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
Sunday, October 9th – Another day of Anthology for surfing in Europe : from Jonathan Gonzalez's (Cny) perfect 10 to Caroline Sarran's (Fra) 2005 European Title.

Aiming to use as much as possible of the outgoing tide, and knowing the reef becomes really dangerous when it dries for low tide, the contest director gathered all his staff at 7.45 am to get ready for a long day of work at the beach. Some surfers were already in the water when the sun started to offer the first rays of light, riding some still very good waves: 4 ft glassy barrels giving a great bowl at the inside. 2004 EPSA Champion Justin Mujica (Prt) was the first to take off, wearing the red singlet, but his opponents answered back to back in the first minutes, eventually failing to stop the champion.

Winning his heat thanks to lots of control and commitment at the bowl section, Nick Coughlan (Aus) was really happy to get through. “The inside section with the barrel is getting tough with the outgoing tide, but it's still very good. It's my first time here and actually third surf at the Confital since I arrived on the island, so I'm pretty satisfied,” said Nick. Yerin Brown (Aus) woke up the first people on the beach with an insane barrel, getting deep to finish with a reverse 180° after he had carved the first section.

Jonathan Gonzales (Cny), local surfer and one of the best Europeans of the last three years, found the first perfect ride of the contest for his opening wave. With a first little tube ride followed by the deepest barrel seen so far during the last two days, Jonathan appeared at the inside the fist high in the air to show the judges he knew his score had to be good. Rewarded with a ten out of possible ten, his qualification was secured as soon as he found a back up ride of 5+ pts. Then the peak became too shallow and it was decided to start again at 2 pm .

Heat #5 was the first to enjoy the perfect peak alone in the 25° Atlantic Ocean and the three hour break had given enough time for the crowd to settle down for this sunny Sunday. Standing on the dry reef the low tide was offering, the crowd started again to cheer giving loud applauds to the riders “at the office”. The show went crazy as the speakers were encouraging the crowd, and after the eight first heats of the round of 64 were ran, it was time for the last four girls of the 3* EPSA La Caja de Canarias / Ocean & Earth to hit the water for a european title battle.

In 4-5 ft glassy barrels, in front of a numerous crowd, local and former EPSA Champion Adelina Taylor (Cny) must have felt some pressure as she entered the water. Actual ratings #4 Amandine Sanchez (Fra) was the only one to already be really happy of her result. As the official timer was turned on, Adelina Taylor (Cny) did not wait long to take advantage of her knowledge of the spot, and set the tone high with some 5+ rides. The crowd started to get crazy as for a football match and cheered on each take off of the girls in the water. Trying her best to catch on her leader, Caroline Sarran (Fra) waited for the set wave and took off on a 6 ft break, getting covered but not deep enough to get the points she needed.

Adelina Taylor's (Cny) victory takes her to second place on the EPSA ratings and Caroline Sarran's (Fra) third place gave her the EPSA title, leaving ratings' leader before the event Estitxu Estremo (Euk) fourth despite her talent. The award ceremony showed again the latin temper could get the party on fire and some of the crowd entered the site to celebrate their champion.

The men's contest then kept on in similar conditions, still with barrels and an insane crowd pushing the surfers to their best. The big scorers of the day were Pablo Solar (Esp) with 14.83 pts, local surfing star Julian Cuello (Cny) who found one of the best barrels of the contest rewarded with a 9.27, local outsiders Felix Ortega and Eduardo Acosta who managed to stand in front of the best Europeans and former EPSA Champion Pablo Gutierrez (Esp) who found a stand up/hands up barrel in front of hundreds of shouting fans; just a thrill!

Today was again a perfect surfing moment, from barrels to radical re-entries on the 5 ft bowl breaking on not more than 50 centimeters of water. From the best seeded riders to the local outstanding performers including the girls' EPSA final, everything was again a success, in front of hundred of cheering people. Enjoy the show and see you tomorrow for the finals!

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.

Greg / Aspeurope