Oxbow Pro World Longboard Championship

ASP WLC Mens Event
Anglet, France
30 April - 6 May 2007

Live Coverage  |  Results/Photos/Videos etc

The Major Event of the 2007 Longboard Calendar

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 25 April, 2007 : - - The Oxbow Word Longboard Championship will take place from April 30th to May 6th, 2007, at Anglet on the Basque Coast. The competition has been organized under the auspices of the International Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP).

Conceived to respond to the needs of the world’s best surfers, this world championship will be the key longboarding rendezvous for 2007, a major event -- the most important longboarding contest with the most generous purse of the global Longboard circuit.

This statute gives it the right to bestow to its winner the title of World Champion. With prize money of $50,000 US, the Oxbow World Longboard Championship will attract the best riders in the world, from Duane de Soto to Antoine Delpero, not to mention the current world champion Josh Constable and former world champions Joel Tudor, Bonga Perkins and Colin McPhillips.

We are proud to note the presence of two renowned athletes: The Australian Nat Young is a real surfing legend. He is recognized as one of the greatest surfers in the history. This Australian, 66’ world champion, became a mythical Surf and Longboard ambassador.

In 1988, he joined the «Oxbow People», then, in 1992, he helped Oxbow to create the World Longboard Championship. This year it’s an honor for us to welcome Nat as the patron of this event!

The legendary big wave rider Laird Hamilton, known also as innovator (perfected the «Foil») and explorer (constantly discovering new surf spots). Taking advantage of a European tour, he will join us to give a demonstration of «Stand up Paddling.» This sport, a relative of longboarding, is practiced using a large board and a long paddle. It can be adapted to all skill levels (depending on the size of the wave!) and brings us back spiritually to the era of the original surfers.

Oxbow, a Leader Brand A Historic Investment in Longboarding:
Strengthened by its long implication in this discipline, experienced at the sides of its greatest surfers, and its sponsorship of 12 world events at spots like Haleiwa, Malibu, Saint Leu, Makaha, Jeffrey’s Bay, Cabo San Lucas and Raglan, Oxbow is the brand that has given to longboarding its lettres de noblesse. After having created the first World Championship in 1992 with Nat Young, Oxbow can now capitalize on these fundamentals by signing a three-year commitment to the creation of a veritable World Tour.

A Leading Brand:
Established in Bordeaux on the Atlantic coast, Oxbow is ordained to be a major player in the boardsports market. Oxbow has been developing collections since 1985, uniting technical expertise and great style for all free riders in love with water in all its forms. As such, the company is a pioneer in the boardsports domain of surf, windsurf, kite surf, ski, snowboard, standup paddle, tow-in...and the list goes on and on.

This brand has long known how important it is to put together teams of exceptional, internationally-known athletes in order to create a positive dynamic, and Oxbow riders are chosen from the best and most respected of their disciplines, people such as Laird Hamilton, Jason Polakow, Duane de Soto, Guerlain Chicherit…

Longboarding, Between Tradition and Modernity
In the history of surfing, the longboard was the original type of surfboard, massive wooden boards built and surfed by the Hawaiians since the 15th century. Longboards incarnate the tradition and myth behind all board sports. But even with this heritage, today’s longboard is firmly set in modernity, thanks to new fabrication technologies, its precise shaping and dimensions.

The longboard of the 21st century opens up a world of all types of waves to its riders, and offers them with a pronounced aesthetic feel. A knowing mix of style and radicalism, this sport aspires to be recognized and to benefit from the creation of a true world circuit, both of which are justified by its rise in popularity. Young longboarders are, moreover, more and more numerous to be seduced by this discipline.

A Brand that Promotes the Value of Liberty and Nature:
Oxbow signifies «to twist and turn.» It speaks of the traces left by natural elements, like rivers, glaciers, tides. Our name shows our strong conviction for communion with, and protection of nature. Oxbow is the vehicle for a particular state of mind related to accomplishment and going beyond personal challenges through sports, and also through communion with our natural environment.

Through its range of products, through its commitment to supporting competitive events, and through the sponsorship of its Team riders, Oxbow cultivates the values of liberty and of nature. Oxbow actively invests in eco-conception and sustainable development, values resting on the Lafuma Group purchasing ethic: use of biological cotton, of algae-based materials (SeaCell®), recycling of PVC banners used for publicity purposes in shops and at events…

Oxbow, a Leader Brand
Establishing a Presence in the Heart of Surfing’s Cradle In early June, in immediate proximity to the Oxbow World Longboard Championship site, Oxbow will present its new «tube» store concept. This new Oxbow store concept, already inaugurated in the mega mall Parly 2, at Chamonix and soon also in Bordeaux, is characterized by creating a wave tubing throughout the length of the boutique. Oxbow thus finds its special place in the heart of Europe’s cradle of surfing, the Basque Coast.

History, Expertise.
For more than fifteen years, Oxbow has been organizing competitions of worldwide renown, from the creation of the first World Championship to management of individual events leading up to World Championships in surfing and windsurfing. Oxbow counts on benefiting from that experience, and on the patronage of Nat Young (who was present at the debut of this incredible history), to make the Oxbow Pro World Longboard Championship 2007 a great success!

