ASP WLT Mens event
Akabane Beach, Tahara Aichi Japan
28 July - 2 August 2009

Live Coverage  |  Results/Photos/Videos etc

Top Seeds Start Strong in Opening Round of Yumeya presents Oxbow WLT at Tahara     >  en francais ci-dessous

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 29 July, 2009 : - - Tahara, Japan -- After a long holding period throughout the morning, the opening round of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Longboard Tour (WLT) Yumeya presents Oxbow WLT at Tahara completed 10 heats in the one-to-two foot (.5 mete) surf at Long Beach and saw the event’s top seeds display impressive performances despite the trying conditions.

The Yumeya presents Oxbow WLT at Tahara is the first of two events on the ASP WLT on the 2009 schedule, with the second ASP WLT event, also sponsored by Oxbow, scheduled in the Maldives at Pasta Point in October. The two-event series will crown the undisputed ASP World Longboarding Champion at year’s end.

Antoine Delpero (FRA), 24, who finished in second on the ASP WLT last year, had a strong start to his 2009 ASP World Title campaign when he convincingly smashed the day’s highest single wave score of a 9.50 out of 10 en route to logging the day’s highest heat total of 17.75 out of 20.

“I think I was lucky because the waves were better in my heat,” Delpero said. “There were two sets that were bigger than the others in any other heat and I had a few good waves and got some good scores.” The young Frenchman has been training hard over the last few months and is hungry to claim his first ASP World Longboard Title.

“I’m here and I’m going to do my best and we’ll see what happens,” Delpero said. “I’ve been training for the last two-andhalf months to build up my legs. It’s hard to move a longboard and I was very thin. I’m still thin, but now I have a bit more power.”

Bonga Perkins : photo courtesy Oxbow

Reigning ASP World Longboard Champion Bonga Perkins (HAW), 36, was another top seed to put on a show in his opening Yumeya presents Oxbow WLT heat. Despite spending the day on the beach waiting for the official call for the day’s action, Perkins remained loose and was in devastating form in his heat.

‘It was good to get that heat under my belt after all of the waiting,” Perkins said. “After waiting all day it becomes more psychological and you’re tired. It takes a lot out of you and our heat hardly had any waves.”  The Hawaiian veteran is excited to return to competition after claiming his second ASP World Longboard title, but feels the pressure of this year’s ASP title is more on his up-and-coming competition than him.

“I’m excited to be back this year and excited to be back at every event,” Perkins said. “I don’t think there’s as much pressure on me as everyone thinks. I have two titles under my belt and a lot of these guys are trying to win one. The young kids are trying to make their mark on the whole longboard scene, so if anything it’s on them, for me, I’m just enjoying cheering on my friends.”

Although Perkins is not feeling pressure to repeat his title, he has made his goals clear that he is out to claim this year’s ASP WLT Title as well.

“I still get pumped up every time I’m in a heat and that’s why I’m here,” Perkins said. “I’m trying to make it two in a row, but there are a lot of obstacles and I’m just taking it one heat at a time. I’ll stick to that at the moment.”

Carlos Bahia : photo courtesy Oxbow

Matthew Moir (ZAF) was another top seed to take out his heat win today. The South African surfer capitalized on two left handers to earn the top scores needed to claim his heat victory and his advancement faces him off against de Soto in the following round.

“I was pretty nervous in the car park,” Moir said. “I had caught a couple of waves before the heat and the lefts started coming through for me. It’s a bit of a luck out there and if you get the right one you’ll get the score.”  The veteran campaigner has made a miraculous recovery from a tragic stoke suffered in January, and the fact that Moir is competing in this event is an accomplishment despite his final result.

“In January, it just happened,” Moir said. “The doctors said it was just a freak accident and I had a blood clot in my brain that just took my whole right side out. I had to do a lot of physiotherapy and rehab and within two months into it. I thought I’d need a wildcard, but I ended up getting in and I’m just stoked to be here. Surfing is what actually got me back into everything, so I’m happy to be back.”

