Venezuelans Show Up And Blow Up At Surfing T&T International Surf Festival 2010,
Biggest Contest Ever On Island By Nick McGregor; Photos by Nate Adams
TURF: Surfing T&T International
Surf Festival 2010; Beach Break, Toco, Trinidad & Tobago; May 1st-2nd, 2010
ENERGY: Although contest organizers
were salivating over a head-high ESE swell showing up on charts the week before
the contest, conditions ended up looking more like an average waist- to
chest-high day in Florida or Venezuela. But with government support backing the
event and everyone involved hoping for a massive beach festival turnout,
easy-to-access spot Beach Break ended up getting the call, at the minor
detriment of wave quality but to the wild pleasure of the nearly 500 spectators
on hand. Bikini contests, daylong parties, live calypso music, exotic food,
all-night dancing… those perks were just the icing on the cake compared to the
best surfing Trinidad & Tobago has ever seen.
The
weekend’s incessant onshore wind didn’t hold any of the competitors down, though,
as top Sunshine State surfers Aaron Cormican, Jeremy Johnston, Nils Schweizer,
Jesse Heilman, Giorgio Gomez, and Jensen Callaway joined Jamaicans Icah Wilmot,
Ackeam Phillips, Jason Pusey, and Michael Panton, Bajans Jordan Heaselgrave,
Chelsea Tuach, Lewis St. John, Jonathan Reece, and Christopher Clarke, local
Trinis Jason Apparicio, Chris Dennis, Stuart Hutton, Keith Lewis, and Alan
Davis, and South Americans Elohe Ali Alvarez, Rafael Pereira, Francisco
Bellorin, Adriano Da Silva, and Jean Carlos Schaffer to put on the hottest
display of 21st-century waveriding ever seen on the island.
FIRST TIME AT FIGHT CLUB: Many firsts
marked the Surfing T&T International Surf Festival 2010: the biggest prize
purse ($10,000) ever offered in the country; the first time Beach Byte
electronic scoring and ASP World Tour-level judging came to the island; and
also the first Caribbean stop on the ever-growing Western Atlantic Pro Surf
Series, which offered up extra incentive to the Florida boys who surfed last
month’s LandShark Pro, and should also motivate the Caribbean crew to look at
later WAPSS stops in Virginia Beach, New Jersey, and South Florida for a chance
at the overall $10,000 prize.
SLIDE: With a stacked 48-man Open
field that included surfers from all corners of the Western Hemisphere, the
Surfing T&T Surf Festival 2010 featured an international flair that you
just don’t see at most contests outside of the ASP circuit. Adding to that
flavor, Event Director Lee Quesnel enlisted ASP-trained judge Dylan Feindt, along
with other officials from Puerto Rico, Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad &
Tobago, to give all surfers involved a professional and fair shake.
Of course,
with top East Coasters like Cormican, Johnston, Schweizer, and Heilman
journeying south for a piece of the Surfing T&T pie, everyone expected
their names to dominate the heat sheets. But no one anticipated Venezuelan darkhorses
Rafael Pereira and Francisco Bellorin dominating the day’s proceedings, as they
laid waste to JJ and Nils in the semifinals and then held off Heilman’s aerial
attack in the four-man final with a little dynamic above-the-lip action of
their own. The lead flip-flopped between Pereira, Bellorin, Heilman, and
Schaffer throughout the 30-minute heat, but as the tide came in and made the
ramps fewer and farther in between, Pereira held on to the Men’s Open lead while
Bellorin came in 2nd. The two flip-flopped later on in the Junior Pro division,
with Bellorin claiming victory and Pereira acing his own runner-up finish. And
although there weren’t wahines in attendance, Barbados gal Chelsea Tuach did
nail the Women’s Pro division, earning herself $250.
THE PAIN: Collectively, The Pain goes
out to the Sunshine State crew, who surely thought they’d end up in a four-man all-Volusia
County final. Cormican stumbled in the Round of 12, drawing an interference on
sometime-nemesis Jesse Heilman, while Johnston and Schweizer both suffered
painfully close losses in the semifinals — Nils by less than .10 of a
point. Although Heilman was the only North American to advance to the final, he
was surely hoping for more than a 3rd-place finish. Luckily, up-and-coming
Jupiter grom Giorgio Gomez finished 3rd in Junior Pro, while Jensen Callaway
saved the Florida boys by winning the Expression Session and pocketing a cool
$250.
