One weekend , two contests :) Happy Easter

Kids have been busy over the last few weeks.

The Easter weekend was no different.

The second part of the Open took place in Carcavelos on Thursday, with pretty pathetic waves of less than 0.5m and very inconsistent. 

The set up was all there and I guess they had to run it. Luis was one that got the worst of the conditions and although he scored high compared to the other heats, he still did not manage to get through.

Keshia was lucky because she went in at the end of the day, caught the low tide and won her heat. 

Friday was pretty much the same or even worst in Carcavelos, if thats possible, so the event was moved to Guincho. As it was so late, they just finished one of the boys rounds and left the rest for the final day.

Keshia did not manage to repeat her result in the last contest and finished her run in the semis. Still a good result with 4 more events to go.

She is currently ranked 2nd in the open with only 80 points difference and Luis is in the top 10. Next event is in Porto at the end of May. 

Luis will be going there straight from a European Pro Junior contest in Las Palmas and Keshia will go form Porto to Aveiro for another girls Open event and then the Junior Nationals.

On Sunday, Kehsia had the Girls Open Sea Land Surf Fest in Santa Cruz. It was an almost all Ericeira Girls final.

Keshia got second in this one ( although her best wave was caught just after the buzzer.....and would have put her in 1st place ) 

A good weekend for all, not many Easter Eggs but lots of fun :)

Some photos below of both events.

Keshia wins Under 18's Nationals

Another weekend, another contests.

This time it was the 2nd leg of the Portuguese Nationals. 

Held at the famous Praia do Norte in Nazare, where Garrett McNamara surfed the biggest wave surfed yet, we were all hoping that it was going to have some size but not to Garrett's standards.

We were welcomed by perfect 1.5m waves, sunny conditions and light winds.

Keshia entered both Under 18's boys and girls.

The Under 18's boys, although it's mainly done for heat practice, it's a good way for Keshia to measure her surfing level and she managed to destroy quite a few boys egos by beating then and moving up all the way to the semis and finishing in a very respectable 7th place :)

In the girls, Keshia showed her fitness level and won her final heat with a combined score of 11.75 , leaving the rest of the girls needing a combination.

So another great weekend with perfect results.

Thank you Nazare and everyone involved in the organization of the event :)

Check the link below for the video of the event !

Event video

Ericeira Regional contest

Luis and Keshia entered the Ericeira regional contest last weekend.

The event was held at Praia do Sul for the first day and Ribeira D'Ilhas on the last day.

Saturday was huge with massive waves. The girls handled it perfectly and gave everyone a lesson on how to surf big waves. Keshia has two great wave, one 6.5 and one 7.

Luis went in on Sunday and won every heat until the final and also got the highest wave of the event which was a 9.2

So another great weekend with great result :)

Keshia wins Open Title

Keshia has won the Open Title at Ribeira D'Ilhas, making her the youngest surfer to ever win a Open Title event.

Video and press release below ( sorry that one is in Portuguese )

The next event will be in Carcavelos, during the first weekend in April !

Event video

Surftotal video of the event on TV :)

Luis put in a great performance in the mens category, claiming a 9th place overall.

Thanks to everyone that organized the events, all the supporters and sponsors.

There are a total of 4 events in a row for Keshia, two for Klaus and 2 for Luis so, many more posts to come and hopefully great results.

Credit: Rui Jorge Oliveira 

Credit: Rui Jorge Oliveira

Credit: Pedro Mestre

Credit: Pedro Mestre

Luis' January video

Check out what Luis has been doing during January

Link below:

http://vimeo.com/36111932

December... a month for mags :)

Luis and Keshia hit it big time in December with both getting double pages in two different magazines.

Luis got a double page Flash Interview in Surf Portugal whilst Keshia got a double page sequence taken at Back Door in Portugal, in ONFIRE.

Check out the shots below

Luis November video update

Here is Luis' view on November surfing :)

Thanks everyone

November surfing

Keshia wins Ericeira Surf Contest

The 3rd event of the Ericeira surf contest was on this weekend after many attempts.

Great waves with a solid 1.5m on Saturday and slightly smaller on Sunday.

Both Keshia and Klaus only went in on Sunday sailing through their heats to the final but with slightly different results.

Keshia found the winning wave at the start of her heat scoring an 8.5 and getting a back up of 4.8 points and she seemed to have taken them all, leaving none for Klaus as he did not find good potential scoring waves and ending 4th overall.

An excellent weekend with great waves, weather and friends.

Thanks to everyone from the organization to the club, sponsors etc :)

Will see you all in a couple of weeks time for the final event and the crowing of the Ericeira Surf Champ :)

Keep you posted x

Keshia's last contest on TV

Check out the link below with the highlights of Keshia's contest, where she won the event.

5ª-etapa-circuito-surf-esperanças-sao torpes

A day in the life of Klaus

Check out the latest video of Klaus, doing what he knows best, surfing and skating :)

A day in Klaus' world

Keshia is Under 18's Girls National Champion

This weekend was the last event of the National Championships.

Keshia has already a pretty strong lead over the other competitors, having won 3 events out of 5, not having been present on one of them due to a European Pro Junior event and 4th in the first event of the year.

As this one was the final, the points where higher and only available to the top 16 in the final ranking.

The waves were solid 2.5 meters on Saturday and the girls had trouble getting back to the outside, once they caught the first wave.
Keshia came out strong with a solid score and therefor guaranteeing a place in the semi finals.