The Yumeya presents Oxbow WLT at Tahara will run from July 28 through August 2, 2009

Check then Live Coverage 

Yumeya presents Oxbow WLT at Tahara Round 1 Results:
Heat 1: Eduardo Bage (BRA) 14.25 def. Dane Pioli (AUS) 7.15
Heat 2: Amaro Matos (BRA) 10.00 vs. Jeremias da Silva (BRA) 8.50
Heat 3: Duane de Soto (HAW) 12.40 vs. Kai Sallas (HAW) 10.25
Heat 4: Matthew Moir (ZAF) 11.35 vs. Remi Arauzo (FRA) 8.00
Heat 5: Ned Snow (HAW) 14.25 vs. David Kinoshita (JPN) 6.80
Heat 6: Keegan Edwards (HAW) 12.30 def. Picaruta Salazar (BRA) 11.55
Heat 7: Carlos Bahia (BRA) 14.25 vs. Josh Constable (AUS) 8.20
Heat 8: Bonga Perkins (HAW) 14.35 vs. Taiki Mori (USA) 9.50
Heat 9: Antione Delpero (FRA) 17.75 vs. Nobuhiru Ogashira (JPN) 9.50

Bonga Perkins and company : photo courtesy Oxbow

Sam Bleakley's Oxbow World Longboard Tour by Yumeya blog

The sky hung like a dripping cloth over a sodden sea this morning in Tahara, Japan. Cantaloupe-melon coloured two foot waves rolled in at Long Beach with an onshore breeze. They didn’t burst open like ripe fruit, but were soft and slow moving. Contests may have their detractors, but those involved meet the best in their field, and this pushes things to new levels. Whatever the conditions, everybody must meet the challenge and that is a great motivator. The ancient Greeks developed competitive sport as a complex cultural and ritual occasion, birthing the Olympic Games.

Sport was a way of saying something through the body, a form of persuasion or rhetoric in front of an audience, an aesthetic event, a display of beauty. In developing what the ancient Greeks called arçte, ‘virtuosity,’ you engaged in a dramatic performance. Surfing’s total reliance on unpredictable ocean conditions has prevented it from becoming an Olympic sport.

But even in poor waves, world-class surfers always put on a great aesthetic display. With no Pacific typhoons forecast for the week, the event has had to make the most of the fickle conditions, and 10 of the first round of 16 man-on-man heats has been completed. The rules changed for this year to provide knockout from the outset, in Olympian style.

The weather cleared as heat 1 got into its stride on the pushing tide. Brazilian Eduardo Bage created rhythm from the chop, gliding through noserides and turns with top-drawer brilliance, to advance straight into the top 16. Countrymen Amaro Matos and Carlos Bahia echoed Eduardo’s success.

Hawaiian all-stars Duane deSoto, Ned Snow, Keegan Edwards and reigning Oxbow WLT champion Bonga Perkins set off fireworks as they won their respective heats. They ran the small waves ragged with 7 point plus rides, offering great timing and total focus on the present. But there have to be losers, and outstanding surfers such as Josh Constable, Dane Pioli and Kai Sallas lost out on a tough day. South African Matthew Moir won by generating impossibly explosive turns and then delicately summarising with hang fives.

The UK’s Ben Skinner turned the off-key sets into rock music, improvising powerful pedal-key runs on disappearing and reappearing faces. France’s Oxbow WLT number 2, Antoine Delpero, signalled his intent by racking up big scores on chopped-up waves, showing how rhythm can be generated from quiet waters. Greasy green sections walled up and Antoine slid all over them in creating instant artworks, adopting great posture through long hang tens and flexing low into outlandish re-entries.

