• Teresa Bonvalot (PRT) and Rio Waida (IDN) Claim Maiden Challenger Series Victories 
• Honolua Blomfield (HAW) and Harrison Roach (AUS) Win First Longboard Tour Event of 2022 Season 
• Waida, van Dijk, Callinan and Bonvalot Lock into Top 10 on CS Rankings
• More Available at WorldSurfLeague.com

Finals Day at the GWM Sydney Surf Pro presented by Rip Curl, the second stop of the 2022 World Surf League (WSL) Challenger Series (CS) and the first event of the WSL Longboard Tour (LT) has been completed today at Manly Beach with men’s and women’s winner’s being crowned across both divisions. Teresa Bonvalot (PRT) and Rio Waida (IDN) have claimed the biggest wins of their careers in the Challenger Series event while Honolua Blomfield (HAW) and Harrison Roach (AUS) have taken out the opening event of the 2022 LT season. 

After over a week of action, Manly Beach, on cue, delivered the best conditions of the entire period with super clean, three-to-four foot surf on offer all Finals Day, making it an incredible crescendo to what has been three straight months of professional surfing action on Australian shores. 

Rio Waida and Teresa Bonvalot Claim Biggest Victories of Their Careers
Portugal’s Teresa Bonvalot (PRT, above) has long been touted as the next European female to join the elite ranks and battle for a title on the Championship Tour. Today, Bonvalot has taken a step in the right direction, taking the biggest win of her young career with a victory here at the Sydney Surf Pro Challenger Series event. The stylish goofy-footer went through the event, relatively under the radar but brought out her best performance in the Final, posting her highest two-wave combination of the event in her matchup with Nikki van Dijk (AUS). Bonvalot’s 15.83 two-wave combination was too much for van Dijk to chase down and clinch her second victory here at Manly.

“It’s so amazing to win here, I love coming to Australia and I have had good results here before the pandemic so it’s just fantastic to be back here and winning,” said Bonvalot. “It’s the biggest win of my career and to have a good Portuguese crowd here supporting me is fantastic – So good for Portugal.” 

Rio Waida (IDN, above) has taken out the biggest win of any Indonesian in world surfing today, claiming his maiden CS win at Manly Beach. Earlier in the week, Waida was named the Wildcard for the upcoming Quiksilver Pro G-Land Championship Tour event, but his focus never moved from the task at hand, and it showed, as the Olympian put down the standout performances of the event to eventually find himself in the Final against Ryan Callinan (AUS). The Final was the true representation of the best performers of the event, with Callinan and Waida going toe-to-toe in epic beach-break conditions at Manly and Waida coming out on top with a two wave combination of 17.53 which included a near perfect 9.50 (out of a possible 10).

“I’m really happy to win but the job is not finished yet for me,” said Waida. “My goal this year is to qualify for the elite WSL Championship Tour and this is a great result but I must continue to get great results. I’m looking forward to the G-Land event at home in Indonesia which starts this weekend – My surfing ability is there to compete against the world’s best and be the best in the world. I’ve trained hard and I will continue to train and improve – It’s a great day for me and Indonesia.”

Roach Claims Maiden Longboard Tour Victory With Reigning World Champion Blomfield
Noosa’s Harrison Roach (AUS) has claimed his maiden WSL event victory at the GWM Sydney Surf Pro with an emphatic win over Great Britain’s Ben Skinner (GRB, below). The pair were the form surfers all event but it was Roach who was able to back up his performances with an excellent one in the Final. Roach combined critical nose-rides, tight arcs and floating maneuvers to post an excellent heat total of 16.50 which proved too great for Skinner to overcome.

“I did what I came here to do and I’m extremely happy as it’s my first Longboard Tour win,” Roach said. “ Obviously my ultimate aim is it to win the world title this year and the final event at Malibu in California will be crucial to taking the title but this is definitely the ideal start – It’s been a big day surfing and defeating local hero Declan Wyton (AUS) in front of all his fans and then Ben Skinner in that final and the waves were great today.”

