crowd dancing with their glistening, wistful goth-pop, following the outstanding critical success for their debut album ‘My Mind Makes Noises’, while band of the moment The Big Moon, who have just released their Top 20 album ‘Walking Like We Do’, are set to bring their blend of glowing synth pads and joyous, layered harmonies to Watergate Bay.

Fans can expect an incredible punk-edged set and a thrilling, crowd surfing good time from Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes, while GRAMMY-award winning Damian “JR Gong” Marley will be bringing a monster mash-up of dubsteb and dancehall and reggae. On the back of selling out Wembley Arena, as well as a residency at London’s iconic XOYO in just two hours, the legendary Andy C will deliver his iconic drum and bass sounds.

British indie rock legends The Kooks will join Boardmasters in August and are set to get the crowds dancing along to 14 years of unmissable hits, including You Don’t Love Me, She Moves In Her Own Way and festival favourite Naïve. Also riding the wave towards Watergate Bay in August are garage legend DJ EZ, British DJ duo Camelphat, hip-hop artist Ocean Wisdom and London grime MC Ghetts.

Crowds can also expect unmissable sets from singer-songwriter Jade Bird, South African modern folk musician Jeremy Loops, British hip hop group The Four Owls, Leeds duoProspa and garage, grime and bassline DJ Flava D, who will join Kings of Leon, Skepta and The 1975 for five unforgettable days of music and surfing. The full Boardmasters lineup so far is below.

Boardmasters will continue its tremendous work to keep the festival and the Cornish coastline cleaner than ever before. There will be beach cleans in partnership with Surfers Against Sewage throughout the year as well as during the festival. The successful re-useable cup scheme will continue, along with a litter bond on all camping tickets to incentivize campers to pick up their litter and recycle, and much more in place to make Boardmasters as clean, environmentally-friendly and enjoyable as possible. This is all part of the mission to have eradicated all non-essential single-use plastics from Boardmasters by next Summer’s festival.

Beyond the music, Boardmasters will return with its epic surf competition, part of the World Surf League Qualifying Series as the biggest names on the international surf scene battle it out on the waves at Fistral Beach. More details to be revealed in 2020. The festivals dedicated wellbeing area, Zennor Haven will be the perfect place to unwind and relax, with yoga, mental health workshops, healthy food offerings, meditation and much more. The UK’s largest Silent Disco will make a hotly-anticipated return on Wednesday 5 and Thursday 6 August as scores of festivalgoers kick-start 2020 proceedings at the Watergate Bay Main Stage.

Inspired by the freedom, adventure and creativity of surfing and music, Boardmasters was born in 1981. Expect parties that run late into the night and a beautiful beach to recuperate on during the day. The five-day event is situated across two stunning locations in Cornwall – UK surfing mecca, Fistral Beach, where world class International Surf Competitions take place, and the most stunning location in the country to watch live music, Watergate Bay.
Book your tickets here now, and see you at the beach!

Fins & Strings…

Meet Alan Stokes and Wille Edwards on their unique musical journey. The story of two like minded individuals inspired by music and surf. Check all three episodes and tickets to the live one off music and film performance at the Princess Pavilion on Friday the 27th October available here:
bettervenues.org.uk/upcoming-events/detail/2017/10/27/default-calendar/wille-and-the-bandits-with-uk-surf-champion-alan-stokes

Produced by Mr B Productions – mrbproductions.co.uk
Film and Edit – Mr B
Starring – Alan Stokes and Wille Edwards
Narrated by Lee Bartlett
Thanks to Adam Whalley from AW Sound – www.awsound.co.uk
Narration recorded by – boydeincolour.com
Music – ‘Gypsy Woman’ by Wille and the Bandits
willeandthebandits.com

Boardmasters 2017 Highlights and Gallery

Lliam Mortenson ©Sharpy

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.

Day 5 Surf Highlights

All the highlights from the final day of surfing at Fistral beach! We crowned Jeep Longboard champions Antoine Delpero and Justine Dupont! Head here for full results http://www.boardmasters.co.uk/results

Pubblicato da Boardmasters su Lunedì 14 agosto 2017

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

Ella ©Sharpy

Two Door Cinema Club ©Rawson

Emily Currie ©Feasty

Slaves ©Rawson

Jamiroquai ©Rawson

Frank Turner ©Rawson

Flaming Lips ©Rawson

A ‘few’ people!

Antoine Delpero ©Sharpy

Lindsay Steinriede

Justine Dupont ©Sharpy

 

 

Ella & Mika ©Sharpy

Mikaela Green ©Sharpy

Ella Williams ©Sharpy

Kairi Noro ©Sharpy

Fistral ©Sharpy

Jobe ©Sharpy

Gearoid ©Sharpy

Justine ©Sharpy

Lliam ©Sharpy

Delperos ©Sharpy

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