50 entrants turned out for the weekend contest. Surf was a solid 4ft at times but had some serious current running through it. Early rounds of the Open, Senior Man, Masters and Longboard were completed on the Saturday leaving the Juniors ,Ladies and finals to be completed on the Sunday. Thanks to Deloitte for sponsoring the event and for providing the trophies
Josh Evans put in an excellent performance on his way to the Grommets title. Evans worked his waves well, riding through the flat sections, making the right directional changes, and then pulling off fast powerful manoeuvres when the right sections of the waves. Hayden Bishop showed his potential for the future too, surfing well to take the runner-up spot ahead of Connor Spence and Aaron Rowe in 3rd and 4th.
The under 18’s Boys division was dominated by Matt Chapman, who started the heat with a long floater, which was followed by a big re-entry, posting a 9 out of 10 from one of the judges. Chapman’s second wave featured an excellent re-entry for a second big score. Sam Mason surfed well to take the runner-up spot, with Will Glen in 3rd and Ben Bates in 4th.
There was another good performance in the under 18 Girls division, which was won by Abby Hughes. Hughes will surely be providing a strong challenge to the established girls in the main ladies division come next year. Chantelle Coote, also posted some good scores, to edge Lucy Goddard into 3rd place, with Libby Waggot in 4th.
Ben Chapman, who had a disappointing start to the championships when he bombed out of the Open in the first round, certainly made up for it in the Seniors, where he powered his way to the title with a series of clean fast manoeuvres. Andre Le Geyt, picked off some good scoring waves to take second spot ahead of Renny Gould and Mark Le Moignon in 3rd and 4th.
Gould and Le Geyt were back out for the Masters final, fought out with Michael Charlton and Jon Carden. This was to be the closest heat of the day, with the judges split in their decision. A count-back on the score-sheets, showed that it was Carden who was the victor, just ahead of Gould and Charlton, with Le Geyt missing out on the better waves in 4th.
The Longboard Division, kicked off on the Saturday in challenging overhead conditions. Early strong performances came from the younger longboarders Josh Le Marquand and Jack Seymour, who both advanced through the early rounds to reach the final, where they were to face the experienced contest surfers Sam George and Andre Le Geyt.
In the final held on the Sunday, it was Le Geyt who was to take the win, mixing up both traditional and modern longboard manoeuvres, which included some good nose-rides and re-entries. George picked off some good rides to take second spot ahead of Seymour and Le Marquand in 3rd and 4th.
Channel Island Eurosurf team members Arlene Maltman and Shelly McFarling, dominated the Ladies division. The many titled Maltman, used her experience to find some nice waves with smooth turns and re-entries, but it was McFarling who showed a bit more speed in her manoeuvres, who was to take the win. Esther Lempriere had a few good rides to take 3rd spot, with Abby Hughes in 4th.
There were no major shocks in the main Open division, as all the favourites safely made it through their early heats. In the first of the semi-finals Scott Eastwood and Renny Gould surfed strongly to edge out fellow Eurosurf team member Mark Le Moignon and junior surfer Sam Mason, who had earlier put in a great performance to make the semi finals.
Semi two was won by Sam George ahead of Mark Durbano, who surfed very powerfully throughout the heat. Jon Carden and Joe Baker finished in 3rd and 4th places respectively.
The final saw some excellent surfing with the result hanging in the balance throughout the heat. George’s tactic of surfing on his back-hand to throw up more spray on his top turns appeared to be paying of as he found two good strong rights to open up a lead. Eastwood attempted a tail slide re-entry to reverse on a right hander, but failed to pull it around; however, this was to be just a teaser, as on his next wave, a slightly bigger set wave, he pulled one off to received high scores from the judges and put him into the lead. Durbano had a few steady waves, but match his semi-final performance. Meanwhile, Gould was right in contention with some strong rides with fast snappy manoeuvres. As the heat drew to a close, Gould took off on a nicely walled up right hander, gathered some momentum, then blasted a huge re-entry gauging a big fan of spray high into the air, whilst carrying full speed throughout the manoeuvre. This was to be the highest scoring wave of the final, and was enough to give the multi titled Gould yet another Channel Island title.
Contest Director Colin Crowther said, “It was a great event, with the new generation of Grommets surfing well beyond their years, whilst at the other end of the scale, older surfers like Gould, Durbano and Eastwood, showed that they are by no means ready to give in to the younger guys just yet. All in all it was great to see all the members of the Channel Island surf team showing strong form in the lead up to Eurosurf, which takes place in Jersey in just over three weeks time”.
OPEN 1-RENNY GOULD 2-SCOTT EASTWOOD 3-SAM GEORGE 4-MARK DURBANO SENIOR MAN(OVER28) 1-BEN CHAPMAN 2-ANDE LE GEYT 3-RENNY GOULD 4-MARK LE MOIGNAN MASTERS 1-JON CARDEN 2-RENNY GOULD 3-MICHAEL CHARLTON 4-ANDRE LE GEYT LONGBOARD 1-ANDRE LE GEYT 2-SAM GEORGE 3-JACK SEYMOUR 4-JOSH LE MARQUAND LADIES 1-SHELLY MACFARLING 2-ARLENE MALTMAN 3-ESTHER LEMPRIERE 4-ABBIE HUGHES UNDER 18 GIRLS 1-ABBIE HUGHES 2-CHANTELLE COOTE 3-LUCY GODDARD 4-LIBBY WAGGOT
