Sunday, September 11th – Kiwi sends aussie contingent home

With clearer skies than yesterday but still some rain and light offshore winds, we arrived this morning at 8.30 in order to take the Ferrolterra Pantin Classic to its end. The women were the first to hit the water and the hooter spoke at 9 in 3 to 5 ft cleaner conditions. Fifteen tear-old young gun Paunline Ado (Fra) rapidly set the tone as five minutes had gone, using her perfect style to rip the classic righthander of Pantin's bay. Backing up an 8.5 ride with a 9 pointer, she left Marie-Pierre Abgrall (Fra) former WCT surfer needing a combination of two waves.

“It's still a bit messy but the waves are definitely surfable for the girls. I'm feeling really good in these 1.5 meter sets and I wish I could get my first big result here,” confessed Pauline Ado still wearing her wetsuit. With a total of 17.5 pts , the following girls had nothing but to get ready for some big action throughout the day. With no upsets in the quarters, all the girls still qualified were given some time to rest as the men's quarterfinals were sent after heat 8 of the round of 32 of the Caixanova 2005 Women's Pantin Classic.

With eight Australians in the quarters and only three Europeans left, the international battle started at 11.40 am for the men's event, as the sun had decided to settle over the contest site. In average 4 ft waves, Patrick Beven (Fra) took command of the heat in front of best scorer of the contest so far Josh “flying” Kerr (Aus), but air force leader didn't wait long to answer and took off 4 ft over the lip of the righthander to win the heat.

“The wind is falling, the conditions are perfect for my type of surfing so I'm feeling pretty confident for the moment. I needed some time to adapt but after ten minutes I found the right positioning and it paid quite well” said air force lieutenant Kerr with a big smile after reaching the first semifinal, in front of Patrick Beven (Fra). Maz Quinn (Nzl) confirmed his good form and found the exact way to qualify for the semifinals, after scoring a total of 16.16 pts . The quarterfinals ended in 4 ft waves with nice weather, showing an international result for the semis.

Josh ‘flying” Kerr (Aus) was the first man to enter the cool water wearing his 2/2 short sleeves wetsuit, warm enough to rip the spot. Being one of the 5 ozzies of the semifinals, he once again flew over his opponents using the walls on offer as launching ramps. With two air 360° reverse, the inform rider struck his followers with a 9+ backed up by an 8+ pointer totalising 18.97 pts for the best total of the contest, while Nic Muscroft (Aus) was securing his second place to reach final.

“It's my first time here and I'm stoked to be in the final. We finally get some consistent swell for a contest after small waves almost all summer in Europe so after my final in Anglet it's definitely a big result for me already. I'll be really focused for this last heat and then drive to the next 4* QS event feeling confident”, confessed Nic Muscroft (Aus) after scoring two 8+ waves. Maz Quinn (Nzl), former WCT surfer, just ripped once again and scored some amazingly powerful turns rewarded with a 9.33 score that gave him his spot in the final.

The girls semifinals were sent straight after the men's ones. Led by high scorer of the contest Pauline Ado (Fra), six other french riders reached the semifinals, and Estitxu Estremo (Euk) had to be solid to face the French contingent. In a difficult final, the experience paid back the basque surfer as she found some good scores, enough to qualify behind Marie-Pierre Abgrall (Fra) who seemed to get better as we were moving towards the last heat of the day.

Facing three French girls to try and get the 1050 € prizemoney, Estitxu Estremo (Euk) just felt no pressure at all and entered the water aiming to score some set waves. After ten minutes had gone, she found the wall to score some committed manoeuvers and with a big re-entrie backing up a flying floater, she was rewarded with a 6 pointer. Struggling hard to reach the leader Caroline Sarran (Fra) didn't find the right waves at the outside and sticking to little inconsistent ones she could do nothing but get a 9 pts total, three points behind the 2005 Caixanova Women's Pantin Classic champion Estitxu Estremo (Euk). “All the girls are my friends so it was no big deal to compete against the french. I'm stoked to get the title here as we waited until this morning to start the contest and it was becoming stressful not knowing about the forecast changes. But there it is,” said Estremo now leading the EPSA ratings after her final in Anglet.

The girls final was followed by the men's final heat of this Ferrolterra 2005 Pantin Classic. With Maz Quinn (Nzl) facing three Australians, there was definitely more pressure with the old quarrel between the islands of the South Pacific. But experience made the difference and former WCT warrior Maz Quinn (Nzl) ripped two waves in a row with so much power that when the scores appeared on the speakers' screen, the kiwi could have left the water confident. With a 9.8 and an 8.5, he got the second highest total of the contest and left the three Australians needing a combination of waves.

“I'm so stoked to have this title. I came here five years ago and I was really happy to surf these waves again. We always get good waves at this period of the year and there it is again. It's been a mediocre year for me but I definitely aim to reach the WCT again soon ” said Quinn. “This afternoon was pretty good for me as from the quarters to this final my two waves came each time on the beginning of the heats and I had control over my opponents, so it's just so good to win this 3 star” finished Maz with the victory bear in the hand.

It was a great day here in Spain, on the beach of Pantin as the weather got better and better throughout the day and the waves remained quite consistent until the hooter spoke one last time. Thank you to all competitors for the show and to organisers for their great job; I'll see you in a week in Liencres, Spain, for another big 4 star WQS so enjoy the surf and thanks for reading.

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.