The outcome was the day’s top wave scores - 8.25 and a 9.5. While the conditions were not the best, today’s winners tuned into to every expressive drop of water, and found moments of grace and power by linking manoeuvres. Maybe the secret to winning is to be charged with desire and live the moment with no excuses. Longboarding will always be full of surprises and the best improvisers usually come out on top.

www.oxbowpro.com
www.aspworldtour.com

francais

L’élite mondiale du longboard se jette à l’eau, Le français Antoine Delpero, numéro 2 mondial, démarre fort.

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 29 July, 2009 : - - Tahara, Japan -- Ce mercredi 29 juillet 2009 s’ouvre à Tahara, au Japon, le Oxbow World Longboard Tour 2009. Lors de cette première journée, 9 duels en un contre un ont animé les plages japonaises.

Antoine Delpero a marqué les esprits lors de cette première épreuve. Second au classement final du Oxbow WLT de l’année dernière, il a attaqué la compétition en frappant un grand coup avec le meilleur score de la journée, 17,50 sur 20. Dès la première épreuve, le jeune français de l’équipe Oxbow impose son leadership. La tête sur les épaules, il relativise son score : « Je pense que j’ai été chanceux car j’ai eu les meilleures vagues pendant mes séries ». Le jeune français s’est entraîné très dur cette année pour remporter le Oxbow WLT 2009.

Bonga Perkins, tenant en titre du Oxbow WLT 2009, a été à la hauteur de sa réputation avec un score de 14,35 sur 20. Avec une forme olympique, le vétéran Hawaiien a  montré qu’il reste présent dans la course au titre. Malgré un temps défavorable, les fans de longboard et de surf ont répondu présent sur le spot de Tahara. En  retour, les surfeurs ont offert au public un spectacle éblouissant.

Résultats:
Heat 1: Eduardo Bage (BRA) 14.25 vs. Dane Pioli (AUS) 7.15
Heat 2: Amaro Matos (BRA) 10.00 vs. Jeremias da Silva (BRA) 8.50
Heat 3: Duane de Soto (HAW) 12.40 vs. Kai Sallas (HAW) 10.25
Heat 4: Matthew Moir (ZAF) 11.35 vs. Remi Arauzo (FRA) 8.00
Heat 5: Ned Snow (HAW) 14.25 vs. David Kinoshita (JPN) 6.80
Heat 6: Keegan Edwards (HAW) 12.30 def. Picaruta Salazar (BRA) 11.55
Heat 7: Carlos Bahia (BRA) 14.25 vs. Josh Constable (AUS) 8.20
Heat 8: Bonga Perkins (HAW) 14.35 vs. Taiki Mori (USA) 9.50
Heat 9: Antoine Delpero (FRA) 17.75 vs. Nobuhiru Ogashira (JPN) 9.50

Une saison 2009 à suivre sur oxboworld.com

À propos d’Oxbow : Depuis sa création en 1985, Oxbow détient une place à part dans l’univers des sports de glisse. Pionnière d’un positionnement sport-mode, ses fondamentaux reposent sur l’ouverture humaine et sportive, sur l’exploration de nouveaux territoires de style et de glisse, sur la créativité et sur l’innovation.

www.oxbowpro.com
www.aspworldtour.com

Previous reports:
# 1 : Oxbow World Longboard Tour to hit Japan and Maldives
# 2 : L’élite mondiale du Longboard rendez-vous du Oxbow
# 3 : Depuis près de 20 ans, Oxbow soutient les plus riders 
# 4 : Japanese trials go off for Oxbow World Longboard Tour 
# 5 : Lay day at Yumeya presents Oxbow WLT Tahara Japan

www.oxbowpro.com
www.oxboworld.com
www.aspworldtour.com

What's your take on this?
Post your thoughts: SV Forum

New Survey: Map Surfing’s future 

New! B2B News ASBE-Surf   |  Receive News-Alerts

  Updated & Revised European Surforecasts
  More European surfing news available here

Claire Fuentes / Sam Bleakley

Longboard - Surfersvillage