2 Countries, 2 Eyres, 2 finals :)

It was a busy weekend for Luis and Keshia.

Luis went to the UK to compete in the BPSA Saltrock Pro Junior event in Croyde and Keshia entered the Moskito Electric Tour in Costa da Caparica, Portugal.

Luis won the event, earning himself a nice trophy and check and Keshia finished 3rd in the Girls Open division.

2airs = 1 win

This weekend was the Portuguese Under 18]s Nationals in Aveiro.
we could not have asked for better conditions for the 1st two days. Waves around 1.5 to 2 meters and beautiful sunshine.
The first heat didnt go too well for Luis but he still went through in 2nd place. two more rounds winning all his heats got him in the final on Sunday.
I think Neptune got excited with the heat and gave us all the waves he had on Friday / Saturday, meaning Sunday was super small but perfect clean conditions.
Luis started off well in his final, getting the first wave in with a low score of 3.5. The other competitors got a wave each after that with scores around 5 points.
Luis knew he had to change his plan as he was not getting the scores he needed ( the big sets were just not there ) so he decided to go for AIR ! And that was it, two double grabs, and one sick wave got him a total score of 14.00 points.
Excellent weekend, amazing performance.

3 Eyres, 3 O's

Congratulations to Keshia and Klaus, who now join Luis into the Oakley family.

Thanks to everyone at Oakley that supports them.

EURO JUNIOR FINAL DAY

The Euro Juniors final day was filled with controversy.
Luis was in the repercharge final with a great chance to make it to the top 4. Once again, strange judging decisions meant that they were giving bigger scores for 1 turn than they did for 3...go figure.
Luis ended up finishing 3rd in that heat and giving him 5th in Europe.
Zak Lawton made the team proud finishing a great 2nd place in the Longboarding division.
After a full morning of what we thought was enough excitement and nerves, the Under 18's final got the whole beach standing still for the last 30 seconds and then almost 2 hours for a final decision.
The portuguese rider was winning, the french was in 4th needing a 6.15 for 1st, after a long battle to get a wave due to the blocking from the other surfer, Dimitri managed to get a left, went full speed ahead and did an air reverse. The crowds went wild some for good and some for bad reasons. The judges didnt know what to do as they landing was not 100% clean.
Complaints from the Portuguese for scores and the french for position came to a decision of the head judges. Dimitri got 6.33 and won the heat.
Well, needless to say that the French were ecstatic while the Portuguese went into a full on argument match waiting for the judges at the bottom of the stairs.
There are many opinions and the video is all over the internet. Each one to decide who won....

The podium presentation started at 1500 and non of the portuguese that made it to the final, went to the podium, that just shows totally bad sportsmanship and as they say, what comes around goes around.
I call it Karma

At the end of 10 long days, the English Team made everyone proud, claiming 4th place overall.
Congratulations to France and thanks to everyone that took part in the event, organizers, judges, teams, etc etc.

Till next time

WHAT A DAY :)

Today could not have been better, apart from the weather of course, but that is something we are used to by now here in Viana :)
Luis has his first heat at 1030 this morning against Josh Piper, Javier Ascanio from Spain and Tom Good from Wales. Scoring a total of 13.86 secured his place with Josh Piper coming in second.

Second heat and a big one it was, as only the top 2 would advance to the repercharge final and therefor earning top 6 place in Europe. Luis has Kieran Boulard from France, Ze Ferreira from Portugal and Josh Piper.
With a combined score of 13.66, Luis once again secured 1st place leaving Ze in second and Josh and Kieran and making it the end of their European Juniors.

Tomorrow, the forecast is showing an increase in swell, so we should expect to see some exciting performances from the Top 6 in Europe.

The big final will take place on Sunday.

Lay Day for Luis at the EUROS

Luis did not go in today as predicted but we had good results from Ed and Dale in the Under 14's, both making it to the next round.
Tomorrow the swell has changed and looks like we will have a full day of competition with all age groups going in.
Luis is expected to go in at 1030 and that will be for the main semi final.
Fingers crossed, he will go through to the main final, otherwise it will be another chance in the repercharge semi final. Good luck to everyone.
A big day tomorrow so an early night tonight :)

Good day at the beach :)

Luis was in Heat 4 today of the Under 18's main event against 1 Portuguese, one Spanish and 1 German.
He started off super strong with a 7 point ride and then getting two more high scores, meaning he won his heat, leaving Kosme in 2nd and the other two going into the repercharge round.
Luis is now in the semi finals of the main event against 2 French and 1 Portuguese.
Tomorrow, there is no contest for Luis so we will have to wait to see what the rest of the event brings us. Thursday looks like a super small day so, probably a lay day for everyone.
Will be good to have a rest tomorrow and re gain energy for the rest of the event.
Luis got the 2nd highest combined scores for the Under 18's.
Way to go Luis :) Great day at the office.

2nd day at the EURO JUNIORS

Today it was another cloudy, cold and rainy day but at least we had reasonable waves with not too much wind, which actually turned glassy at the end of the day.

Luis was in Heat 6 of the Under 18's and advanced to the next round. He will be going in tomorrow at 0930 so will update at the end of the day again.

We also had the Girls final as they have to go tomorrow to France to compete in a Pro Junior and WQS event.
Two Portuguese, one Spanish and one French made it to the final but the big winner was Maud Lecard.
Congratulations to them all :)

Parade Day at the EURO JUNIORS

It was a wet parade day at the Euro Juniors.
The started with beautiful sunshine but the clouds came in and the rain came down.
All 13 teams paraded down the main street in Viana to the square where the sand and water from all participating countries were mixed. Some could say that we were blessed for the event, lets pray we are :)

EUROPEAN JUNIORS

The European Juniors is under way.

We have arrived in Viana do Castelo, 400km North of Lisbon and just on the spanish boarder.

The waves and weather have not been on our side as its pretty small and rainy, The forecast looks a bit more promising for the next couple of days so lets see what happens.

There are 13 teams competing for one title and all are super keep to win it. One 14 year old german kid, flew in from Ecuador, he was traveling via Madrid to Porto, when he got to the check in for his flight in Madrid, they told him he could not board the plane as he did not have an authorization from his parents.....so, explain thing to me, he can fly from Ecuador to Madrid but not from Madrid to Porto ? So, what does a kid of 14 do in a case like this, he got himself to the bus station and after 8 grueling he arrived in Viana. He deserves a medal just for that :) At ;east he arrived safe and sound !

Anyway, parade is at 1600, we will post photos and more info and will update you on results. 

Contest is on tomorrow starting at 0900 :)

Videos of the Portuguese Nationals 2010

After much searching, we have found the videos of the 2 events that have taken place so far this year in Portugal.

http://vimeo.com/10219442

http://vimeo.com/11233837

Check them out on this two links :)