The Site, The Basque Coast
Cradle of European surfing, the Basque Coast offers a diversity of spots, all of which permit it to welcome a World Championship of Longboarding. Known throughout the surfing world, the Basque Coast has, in the last fifty years, become the «California » of European surfing. Springtime offers comfortable surfing conditions with more clement weather, with sandbanks formed during the whole winter and a consistent swell. The northern beaches of Anglet present the coast’s best as far as beach breaks go, with three beaches of international fame: Les Cavaliers, La Barre and Les Dunes. The site Les Cavaliers has always been up to welcoming surfing competitions of international level.

Anglet
Year after year, the town of Anglet has responded to the expectations and needs of surfers all along its shores, by adapting its infrastructures. Today, a boardwalk of more than 4 kilometres in length borders its beaches, offering to the public an unparalleled view of the sea. Les Cavaliers, the principal spot for the Oxbow World Longboard Championship, has been improved to allow the smooth running of surfing championships. A terrace overlooks the mythic wave, assuring an easy set-up for the competition.

The spot La Barre, a wave legendary in the 70s, is currently undergoing a metamorphosis and can welcome major events, with a generous parking capacity and ease of access. And finally, the beach Les Dunes, full of Basque charm, remains available for all the other activities parallel to the principal competition.

Surfers participating in the Oxbow Pro World Longboard Championship
1 Constable,Josh AUS World Champion
2 Snow,Ned HAW
3 Ingleby,Harley AUS
4 Jensen,Taylor USA
5 Soto,Duane de HAW Oxbow Rider
6 Matos,Amaro BRA
7 Moir,Mathew ZAF
8 Perkins,Bonga HAW
9 Freitas,Marcelo BRA
10 Thomas,Grant AUS
11 Tudor,Joel USA
12 Rosas,Diego BRA
13 Byrnes,Jye AUS
14 Lima,Jonas BRA
15 Mohr,Josh USA
16 Rodrigo,Danilo BRA
17 Baxter,Josh USA
18 Creignout,Timothee FRA
19 Franks,Dustin USA
20 Maurin,Romain FRA
21 McPhillips,Colin USA
22 Shimabukuro,Noah HAW
23 Skinner,Ben GBR Oxbow Rider
24 Uemura,Kekoa HAW
25 Bahia,Carlos BRA
26 Lloy,Tom USA
27 Morouse,Jed USA
28 Rajzman,Phil BRA
29 Reyes,Ronald VEN
30 Salazar,Alex BRA
31 Silva,Jeremias da BRA
32 Barros,Roger BRA

...and other competitors to be invited as wild-cards and trials winners.

With the following Oxbow riders: Antoine Delpero, Alban Méric, Eduardo Bagé, Sam Beakley.

Oxbow Riders: Antoine Delpero
Antoine Delpero, pure product of the Marseille label, has for several years marked his stamp on longboarding and has surfed his way right into the international elite of the sport. Basque by adoption, the young Antoine went through his apprenticeship on the waves of the Atlantic, right up to winning the celebrated Biarritz Surf festival in 2005, during the era when just one annual longboarding event of international dimensions took place. Antoine will be the «local boy» of the Oxbow Pro and will be more than zealous to hook that world crown in front of his public.

Duane De Soto is the perfect example of a pure Hawaïan surfer. He embodies the Aloha spirit. While learning to surf in Makaha, an internationally renowned surf spot, Duane rubbed shoulders with the world’s best, drawing inspiration from their talent. Duane has inherited knowledge and respect for the ocean from his Hawaiian ancestors. In 1993, Duane took part in the World Longboard Championships, held in Haleiwa. By beating the world champion, he attracted the attention of Oxbow, who asked him to join the international team. Nowadays, he has acquired a “charger” image. He belongs to the few longboarders riding waves as Teahupoo or Pipeline.
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Ben “skindog” Skinner: Enjoying life, Ben is one of Oxbow’s most sympathetic riders. He started doing contests at 10 and won directly the British Title. Since then, Ben is considered as one of the best British longboarder, especially after wining the national title in 2006. By finishing 2nd at the ISA world longboard championship in 2006, Ben is undoubtedly a major threat to any other contestants for the world title.

Oxbow and Volkswagen have associated this year, 2007, in order to create a personalized line for the FOX. This automobile, aimed at youth, has as its goal to recreate «the universe of surfing in a car.» Oxbow and Volkswagen will take advantage of the Oxbow World Longboard Championship to seal this partnership between their two brands.

Take note of an exceptional evening party on May 2nd, to celebrate the official debut of the Oxbow Fox. HP, official partner of the Oxbow Pro World Longboard Championship 2007, puts its technological expertise to the service of the longboarders, judges and spectators. Portable computers and flat screens will be at the disposition of judges and spectators so they will not miss one single ride. Also, it will be on a particularly stylish HP «special edition» laptop that Laird Hamilton will chat with «internauts» live from Anglet.

Finally, the activity «Shoot & Print HP» will permit longboard fans on the site to immortalize the event and go home with a souvenir photo! An Oxbow/Microsoft gadget, for all fans of surfing throughout the entire world, designed in order to follow the competition without stepping out of their doors!

On the occasion of the Oxbow Pro World Longboard Championship 2007, Oxbow and Microsoft have joined to develop this gadget for Windows Vista. It permits all boardsports enthusiasts to follow -- live -- the highlights of the contest and to be informed of the main results.

Check the Live Coverage

Previous reports:
# 1 : Oxbow World Longboard Champs come to Anglet
# 2 : Oxbow to host official ASP World Longboard Tour event
# 3 : Coming soon
# 4 : Coming soon  

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Alexandre Ponot

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