THE MAN: Maybe it’s our fault for
sleeping on Venezuelan heroes Rafael Pereira and Francisco Bellorin —
after all, both have several ALAS (Asociacion Latinoamericana de Surfistas
Profesionales) championships under their belt and regularly top the standings
in every Latin Tour event they enter. But no one could have guessed that the
two would clean up so completely, with Pereira earning $3750 for his efforts
and Bellorin logging $1600 of his own prizemoney. Although they don’t fit
neatly into our East Coast surfing community — and also drew the ire of many fellow competitors with their old-school heat tactics — the Western Atlantic Pro Surf
Series’ $10,000 year-end award should allow these two underdogs to make a
splash on the East Coast circuit this summer and fall.
Ultimately, the Trinidad & Tobago locals were the real Men and Women for welcoming a broad swath of regional pros to their home break, sending everyone off with a pleasant taste of true island life and multi-national camaraderie.
YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB: “This
place is awesome, the waves are good, the people are nice, it’s all tropical, the
water’s warm… I just love it here.” –3rd-place Junior Pro finisher Giorgio Gomez,
stoked to add another stamp to his surfing passport
"The trip down to Trinidad & Tobago was pretty mental... the locals there are some of the nicest people in the world. It's pretty rare to have local surfers welcoming dozens of traveling pros to their normally empty lineup. When it comes to local talent, quality surf, good food, and good vibes, Trinidad is one of the most underrated islands in the Caribbean." –3rd-place Men's Open finisher and top North American finisher Jesse Heilman
"I'd like to thank all the surfers for making the Surfing T&T International Surf Festival a great contest, and I'd also like to give thanks to all the judges for their excellent unbiased judging throughout this event." –Surfing T&T Head Judge Jonathan Torry
"What a weekend! Worth every second we put into it, and everyone from Surfing T&T to Mike Bloom's WAPSS crew should give themselves a pat on the back for making the Surfing T&T International Surf Festival 2010 a great success! The exposure for Trinidad, as well as the feedback we've received from both contestants and foreign officials, has been awesome, and we're all looking forward to next year's event already. The WAPSS tour stop woke up the normally tranquil village of San Souci, bringing in some welcomed revenue to the area and producing two full days of world-class surfing competition, which pitted the region's top talent against the East Coast contingent of aerial assault specialists to show the local spectators and media here in Trinidad a new level of high-performance surfing. The locals will never look at their favorite spot in Toco the same way again — blown and bumpy days will now be labeled as nuggets for sick airs and radical moves just like the Vennies and Florida boys were doing at the contest. The Vennies really cleaned up the competition, overcoming the nightmare of a last-minute flight cancellation, ducking their national championships at the risk of returning to public scorn, and coming out to take home full bragging rights. Not only did the competition raise the bar both here in T&T and for our Caribbean neighbors, but it also allowed our local ISA-certified judges to benefit from the exposure to professional, international-level surfing, while also introducing the local and regional audience to the first of hopefully many more professional surfing events here in Trinidad and within our region. We're stoked with the success of the event and are looking forward to working with WAPSS and the other regional surfing associations to hold even better contests in the future. Looking forward to seeing the whole squad back down here soon!" –Surfing T&T international Surf Festival 2010 Event Director Lee Quesnel
FINAL RESULTS OF THE SURFING T&T INTERNATIONAL
SURF FESTIVAL 2010:
MENS OPEN
1. Rafael
Pereira, $3000
2. Francisco
Bellorin, $1100
3. Jesse
Heilman, $800
4. Jean
Carlo Schaffer, $500
5. Jeremy
Johnston,
Nils Schweizer, $350
7. Colin
Saunders, Chris Dennis, Michael Panton, $250
10. Lewis St.
John, Jordan Heaselgrave, Aaron Cormican, $200
13. Icah
Wilmot, Justin Tang, Jensen Callaway, Jonathan Reece,
Travis Ajay, Elohe Ali
Alvarez, $150
JUNIOR PRO 1. Francisco
Bellorin, $500
2. Rafael
Pereira, $250
3. Giorgio
Gomez, $150
4. Jordan
Heaselgrave, $100
WOMENS PRO 1. Chelsea
Tuach, $250
2. Sarah Cox
EXPRESSION SESSION Best
Maneuver, Jensen Callaway,
$250
Best Wave,
Rafael Pereira, $250
Sweetwater Leaves It Up To The Grom At Oakley Surf Shop Challenge Mid-Atlantic Regional Qualifier; “Uncle” Andrew Gesler Drives Heritage Win Home In Northeast
By Matt Pruett and Nick McGregor;
Photos by Matt Lusk
