El Confital, October 8th, 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
Saturday, October 8th – “El Confital” offers Europe its world class break for one of surfing's best days of the year.

Some gray clouds were still spreading a light rain on the city of Las Palmas when we woke up at 7.30 this morning for the 9 AM check-in. Despite the good hopes of getting some big action today, organisers had no choice but to delay the call as the low tide was offering some consistent waves but too shallow above the aggressive reef; for the riders' security, it was decided to wait for the incoming tide to send the remaining heats of the round of 96.

At 1pm , the sun had decided to help us and the waves were starting to offer some insane sections. With the excitement growing as the crowd was starting to settle on the beach, everything was eventually in place to make this 2* WQS event a world class summit. The first guys to enter the water didn't wait long to reward the crowd for it's patience and some really deep barrels were ridden, on the still shallow reef.

Winning his heat, Yerin Brown (Aus) was just stoked : “this spot is perfect. Power, speed, barrels, it's a world class wave for sure when it breaks this way. We are lucky to enjoy twenty-five minutes alone in the water” , said Yerin. Another aussie, Ocean & Earth's rider Anthony Walsh, won the crowd's respect with a perfect barrel, getting deep inside the righthander to get a 9 pointer and secure qualification for next round, backing up his best wave with 7.33 pts.

Not knowing the wave so well, the young Frenchman Jean-Jacques Billard (Fra) managed to take the best out of the pumping conditions, and just ripped the 6 ft set waves with style, finding as well some impressive control in overhead barrels. “The waves are just perfect, I am so stoked… These are the waves we need in Europe ”, said an amazed Jean-Jacques still wearing his red singlet. The sets kept on pumping throughout the afternoon and the crowd was just cheering on every take off, the surfers offering all their skills to make the event a brilliant show.

The speakers kept on getting crazy, motivating a super excited crowd who was cheering and raising arms on each wave. The surfers just offered an amazing level for such a 2* event, but you can bet that with such conditions, next year will attract more of the best riders in the world. Take the famous break of Bingin in Bali, turn to the other side and you will have El Confital, a super consistent righthander breaking on a shallow reef just outside Las Palmas , the capital town of the Canary Islands . This place is just a thrill for surfing!!

The South African David Richards (Zaf) was another outstanding performer today, getting some deep barrels with so much control he made the wave look easy. Getting an 8+ and a 6+ to stay out of reach from his opponents, he just qualified under the crowd's applauds. Today was one of the best days of surfing in the past six years and tomorrow might offer similar conditions. There is a lot to bet this day will stay in Asp Europe's history so thank you for your attention and just have a look at the pictures as you might want to come soon and try this wave. See you later,

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.