It all started with a very early morning wake up call ( 4am ) to go to the airport and fly to Bordeaux. Royan is a new event on this years ASP Pro Junior calendar and everyone was excited to see what this spot had to offer.
A direct flight always helps and makes the trip hassle free, oh so we think. Arriving in Bordeaux and going to Lacanau was plain sailing, leaving Lacanau 2 days later to go to the event, was not so easy. Keshia left with Team Oakley without any problems but Luis was almost considering walking as, the car that was meant to take him to Royan, broke down just before picking him up, there were no taxis and everyone he knew had already left that morning. Anyway, like anything, things work out for the best and eventually he was safe and sound at the O'Neill base :)
Thursday was the first day with smallish waves but pretty good conditions, sunny and little wind. They put the girls in all the way to the 1/4 finals and Keshia was a true champion fighting through every heat. In the 1/4 final unfortunately, she did not find the back up wave she needed to move up to the semis but overall an excellent 9th place qualifying.
So it was time for Keshia to relax and give her support to Luis.
Luis was in heat 10 of round 3 and as they stopped the contest, on Friday by heat 8, it meant it was another day for Luis to free surf, get used to the new location and be ready for a marathon run on Saturday and Sunday.
Condition were not the same ones as the ones we were greeted on the first day ( I think the locals just planned a nice welcome weather and waves for us on Thursday )
Windy, big and messy was what stayed with us for the final two days which made surfing harder for everyone and set everyone a nice challenge.
Luis scored high and sailed through his heats on Saturday all the way to semi finals, 3 heats , amazing high scores and lots of fun.
His semi final was, in his words, one of the best heats in his life. With 25 minutes gone in the heat and no scores, no one knew what they needed to advance, then they announced that Luis needed an 8 for 2nd......! Panic on the beach by Keshia, Luis seemed to have it under control and saving the best till last scoring in the last 5 minutes, a 7.5 and a 6.80 guaranteeing him a place in the semi final.
A good rest on Saturday night, warm bath and a some healthy food seemed to do the trip for Sunday morning, which again awoke with grey skies, rain and howling winds.
Semi final was another exciting heat with very close scores between 1st and 3rd but Luis made sure he was the one advancing to the big final :)
An amazing result for Luis getting 3 of the top 10 heat wave scores and 4 out of 10 best wave scores.
With that, Luis has moved up to be ranked nr 9 in the Pro Junior season.
Next event brings us down to a well known site to everyone, Sopelana, which will take place during the last weekend in July.
A good 10 days break for both of them but, no time to rest ( although I think Luis will need some sleep tonight after the celebrations that went down last night )
Tomorrow is another day, the event is over and its back to work !
Thanks everyone so much for all the support and its great to see that hard work pays off !
Until next one, here are some amazing shots from the event. Thanks ASP Europe, Royan Glisse and Xavier Renaudin for the shots and coverage.
Sooruz Royan Atlantique Pro Junior
