Chelsea Georgeson wins Venus Rip Curl Girls WQS event

Chelsea Georgeson : photo Ripcurl/Damien Poullenot

Venus Rip Curl Girls Surfing Festival

ASP 5 Star Womens WQS event
Bourdaines Beach, Seignosse, France
20 - 22 August 2004

Scores/Results

Day 3: Near perfect conditions for last day of Venus Rip Curl Girls Surfing Festival

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 22 August 2004: - - Conditions: Barrels! 2 to 3 foot waves, shaped to perfection by a light offshore wind. The A-frame peak right in front of the contest site offered great waves for the women competitors.

All day long heats were hard fought and the girls really enjoyed themselves, entertaining the large crowd who showed up to support the French surfers still in competition. Emanuelle Joly Thomas surfed bravely in her quarter final but fell against the stronger opposition: WCT surfers Chelsea Georgeson and Melanie Redman Carr.

Marie Pierre Abgrall, Rip Curl Europe’s team leader, continued her charge with a powerful display of tactical surfing. Unfortunately, she couldn’t repeat her previous days performance and was a few points short of reaching the final in a nail biting heat. “It was a hard heat because the waves were getting inconsistent and I missed the final by three points. I’m disappointed to have been so close, but I’m also happy to have done so well in front of my home crowd,” she said as she walked back to the contest site.

Podium : photo Ripcurl/Damien Poullenot

It was the South African Heather Clark, who scored the best wave of the event, a fabulous 9.87, with a deep tube and some strong moves on the inside. “I saw that wave coming at me, it walled up and I pulled in, I was lucky to come out and I made a few good turns and reached the dry sand” she said, really pleased with her performance.

Two WCT surfers made it to the Venus Rip Curl Girls Surfing Festival final, Heather Clark (SA) and Chelsea Georgeson (AUS) two other talented Australian surfers, Claire Bevilacqua and Kim Wooldridge, joined them.

The young Aussie, Chelsea Georgeson, killed it in the final in the early minutes with an incredible fourth wave, where she bashed the lip with an impressive precision. She stayed out of reach of the surprising Claire Bevilacqua, who finished second.

Chelsea is super stoked with her first win in France. “ I’m really happy. I had that incredible wave and the remaining minutes seemed like forever. I was really stressful but victory is sweet, yeah!”

Winner of the Venus Expression session: Silvama Lima (Brz), Melanie Bartels (Haw)

Ratings after event 12 Rip Curl Pro,Hossegor-France:
1 Georgeson,Chelsea AUS 9460
2 Redman-Carr,Melanie AUS 8085
3 Woods,Rebecca AUS 6753
4 Clark,Heather ZAF 6655
5 Brooke,Serena AUS 6558
6 Bartels,Melanie HAW 6370
7 Bevilacqua,Claire AUS 6158
8 Donohoe,Amee AUS 5970
9 Abgrall,Marie Pierre FRA 5560
10 Cornish,Samantha AUS 5525
11 Joly-Thomas,Emmanuelle FRA 5520
11 Menczer,Pauline AUS 5520
13 Jeffries,Prue AUS 5315
14 Hurunui,Lisa NZL 5258
15 MacKenzie,Lynette AUS 5100
16 Lima,Silvana BRA 5095
17 Silva,Jacqueline BRA 5075
18 Penfold,Dara AUS 5055
19 Todd,Trudy AUS 5035
20 Miley-Dyer,Jessi AUS 5028
21 Black,Ellen AUS 4990
22 Wooldridge,Kim AUS 4870
23 McGrath,Laurina AUS 4830
24 Sarran,Caroline FRA 4715
25 Skarratt,Kate AUS 4680
26 Christian,Julia USA 4578
27 Ringer,Lauren AUS 4505
28 Beck,Holly USA 4430
29 Kennelly,Keala HAW 3890
30 Abubo,Megan HAW 3870
31 Beardmore,Sarah AUS 3700
32 Johnston,Sarah ZAF 3585
33 Hosseini,Erica USA 3218
34 Clegg,Amanda AUS 3153
35 Petroni,Karina USA 3058
36 Mulanovich,Sofia PER 2983
37 Langen,Kyla USA 2970
38 Smith,Carly AUS 2638
39 Mackie,Karlee AUS 2600
40 Shields,Sheridan AUS 2505
41 Matthews,Jessica ZAF 2412
42 Atherton,Nicola AUS 2215
43 Spires,Falina USA 2120
44 Naraisa,Suelen BRA 2000
45 Sheppard,Kira USA 1873
46 Sweeney,Lauren USA 1864
47 Vindez Diaz,Lisbeth CRI 1776
48 Browne,Tracey AUS 1720
49 Nelson,Jodie USA 1668
50 Gryde,Leilani USA 1535