The women’s Longboard Tour final was a familiar sight as perennial title threat Chloe Calmon (BRA, above) came up against three-time Reigning WSL Longboard World Champion Honolua Blomfield (HAW) as each surfer looked to get their 2022 season off to the perfect start. Calmon looked to have the advantage early, leading the heat from the first exchange, but, in typical Blomfield fashion, the stylish Hawaiian found a set with only minutes left, riding the nose and carving all the way to the beach to take the lead and the event win, in the dying minutes of the heat.

“I knew it was going to be a really tough final to win because Chloe is such an amazing surfer,” said Blomfield. “Despite being in second place throughout the final I remained calm and always knew I could take the win – that’s something that has evolved in my competitive surfing – remain calm and know that the wave you need can eventually come to you and that happened today and it’s the perfect way to begin my title defence.”

Aussie Duo Lock in Spots in Challenger Series Rankings Top 10
Although they both fell short of the ultimate goal of winning here in Manly, former CT competitors Ryan Callinan (above) and Nikki van Dijk have rocketed into the Top 10 on the 2022 WSL Challenger Series rankings. For van Dijk, today’s runner-up finish was the perfect result to compliment a fight place finish on the Gold Coast whilst for Callinan, it was a much needed response to an uncharacteristic first round loss at Snapper. Callinan is now sixth on the rankings whilst van Dijk is in second place and looking solid to find her way back on to the Championship Tour by year’s end.

The 2022 GWM Sydney Surf Pro presented by Rip Curl Challenger Series and WSL Longboard Tour events will run at Manly Beach through May 24, 2022. For more information, please visist WorldSurfLeauge.com or check the free WSL App.

GWM Sydney Surf Pro Women’s Challenger Series  Results 

Semifinals 
HEAT 1: Teresa Bonvalot (PRT) 13.07 DEF. Keala Tomoda-Bannert (HAW) 12.74
HEAT 2: Nikki Van Dijk (AUS) 14.37 DEF. Sophie McCulloch (AUS) 12.77

Final
HEAT 1: Teresa Bonvalot (PRT) 15.83 DEF. Nikki Van Dijk (AUS) 13.13

GWM Sydney Surf Pro Men’s Challenger Series  Results 

Quarterfinals 
HEAT 1: Rio Waida (IDN) 14.83 DEF. Brodi Sale (HAW) 12.70
HEAT 2: Jett Schilling (USA) 15.93 DEF. Kade Matson (USA) 9.67
HEAT 3: Ryan Callinan (AUS) 18.23 DEF. Imaikalani deVault (HAW) 17.07
HEAT 4: Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 13.13 DEF. Deivid Silva (BRA) 11.40

Semifinals 
HEAT 1: Rio Waida (IDN) 13.50 DEF. Jett Schilling (USA) 8.50
HEAT 2: Ryan Callinan (AUS) 16.34 DEF. Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 9.23

Final 
HEAT 1: Rio Waida (IDN) 17.73 DEF. Ryan Callinan (AUS) 15.70

GWM Sydney Surf Pro Women’s Longboard  Results 

Semifinals 
HEAT 1: Chloe Calmon (BRA) 13.60 DEF. Tully White (AUS) 12.00
HEAT 2: Honolua Blomfield (HAW) 13.37 DEF. Soleil Errico (USA) 12.90

Final
HEAT 1:Honolua Blomfield (HAW) 12.87 DEF.  Chloe Calmon (BRA) 12.06

GWM Sydney Surf Pro Men’s Longboard  Results 

Semifinals 
HEAT 1: Ben Skinner (GBR) 17.70 DEF. Kaniela Stewart (HAW) 16.73
HEAT 2: Harrison Roach (AUS) 15.50 DEF. Declan Wyton (AUS) 13.57

Finals
HEAT 1:Harrison Roach (AUS) 16.50 DEF. Ben Skinner (GBR) 13.67

For more information, please visit WorldSurfLeague.com.

Bit of treat tonight on the telly box and on BBC IPlayer, Tom Butler towed by Adam Griffiths take on The Stones, a mythical bombie out the back of Godrevy in Cornwall.

