5° TAPPA,FARO(PORTOGALLO) dal 31ottobre al 2 NOVEMBRE
prize money:5000 euro
IL CAMPIONATO EUROPEO DI LONGBOARD FA TAPPA A FARO,(PT) E NELLA COMPETIZIONE A 4 STELLE DELL' ETL VI HANNO PRESO PARTE 4 GIOVANI ATLETI DELL' ITALIAN LONGBOARD TOUR, SURFING ITALIA.
MATTEO FABBRI (riccione),
MARCO BOSCAGLIA (ostia)
SIMONE FERRI (passo oscuro)
NICOLA DI TONDO (follonica)
E.T.L 2008 Stop # 5, Praia de Faro – Portugal, FOUR OCEANS LONGBOARD 4 STARS. Movember 08
Surf Club de Faro organized the penultimate event of this year’s European Tour of Longboard on the beautiful Algarve beaches.
Situated just 7 km from downtown Faro, the event took place outside the impressive Laguna, just as last year everything was brought to the chosen contest site by boats, from judging computer system to the staff and contestants themselves. This event is pretty much our small “the Search” mobile event, going “somewhere in Praia de Faro”. Rated with 4 stars, the event was all the more important as most of the French riders (Delperro, Deniel, Castera, Creignou), leading the rankings, were already gone in California for the last W.L.T event. It was just the perfect opportunity for the others to win some extra points and getting closer to the 2008 title.
Manuel “Necas” Mestre, local hero and contest director, had chosen a good lefthander sandbank, just west from the laguna rivermouth. The weather and swell forecast didn’t look fantastic, but with more than 50 contestants from all over Europe (Nederland, Italy, France, United Kingdom, Spain and Portugal) registering on Thursday night at the Nautic Club, the event was going to be a success for sure.
On Friday morning, strong sideshore winds and showers greeted the staff and contestants. Two rounds were made before the tide was too high and most of the big names went through. The best seeded E.T.L contestants would entry the competition on round 3 the morning after.
Saturday morning was all different. As forecasted, a good swell had arrived in the night, with clean 3 to 4 feet waves, sunny weather and offshore winds. The goofy footers were finally happy as for the first time in two years on the European Longboard Tour, the best waves were lefthanders.
The round of 16 (round 4) depicted a good example of the European longboarding global level, as we could find 4 contestants form United Kingdom, 4 from France, 7 Portuguese and the surprising Michael Schmitz from Nederland. Ben Skinner and Remy “Shawn” Arauzo easily qualified for the semis, as well as in-form Aurelien Meynieux and two Portuguese gifted riders, Bruno Grandela and Euriço Gonçalves.
With the high tide, “Necas” decided to call the E.T.L event off for the rest of the day and started the “retro contest” so the riders could surf the high tide conditions and the finalists could rest before their heats scheduled for the morning after.
On Sunday morning, swell was slightly smaller but the weather was still sunny with offshore winds. Even if some were trying to cure the hangover from the party the night before, everybody could enjoy the 2 to 3 feet waves still there.
First semifinal opposed the three Frenchies (“Shawn” Arauzo, Aurélien Meynieux and Clément “Odile” Leray) to Portuguese powersurfer Bruno Grandela. Shawn just destroyed his opponents, enjoying surfing on his front hand for an E.T.L event, he scored the best noserides and went through, followed by Aurélien, Bruno and Odile. Second semi was also an interesting fratricide heat, with all the U.K Boys (Skinner, Bleakley & Parry) opposed to Euriço Gonçalves. Ben went through, with his usual flawless reentries and committed noserides, followed by Sam, James and Euriço.
“Necas” decided then to call the E.T.L event on hold, so he could run the final of the retro contest, and the finalist could rest a little before their final scheduled by mid-day. Shawn and Ben somehow qualified for the Retro final and Ben made the beach going totally nuts by nailing a ridiculous frontside alley oop to 180° on a borrowed twinfin. Not so classic, but not that easy to do on a knee-high wave though !
E.T.L final resumed just after the Retro ended, so Ben and Shawn were immediately joined at the line up by Sam and Aurélien and the 25 minutes heat could start. Ben and Shawn took control of the final from the very first minutes, choosing the best waves, scoring the best noserides and modern turns. Sam couldn’t find the best scoring waves while Aurélien was stuck on a bad wave option, getting only backup waves. At the end of the heat, Shawn won with a narrow margin in front of Ben, then Sam and in fourth came Aurélien.
The closing ceremony was held in the middle of the Mall “Forum de Algarve” main sponsor of this Four Oceans longboard contest, right in front of the retro boards exhibition held for the occasion.
Remy “Shawn” Arauzo, winning his second event of the season after Jersey in July, stated he was really happy with that win, which offered him the first spot on the E.T.L rankings .
With only one last event to run in December at the Sao Pedro Longboard Pro in Estoril, Portugal again, this last stop, rated 4 stars, will decide of the 2008 Champion.
At this stage, the situation is pretty dicey, as the whole top 10 can aim at the first place, so the suspense remains as anything is possible.
On behalf of the European Surfing Federation, thanks to all the good people and staff at Surf Clube de Faro, Necas, all the sponsors and hands who helped to make this event possible.
Obrigado, vemo-nos no próximo ano
Enjoy life and keep surfing
Julien “Vico” Hamel
PHOTO GALLERY TAPPA DI FARO 2008
Matteo Fabbri, Mini Capo
Marco Boscaglia, Mini Capo
Le tappe dell' European Longboard Tour 2008
ETL PHOTO GALLERY
ILT: ITALIAN LONGBOARD TOUR
