Oxbow Pro World Longboard Championship

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

Live Coverage  |  Results/Photos/Videos etc

OXBOW PRO TO CROWN 2007 ASP WORLD LONGBOARD CHAMPION IN ANGLET

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 27 April, 2007 : - - ANGLET, France – With the Oxbow World Longboard Championship scheduled to start this Monday, Apr. 30, at Anglet, France, the Basque Coast is set for a huge influx of surfing legends and the world’s hottest longboarders. One such surfer will be crowned the ASP World Longboard Champion by May 6, the last day of the event waiting period.

It is believed that surfing was first brought to Europe way back in 1956 by Hollywood screenwriter Peter Viertel when he was in Biarritz filming ‘The Sun also Rises.’ From that, a local surfing community quickly sprung up, led by Biarritz legends George Hennebutte and Joel de Rosnay. Since then the area has been labeled as the cradle of European surfing and is known as its spiritual home.

It is fitting then that just over 40 years later Oxbow have chosen this part of the world to host the ASP World Longboard Championship, offering a $US50,000 prize purse to those whose surfing best represents a mix of smooth, traditional longboarding skills and dynamic, modern, radical moves.

The 2006 winner of the event, Australian Josh Constable, will be there to defend the crown he won in epic waves in Costa Rica and is understandably excited. "I think going to Anglet is a great thing," said Constable earlier in the year. “Hopefully it will have some size and last year at Costa Rica the waves were just that - head high beach breaks - and I did well there so I’m pumped."

With the world’s best longboarders entering the event Constable faces the sternest of challenges to repeat his triumph. Surfers like Bonga Perkins (HAW), Joel Tudor (USA) plus American Colin McPhillips (USA) are all previous world champions and are all expected to figure highly.

Local hopes though will be resting on young Frenchman and Oxbow wildcard Antoine Delpero. Delpero was raised in the Mediterranean waters around the beautiful city of Marseille, but has been based in the Basque coast for the last few years. An accomplished shortboarder and longboarder, Antoine has made a name for himself riding the huge waves of the Basque coast this winter and has the talent to spring some major upsets.

Overlooking all this mix of experience and youth will be the patron of the event and 1966 world champion Nat Young. Nat is almost a mythical ambassador to the sport of surfing and in particular longboarding and will be lending his support and immense knowledge to the event. He will also be joined by another bona fide surfing legend, Laird Hamilton. Surfing’s closest thing to a superhero will be in attendance, giving demonstrations of his prowess on a range of surfing equipment including a paddle board, an ancient Hawaiian tradition he has resurrected which involves standing on a surfboard and using a paddle to propel him into waves.
 
The Oxbow World Longboard Championships is an official ASP World Longboard Tour event and will use the same format used by shortboard surfing’s ultimate professional series - the Foster’s ASP World Tour - which has a 48-man draw where surfers compete in man-on-man heats from round two.

With a solid swell predicted, the excitement of the man-on-man format, the famous beaches of les Cavaliers, la Barre and les Dunes providing epic locations and the presence of so many of surfing’s luminaries, the Oxbow World Longboard Championship is set to be one of the premier events in the surfing calendar. For more information go to www.oxboworld.com 

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.

Plus d'infos en francais

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 are coming to Anglet
# 2 : Oxbow to host official ASP World Longboard Tour event
# 3 : Oxbow Word Longboard Championship event overview
# 4 : Coming soon  

www.oxboworld.com

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Alexandre Ponot

Longboard - Surfersvillage