Sea, Sail & Surf news
Tour Européen de Longboard 2008
Antoine Delpero wins event 4 in Imessouane
The Frenchman from Biarritz keeps the tour lead • Adam Griffiths 2nd
dimanche 12 octobre 2008 –
Toutes les versions de cet article : [English] [français]
Sunday morning the swell was still there, no wind, but the pointbreak didn’t allow the contest to resume so everybody went back at the contest site of the day before, in 3 to 4 feet glassy waves.
The Frenchman Aurélien Meynieux, from Reunion Island, confirms his progress since the beginning of season and qualifies with James Parry for the first semi final. Alexis Deniel does not manage to find of second good wave in his heat and loses to Sam Bleakley and the always impressive goofy footer Rémy Arauzo. Damien Castera, the other goofy footer, leads his heat and goes through with fellow Frenchman Antoine Delpero, leaving the E.T.L 2007 Champion Ben Skinner the 3rd place, whom, such as Alexis Deniel signs here his second poor performance of season after Jersey. The hopes of the Moroccan Adil El Harif collapse during the last quarter final, unfortunately exceeded by in form Timothée Creignou and Adam Griffiths.
The semi finals are held in rather technical conditions, in effect the spot of " The Cathedral " proves to be capricious and sets become regularly shy, so the contestants have to chose really carefully their waves as they often lack of potential.
Frenchies Meynieux and Arauzo both qualify for the final, surfing on the best waves with commitment and flair. In the second semi final, Antoine steps up his level and gets a combined score of 15,60 points, qualifying for the final with Adam Griffiths, who overscored Timothée by the narrow margin of 0,25 points by the end of the heat. In fourth came Damien Castera, also from Anglet, confirming again his good season.
After these two semis, the contestants decided to call the contest on hold till the beginning of the afternoon, waiting for the tide to fill in and maybe score some better waves.
An enthusiast crowd gathered on the cliffs around the judges’ tent by the beginning of the afternoon to assist to the promising final : Antoine Delpero, the French style master, opposed to the British powersurfer Adam Griffiths, the skilled skinny Aurélien Meynieux and the only goofy footer and winner of the Jersey event, Rémy “Shawn” Arauzo.
Waiting for the tide to fill in was definitely a good call, as the waves got really better, peeling regularly from the outside section till the shore.
Antoine was again the standout, finding the best waves, committing in vertical turns and balance-challenging noserides. The Frenchman from Biarritz easily scored two near-perfect rides, forcing his opponents to get a combined score of 18.76 points out of possible 20. Adam Griffiths, with his usual power surfing, nearly reached the goal but ended up with a “little” 16.95 points, and ended up second. Rémy and Aurélien didn’t find the good waves on their inside option and couldn’t catch up with Antoine and Adam.
Antoine Delpero wins his second contest in a row, reinforces his first place in the E.T.L rankings and gains confidence before his participation in the World championships in Portugal next week and for the W.L.T of San Clemente in California in November.
After this event, nothing is decided for the title, with the last two events in Portugal, and the absence of the ranking leader on the next event at Faro, the run for the E.T.L title is not finished yet !
Choukran to all and see you at the next event, inchallah.
Info presse Julien « Vico » Hamel / ETL
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