Desert Point – one of the best waves in Indonesia. NVR convinces the boys at Island brewing for a quick strike mission on their speed boat to chase a day swell together with Mattia Morrie, legendary Ozzie Wrght, William Allioti and Friends.
Good Waves, Good Vibes , Good Beer. Thats what life is all about!
It was another perfect morning in Kuda Huraa when the horn blew for Finals Day at the 2022 Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy. A crystal-clear Indian Ocean played host to dreamy two-to-four-foot Sultans, as our competitors prepared to compete in the final surfing discipline of the event, the Thruster Division.
11x World Champion Kelly Slater (USA) started the day dominantly, taking a win over Rob Machado (USA) and Taylor Knox (USA) in Round One. Slater then went on to match up against local wildcard and multiple Maldives Surfing Champion Hussain “Iboo” Areef (MDV) in the first Semifinal, and excitement in the channel was palpable. Maldivian flags flew from nearby boats, hoping for a local win, and Slater fans were cheering from their sundecks as the two surfers battled it out at Sultans. In the end it was Slater who advanced, taking the win from Iboo and advancing to the Final Round.
Iboo ripping and repping for the ‘Dives.
“I am very honoured and very happy to have surfed these past few days,” said Iboo. “These guys are legends, they are the people I watched when I was learning to surf. They had a big impact on my surfing career. That last heat with Kelly was probably the best heat of my life. I never thought in my dreams that I would be surfing against him, man-on-man. He’s hard to beat, he’s the best in the world! I don’t think I’ll get to see anyone else like him in my lifetime, so this has been an amazing opportunity.”
Slater then went on to compete against Rob Machado (USA) in the Thruster Division Final, where he scored a 9.33, the highest wave score of the event, in the dying minutes of the heat. This solidified his second victory of the event, making him not only the Single-Fin Winner but now also the Thruster Champion.
“This whole event has been so fun, it’s been really relaxed with the guys,” said Slater. “To have this crew together has been really enjoyable, and Iboo has been a great addition. I’ve never met him before, but he’s had a smile on his face the whole time – it was so nice to get to know him and surf with him. He said he was really stoked to surf a heat with me today, and I was really happy to surf with him too. He’s just a really good dude.
“All of the local crew that showed up on the boats seemed like they were having a great time, too – they were hundreds of yards from us, but we could hear them yelling the whole time. There has been such a good vibe here.”
Following the Thruster Division Final, the two surfers with the most points accumulated throughout the event were set to surf in the Grand Final – Slater and Shane Dorian (HAW). The two have been going head-to-head throughout the event, Dorian with two-out-of-three heat wins against Slater.
With inconsistent sets rolling through the lineup at Sultans, conditions were tricky for Finalists. Dorian found himself in a combination situation for much of the heat, and although he was able to throw down a strong score of 8.7 in the final minutes, he wasn’t able to find that backup score to take the win. Slater, however, found himself in rhythm with the ocean and won the Grand Final with high scores of an 8.23 and an 8.73.
“The Final was really fun,” said Slater. “Shane has been the really in-sync guy with the waves throughout this event, but in the Final I kind of took that from him. I think he caught one of the best waves of the heat (8.7) but the wave came too late, and there were only a few minutes left when he got back out to the lineup. We’re even now though, it worked out perfectly.”
The 2022 Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy is a luxury surfing event like no other, and the iconic lineup of Momentum Generation surfers (Kelly Slater, Taylor Knox, Rob Machado, Shane Dorian and Ross Williams), along with local wildcard Hussain “Iboo” Areef, has made this year one for the history books.
Thruster Division Results:
Kelly Slater (USA) – 1st
Rob Machado (USA) – 2nd
Shane Dorian (USA) – 3rd
Hussain “Iboo” Areef (MDV) – 3rd
Ross Williams (USA) – 5th
Taylor Knox (USA) – 5th
Day Two of the 2022 Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy kicked off at 10.30am local time today, as contest directors waited for conditions to improve. By the time our event hooter sounded, the Indian Ocean’s morning sickness had subsided and there were consistent 3-to-5-foot sets coming through Sultans. Strong offshore winds created a bit of a chattering face, putting surfers to the test in the Twin-Fin Division of the event.
Shane Dorian (USA), who was bested in the Single-Fin Final against Kelly Slater (USA) yesterday, was able to surf his way through the competitive field and come out with a victory. Dorian turned the tables on Slater in the first semifinal when he caught a wave under priority in the dying minutes of the heat, scored an 8.07, and put himself in first place.
“It felt really good to beat Kelly,” said Dorian. “It’s pretty obvious, but it’s really difficult to beat him. I’ve surfed against him a ton of times in my life and he usually gets me, so every time I can beat him, it’s a personal win for me.”
Dorian then went on to face off against Ross Williams (USA) in the Twin-Fin Final, where the two surfed head-to-head for the first time in the event.
“It feels really good to have made it through to the Final,” said Williams. “I pretty much consider myself an underdog so I’m trying my hardest to beat Kelly and Shane, Taylor (Knox), Rob (Machado) and Iboo (Areef). It’s a super good challenge and it’s so enjoyable.”
