VIDEO & SLIDESHOW: Day 7 ISA World Masters...

VIDEO & SLIDESHOW: Day 7 ISA World Masters...  Action, Lineups, and Aloha Cup

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 22 July, 2012 : - - The much-anticipated big swell finally arrived today. The slight change in swell direction made a significant difference, with long, clean barrels being ridden nearly every heat. Men’s Grand Masters Heat 2 between Sunny Garcia, Junior Maciel, and Dean Randazzo produced the highest scores of the day.

The morning delivered some of the best barrels of the event, however the afternoon session revealed the true, world-class identity of Colorado Beach. Garcia and Randazzo went barrel-for-barrel in their heat with the conditions getting better and better. Though the afternoon session proved to be the highlight of the day, the morning heats were almost equally as stunning.

In Garcia’s Masters heat, he was up against Armando Daltro (BRA) and Rick Takahashi (USA). Daltro is an ASP World Tour veteran and 2000 WQS world champion; Garcia is a former ASP World Tour Champ. Most of Takahashi’s successes in surfing have come at the national level. And yet, it was Takahashi who was surfing the best, at a world championship-level who won the heat.

In the Women’s Masters (over-35) the action continued to be fast-paced and exciting. Rochelle Ballard (HAW) came out of back-to-back barrels and had the field in the combination situation just minutes into the heat. 

In total, 14 competitors and three nations were eliminated from the event today. The USA lost its first athlete, Shea Lopez, but still leads in the race for Team Gold and the perpetual Eduardo Arena Trophy.

A closely contested Final of the ISA Aloha Cup came down to Glen Pang in the lineup needing one ride – any ride – to lock down the win. He managed to catch a small one and stand-up and reached the shoreline with 15 seconds to make it into his the Hawaii team’s zone to prevent Australia from winning Gold. With four seconds to go, he crossed the line and secured the win for Hawaii.

The ISA Aloha Cup is a unique tag-team event that is run at every ISA World Championship, featuring eight qualifying nations. Each team includes five athletes (4 men, 1 woman) to compete in the semifinal/final format.

The event webcast will be live beginning at 7:40am local time (6:40am PST; 9:40am EST; 2:40pm in Paris; and 11:40pm in Sydney) with The Morning Show at www.isawmsc.com/live.

Videos: 12/7 | 13/7 | 13/7 | 14/7 | Opening | 15/7 | 16/7 | 17/7 | 18/7 | 19/7 | 20/7 | 21/7

Slideshows: 11/7 | 12/7 | 13/7 | 14/7 | Opening | 15/7 | 16/7 | 17/7 | 18/7 | 19/7 | 20/7 | 21/7

The event webcast will be live beginning at 7:40am local time (6:40am PST; 9:40am EST; 2:40pm in Paris; and 11:40pm in Sydney) with The Morning Show at isawmsc.com/live

The Nicaragua ISA World Masters Surfing Championship is made possible with the backing of the following sponsors: Nicaragua Tourism Institute, Gray Line, AmericanAirlines, Canal 13, Amnet, Hacienda Iguana, Taca, VOS TV, Municipalidad de Tola, Flor de Caña, INISER; the following cosponsors: Movistar, Dollar, Alamo, Comité Olimpico Nicaragüense, Hilton, Nuevo Diario, Guacalito, Condor, Servipro, Aqua Spa, CDNN canal 23, Nicasurfing; and the following supporters: Surfari Charters, Corona, Paso Pacifico, Renisa, Parmalat, Credomatic, Cruz Roja, Pantaleon, Canatur. The media partners are Pasión Xtrema, SurfersVillage and Surfos. The Official Forecaster for the event is Surfline.