La Caja de Canarias - Ocean & Earth Pro
Prizemoney 25 000 $ / Prizemoney 7 500 €
2 STAR “WQS” Event / 3 STAR “EPSA” Women's Event Las Palmas , El Confital– Canaries – 6-10 October 2005

Monday, October 10 th – ………… one of the best European events ever

The last morning of the contest started at 8 am with the first heat of the round of 32. The sun rose fast and offered a beautiful weather for the first warriors of the day, who once again were lucky to enjoy the peak alone. As predicted, the waves were bigger than yesterday and some glassy 5 to 6 ft walls were breaking on the reef of “El Confital”, giving the riders a big section to get barrelled.

Young Tahitian Michel Bourez (Pyf) used his knowledge of fast reef break to smother 2004 EPSA Champion Justin Mujica (Prt) who still had enough efficiency in his rides to qualify for the first quarter. Ocean & Earth rider Anthony Walsh (Aus) made his sponsor happy, reaching the quarters by the time the tide obliged organisers to call the contest on hold as the pumping swell and dry reef were getting too risky. As the sun was starting to beat, everyone went to rest and prepare for the big afternoon.

At 2.30 pm , the swell had pumped again and 7 ft huge walls were breaking, helped by the incoming tide which was promising to give this 2 Star WQS Event an amazing finish. The first guys who entered the water to finish the round of 32 were starting to get nervous as the inside bowl section looked really heavy. “ It's really tough out there, almost dangerous but it's so good to surf such waves”, started Jean-Jacques Billard (Fra). “It's a good result for me as I needed to make something serious for the EPSA ratings so I'm already satisfied but I'll try my best” finished the French-Brazilian surfer. Unfortunately he was stopped in the quarters after a good result.

Big shocker was quarter #1 with a great show from local and best scorer of the contest Jonathan Gonzales (Cny) who kept on showing, after an up-and-down season, he still had all the talent to please his crowd. But young Tahitian kept his canarian dream alive finding an insane barrel for 8.67 pts just twenty seconds before the hooter, to grab first place and advance to semis. Aritz Aranburu (Esp) was anther outstanding performer, getting a huge barrel that made the crowd go crazy. After taking off on a 7 ft face, he stalled and got deep covered by the blue lip to get out twenty meters fyrther finishing with a big carve; rewared with an 8.33 pointer he could be happy after Eric Rebière (Fra) and Justin Mujica (Prt), two of the best Europeans - Rebière being first on the ratings-, had been eliminated.

“It's so good to surf these waves. It looks like Hawaii and it's good for Europe to have such places and contests. I want to get further as I am feeling good in those conditions,” confessed young rider after winning his quarterfinal. The first semifinal made the pressure rise as amazingly consistent 8 ft waves were now breaking with the high tide covering the reef. Yerin Brown (Aus), last year's winner, impressed everyone with his commitment but didn't score enough points to reach again the final, whereas super powerful young man Michel Bourez (Pyf) was achieving one of his best results of his young carrier.

Meeting Jonathan Gonzalez (Cny), Justin McBride ( Usa ) who qualified thanks to a crazy barrel at the worst section of the wave in his semi, and Aritz Aranburu (Esp), Michel Bourez (Pyf) had no shame and tried his best as soon as the hooter had spoken. The thirty-minute decider started on fire, the guys surfing as much wave as they could, but after two low scores, Michel Bourez (Pyf) found the bomb of the set. An 8 ft wave rose and he took off fast to hit the lip at its worst part, flying over the section and just after he landed managed to get in the barrel for three seconds before finishing with another flying re-entrie. Rewarded with a 9.93, he took the lead and secured his championship place to win his first WQS event of his life.

Congratulations to all the organisers and staff, the contest was one of the best ever in Europe and we hope to be there next year in same conditions. Michel Bourez (Pyf) sends local boy home with 3 rd position and shows he has still a lot of talent to offer. See you later, in Tenerife for next contest, a 2 Star event sanctioned by Asp Europe.

The 2* WQS Men's and 3* EPSA Women's events are sanctioned by ASP EUROPE , sponsored by La Caja de Canarias, Ocean & Earth and KIA Motors , and offer 25 000$ of prizemoney for the men plus 7 500€ for the women. It is proudly supported by the General Management of Sports of Gran Canaria , the Municipal Council of Las Palmas, the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, El Corte Ingles, 7UP, Shark, TVE Canarias, 40 Principales, the IDEO Foundation, CEPSA and Sony Playstation.

Greg / Aspeurope