Despite tricky conditions with strong wind and slowing consistency, Dorian and Williams put on a twin-fin show to remember, scoring combined totals of 16.26 and 15.00 respectively. “Conditions were really fun, but you had to be very selective,” continued Williams. “I feel like riding a twin-fin presented even more of a challenge out there – but, when you got a good wave and put it together, it felt all the better because of just how difficult it was.
Williams found a special level of enjoyment in the Twin-Fin Division today, due to the equipment under his feat. “I was actually riding a board designed by Rob Machado. It was really cool and special to surf a board that one of my best friends designed, while he’s here, surfing with us in the Maldives in this event.”
The event window is open until August 29, 2022, so competitors Shane Dorian, Kelly Slater, Taylor Knox (USA), Rob Machado (USA), Ross Williams (USA) and Hussain “Iboo” Areef have another few days to enjoy Kuda Huraa while awaiting prime conditions to run the remaining Thruster division and Final Round.
“The Maldives is an incredible region to come surf,” said Dorian. “I have been coming here since I was about 20 years old, and the wave quality and water clarity and vibe is amazing. Not to mention surfing with the local people here, they are so stoked and happy about how good the surf is most of the time. It’s amazing. And Sultans is incredibly reliable, consistent and super high-performance – it’s the perfect venue for a surf competition.”
Event organisers will meet tomorrow morning (August 26, 2022) at 8am island time to make a call for the day. Stay tuned for more updates from the world’s most luxurious surf competition, the Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy.
Twin Fin Division Results:
Shane Dorian (USA) – 1st
Ross Williams (USA) – 2nd
Rob Machado (USA) – 3rd
Kelly Slater (USA) – 3rd
Taylor Knox (USA) – 5th
Hussain “Iboo” Areef (MDV) – 5th
Single Fin Division Results
Kelly Slater (USA) – 1st
Shane Dorian (USA) – 2nd
Ross Williams (USA) – 3rd
Taylor Knox (USA) – 3rd
Rob Machado (USA) – 5th
Hussain “Iboo” Areef (MDV) – 5th
A surprise huge swell hit France this week. It is unusual to see these type of conditions in Summer more so in Autumn.
Jeremy Flores and a few mates made the most of it!
It was a picture-perfect start day for the 10th Anniversary of the 2022 Four Seasons Surfing Champions Trophy in beautiful Kuda Huraa, Maldives. The right-hand competition wave of Sultans was as good as it gets, with consistent and solid 4-6 foot sets rolling through the lineup. A light offshore wind helped the wave maintain its shape throughout the day, as our surfers fought their way through the Single-Fin division of the event.
It was 11x World Champion Kelly Slater who came out on top today, claiming victory in a Final heat against good friend and fellow Momentum Generation surfer Shane Dorian (USA).
“It’s my first time here,” said Slater. “I’ve seen videos and I knew what the waves were like, but I didn’t know where they were in relation to each other. Shane has been here a bunch and now it’s one of those places that I want to come back to year after year. I’m really surprised there’s not a World Tour event here – it’s just such a great location and the waves are beautiful, they’re playful but it’s really high level and high-performance surf.”
The event format at the Four Seasons Surfing Champions Trophy is unlike any other, asking competitors to show creativity and variety in their surfing across three disciplines of surfing – single-fin, twin-fin and thruster. Kicking off the event with the single-fin division presented a unique challenge to competitors.
“Surfing has come so far in the last couple of generations of surfers,” said runner-up Dorian. “And riding a single fin really limits you for your options on the wave – your choices and turns. It gives us a lot of perspective for what guys were achieving on single fins 40, 50, 60 years ago. It’s a really fun challenge though.”
The 11x World Champion took the opportunity to better his skill set in the water. “I feel like I learned a lot about how to place my turns better and more subtly, and not try to force things,” said Kelly. “Whereas on a high-performance board you’re always trying to force the most radical change of direction you can. I think a single-fin is great for your style and your flow.”
The world’s most luxurious surfing event is playing host this year to some of the most iconic surfers in history, – Kelly Slater (USA), Taylor Knox (USA), Rob Machado (USA), Shane Dorian (HAW) and Ross Williams (USA) – as well as event wildcard and multiple Maldives Surfing Champion Hussain “Iboo” Areef. For Dorian, this is his third time surfing in the event – but with the Momentum Generation by his side, 2022 will go down in the history books.
“It’s awesome especially this year,” said Dorian. “It’s been really fun in the past, but this year is extra special because we all have been best friends for three decades, almost four decades. The first heat Kelly and I ever surfed against each other was 38 years ago, when were 12 years old! It’s cool to have grown up together and surfed a bunch of heats together and travelled the world with each other. It’s just so cool to be here with our little group of friends, and to be here with Iboo as well, surfing with and against each other.”
The forecast for remaining event days looks promising, with consistent swell and prime conditions predicted to continue throughout the week. Stay tuned for more updates from the 2022 Four Seasons Surfing Champions Trophy.
Single Fin Division Results
Kelly Slater (USA) – 1st
Shane Dorian (USA) – 2nd
Ross Williams (USA) – 3rd
Taylor Knox (USA) – 3rd
Rob Machado (USA) – 5th
Hussain “Iboo” Areef (MDV) – 5th
Two of the best aerial surfers in the world, Matt Meola and Albee Layer packed up and headed to Waco Surf to get a handful of new tricks dialed, featuring Kevin Schmoltz.
