Thursday, September 8th

The 18 th edition of the Pantin Classic which has become a 3 Star World Qualifying Event this year, got underway this morning at 11.30 am. It was again a great pleasure for all to arrive in the beautiful bay of Pantin, as everyone knows the waves are always on time at such a period of the season. And according to the forecast, it will happen again as we are expecting huge 5 meters sets for Saturday.

Gathering an international field of surfers from all over the world, the Ferrolterra Pantin Classic started in 3 ft waves, the peak offering right and lefthanders to the first contestants of the day as the tide was going out. The action started slowly, the competitors needing time to adapt to the conditions but with nice-breaking sets on offer, our first big scorer of the day showed up in heat 4 when Joan Duru (Fra) took off on a lefthander standing frontside to the face of the wave. With his style and talent he joined two radical turns before getting in the air and landing his manoeuvre easily. The tone was set.

Robson Santos (Bra) and Nathan Hèle (Fra) were the two next guys to take advantage of the conditions, the Brazilian scoring the two best waves of the day whereas the French was rewarded with the third best total so far, with 15.14 pts . Michel Bourez (Pyf), who is actually one of the leaders of this year's junior European ratings, got his ticket as well for the following round, getting first place in front of fellow countryman Steven Pierson.

With the tide coming in, the waves got better and more consistent sets were breaking in the middle of the huge bay of Pantin. In a relaxed atmosphere, the contest continued in average conditions, allowing nothing really amazing but still some classic surfing. The few crowds of the day enjoyed nice carving style, as well as some aerial moves, and the first four heats of the round of 96 were ran in the row. Txaber Trojaola (Esp) managed to grab the last ticket of the round in heat 16: “the waves are good eventhough it's a bit soft out there. I heard we might have some big swell for next days so I'm looking forward to that”.

Finalist in Amado 3* WQS event at the beginning of the summer, Simon Marchand (Fra) seemed a bit uncomfortable in the conditions on offer and had to leave the heat draw very early, disappointed but still happy for his fellow countryman Jean-Jacques Billard (Fra) who managed to get second and advance for the round of 64. Josh Kerr (Aus) was one of the last qualifier of the day thanks to his personal flying and radical style who left everyone stoked once again, eventhough he wasn't at his top level.

As all the best surfers will enter tomorrow, we expect some great action with the pumping swell announced by the forecast. The 2005 edition will be an unforgettable one so stay tuned and keep ckecking the coverage from our webmasters and photographer who are trying their best to make the event live through your computers.

The 2005 ferrolterra Pantin Classic is organised by Oceano Surf Club and Asp Europe, sponsored by Caixanova, the Region of Galicia, Cool Shoe Corporation, Redsand, RadioVoz, the Council of Ferrol, The Galician Departments of Sports and Tourism, the Cities of Valdovino, Cedeira and Naron.