As you know Tom has ridden some of the largest waves in the world – Mully, Nazare etc but he’s been home this winter being a dad, setting up his Coastal Crusader business getting the odd Cribber sesh, but a photo of a wave, and the lure of Zorbas (another mythical bombie off Crantock) set him off in search of big waves off the Cornish coast last winter.

The trouble these waves are fickle and it wasn’t a banner year for huge pumping swells and offshores so Tom spent most the winter waiting. Then finally, in February his chance came and he headed out to the Stones with Bearman, a large safety team of paramedics, safety boats and back up jet skis. When they arrive it looked like the mission will fail. But as the tide turned something magical happens and The Stones switches on. 

The Stones Reef is a notorious reef, two miles off St Ives that has claimed the lives of many mariners. It is eerie, a bell on a buoy rings out, there are huge currents, it feels sharky and some big creatures (Porbeagles) lurk beneath. A few surfers have been out there before, but it is It isn’t recommended without the right crew, training and equipment.

We caught up with Tom to ask him about the filming and the mission.

What made you Pick the Stones?
Because of Covid and having my boy I decided to put more effort into organising things at home one the last two years with Coastal Crusaders. But one day in 2020 we had a big day at Cribbar and Zorbas and other reefs was going off, and I thought about doing a big wave project a bit closer to home. So I was looking at that and then Bearman sent me a shot of the Stones. So I put a project together to target Zorbas, The Stones or another wave in North Cornwall. Luckily Mike Cunliffe from Big Wave TV was interested so we pitched the idea and got the TV deal. Which was great because you need some funding to get the proper back up to go out to these outer reefs – skis etc. We got that signed off in November 21, and then it was waiting for the right conditions. Each reef needs different winds, swell and tides and it wast a great winter for big waves. MY number one choice was Zorbas, but it didn’t happen, but eventually in February we got the swell we were after for The Stones and the crew launched from St Ives at 6am and it was on.
We we got there it wasn’t that great and I actually thought we had blown it, but as the tide pushed the left started to break so we were on and Bearman towed me into a couple bombs.

Good job you have big back up crew. I mean this is probably the first time you have actually had the proper backing to do this!
Yeah I’ve never rolled with that much support, and it was really nice to have that kind of professional back up for paramedics, lifeguard, safety boat, back up ski. And you need it if anything goes wrong You have to be self supporting. It’s no use going out thinking you just call a lifeboat, that would be selfish. And if anything goes wrong, like serious injury you need a ski and boat to get you back in without making the situation or your injury worse. All these waves are a way offshore by some way so if you have a head injury or spinal the last thing you want is be laying on your mates jet ski fanging in over chop for half an hour.

And what’s the wave like?
Well we thought it was a right but when he tide is right it is actually a left that peels off the back of the rocks towards Portreath type thing. It wraps north. It was a bit frustrating because the swell wasn’t ideal, and we hadn’t had a lot of them, but we got in the water at six am and there wasn’t lot going on. But as the tide start push in it peaked up for 45 minutes and we have six waves come through and one was way bigger than the others. But Bearman put me right in the spot.

Have you got plans for the other spots?
Love to continue to surf these waves, Zorbas absolutely. But you need the right crew to back you up and conditions are so fickle. But there are couple of spots with potential.

If anyone is reading this and fancies paddling out from Hayle what would you say to them?
I probably wouldn’t, no don’t do it. You don’t want to be calling the lifeguards or lifeboat to your mess up. You have to have the right training and crew to be able to deal with worst case scenario out there and not put it on other people to come and get you. We had two spare skis with two lifeguard and paramedic trained experienced surfers and medical kit out there, a safety boat, I am fully lifeguard and first aid trained, I’ve surfed big waves for 17 years (I went to Hawaii when I was 16), been water safety for big events so we were fully covered.

I don’t think people realise what goes in to proper big wave surfing these days.
No, you have to know how to use a ski properly, know rescue and first aid techniques and how to respond to to life threatening situations because they happened very quickly and you have to be on it. Especially out at places like that.

Cornwalls Wildest Wave is on  20^th May 7.30pm on BBC1 (8PM Wales)  and then on catch up and iPlayer here.