El Confital, October 7th, 2005
La Caja de Canarias - Ocean & Earth Pro - Prizemoney 25 000 $ / Prizemoney 7 500 €
2 STAR “WQS” Event / 3 STAR “EPSA” Women's Event 6-10 October 2005
Friday, October 7th – “El Confital” offers perfect barrelling righthanders to Europe 's surfing dream tour.

The 10 AM check-in brought the QS caravan together again, after yesterday had to be called off because of a flat ocean. Looking forward at the forecast which was announcing a new swell from this afternoon, the surfers waited patiently observing the waves growing throughout the hours. At 1 pm , the contest director had 3 ft barrels breaking on the famous reef of the Confital, and the women were the first to grab their competition vest and enjoy the rides for the last girls' event of the year on the European tour.

The first heat brought a big upset as Estitxu Estremo (Euk), European title contender was eliminated despite a good ride for which she received 6.33 pts. Not finding a back up wave she needed, her opponents managed to secure their qualification for the quarters. Caroline Sarran (Fra), in second position on the EPSA ratings, was the lucky girl of the day as her first heat was cancelled due to two missing surfers, advancing thus to next round without surfing.

First quarterfinal was held in pumping 4 ft barrels, giving the girls some short but hollow sections to rip or find the cover up. Finishing their rides in thirty centimetres of water, it was really a challenge for them to be as radical as they usually are on the european beachbreaks. Leaving the water with her ticket for the semis, Charlotte Caton (Fra) was just stoked: “The waves are sick. It's just like the Mentawaii Islands , we are having barrels and perfect glassy sections. I'm stoked and I am enjoying today like a kid” .

2004 European Champion and local surfer Adelina Taylor (Cny) offered a great show to her fans as she took off on a 5 ft hollow peak, getting covered by the fat lip to appear in perfect position and smash the lip with a fins-out snap at the inside. Qualifying for the semis with a 9.33 and a 6.5, the Canarian surfer had everything to feel comfortable before her heat, and the result of such a feeling was a spot for the final of this 3* EPSA Event which will crown tomorrow our European champion.

Marie-Pierre Abgrall (Fra) was the big scorer of the day. With a total of 19.46 pts, she just “smoked” her opponents getting some amazing tube rides that even the locals couldn't find. With style and experience, former WCT surfer was rewarded by a cheering crowd and the best scores of the contest . “I just found the right ones and the lips were covering up on every section, only had to slow down a little after the take off and there it was”, confessed a smiling Marie-Pierre.

The women's contest was held up to the last semifinal, offering the qualification to some of the favourites as well as outsider Amandine Sanchez (Fra) who was the great surprise of the day. The four spots of tomorrow's final were thus taken by Caroline Sarran (Fra), Adelina Taylor (Cny), Marie-Pierre Abgrall (Fra) and Amandine Sanchez (Fra). Just before the end of the day, the first two heats of the men's event were sent in order to take adavantage of the pumping conditions and offer the guys a little warm up for tomorrow's promising epic day.

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 Municipal Council of Las Palmas , the Cabilao of Gran Canaria, El Corte Ingles, 7UP, Shark, TVE Canarias, 40 Principales, the IDEO Foundation, CEPSA and Sony Playstation.