Sunday was a lot more mellow although that made the wave slow and fat and pretty inconsistent.
Even so, Keshia did the job and won her semi and a spot in the final.
With that alone, she was crowned National Under 18' Champion.

With 3 more years in the same category, I am sure we will be seeing a few more titles :)

Thanks to everyone that was there, the organizers of the tour, the federation and all the sponsors.

See you next year :)

Luis free surf session in SURF TOTAL

Just a day after coming back form the UK Pro Junior and with a title and a couple of trophies in his pocket, it was time to score some great waves back in Ericeira.

Reef was the place to go in the morning and the photographers were there to report the moment.

Check out the link below to the site where the shots have just been published :)

Free Surf Session at Reef

Luis is Pro Junior Champion

Last weekend was the final of a series of 8 events for the UK Pro Surf Tour.
Not only did Luis win the final event in Newquay but he also claimed the UK PRO JUNIOR CHAMPION title and was named  Most Promising Junior for 2011.

At the Gala dinner, Luis was called when they announced the Most Promising Junior title....he was speechless, totally took him by surprise. He is not one for big speeches so, having to do 2...was a major thing :)

A great way to finish the year for Luis and big congratulations to him.

Thank you to all the sponsors and organizes of the Tour for making it happen :)

The 8th annual UK Surf Awards in association with UK Pro Surf Tour took place last Sunday (13th November), at Esplanade Hotel, in Newquay. These awards celebrated British surfing in 2011, the winners following categories were:

1. Rookie of the Year 2011 – Winner Taz Knight (Croyde)
2. Wavelength Most Promising Junior 2011 – Winner Luis Eyre (Manchester)
3. Carve Aerialist 2010 Winner – Winner Reubyn Ash (Bude)
4. Surf Girl Most Up and Coming Female Surfer 2010 – Winner Lucy Campbell (Woolacombe)
5. Most Improved Surfer 2011 – Winner Stuart Campbell (Woolacombe)
6. Manoeuvre of the Year 2011 – Winner Micah Lester (Aus / Newquay)
7. English Surfing Federation Best Grommet Award: Winner Angus Scotney (Newquay)
8. Best UK Prospect Award 2011 – Winner Liam Murray Strout (Port Issac)
9. Skinners Surfers Choice Award 2011 – Winner Russell Winter (Newquay)
10.UKPSA Services to the Sport of Surfing 2011 – Winner Matt Knight (Croyde)
11.Ignite UKPSA Best Surf Judge 2011 – Winner Mike Durkin (Newquay)
12.Christian Surfers Sportsman Award 2011 – Winner Micah Lester (Aus)
13.Most Inspirational Surfer 2011 – Winner Russell Winter (Newquay)
14.British Championships Ambassador Award: Winner Ben Skinner (St Agnes)
15.Tiger 24 Brand Award – Winner (Commercial Brand supported surfing in the UK) Winner Relentless

UKPSA Trophies:

UK PST Under 12 Open Champion 2011 – Winner: Liam Murray Strout (Port Issac)

UK PST Marley Mellow Mood Trophy for Under 16 Girls Champion 2011 – Winner: Lucy Campbell (Woolacombe)

UK PST Marley Mellow Mood Trophy for Under 16 Boys Champion 2011 – Winner: Will Davey (Lanza)

UKPST Groundswell Trophy for Pro Junior Champion 2011 – Winner: Luis Eyre (Manchester)

UKPST Nalu Beads Trophy for Women’s Champion 2011– Winner: Hannah Harding (South Devon)

Relentless Super Series Champion 2011: Winner: Russell Winter (Newquay)

UK PST Open Champion 2011- Winner: Russell Winter (Newquay)

The event was a great success and rewarded surfers from across the UK for their achievements in 2011. It included images and videos highlighting the highs and lows of the year and culminated in the Marley Mellow Mood After Party.

Keshia is Under 18's regional champion

This weekend was the last last of the Samadi Regional Championships, which took place in Costa da Caparica.
The forecast was not looking too promising as the swell was increasing considerably from Saturday morning.
The check-in was at 08:00 and when we got there, it looked tiny....hmmmmm is this right?
Contests was on the way at 9am and so was the swell.
By the time Keshia entered her first heat, the waves were around 1.5m and building.
It was a great event and the contest director decided to finish on Saturday due to the ever increasing swell. Keshias final was held in easy 2 meter waves but she managed to drop the biggest waves and pull some strong maneuvers on them, solidifying her scores and making it 4 out of 4 wins and therefor becoming Under 18's Regional Champion for 2011.

One more tittle wrapped up for the year, one more to come on November 20th.

Thans for everything as always and we will keep posting updated :)

Keshia preparing for her heat :)

Increasing swell

Contest podium

Regional title podium

Newcastle Pro Junior

Last weekend, Luis ventured out to the East side.... to compete in the Newcastle Pro Junior and Open event.

Friday was an amazing day and totally unexpected as the waves were shoulder high with good offshore winds. Perfect a frames were forming on the outside.....

Uauuuu one contest with amazing waves, was that going to be possible ? As it was the first time there for Luis, it was all new and exciting. Well, as everything, it did not last long. Two great surfs on friday and he was ready for the event to run Saturday and Sunday. It was not meant to be, Saturday started off nice with clean waves and shoulder high, the organizers run as much as possible so to finish the event in 1 day.....

That was a mission...two categories in one day and all the way to the final in both :) For sure got his moneys worth in heats surfed.

Anyway, at least the end result was what he went there for. 1 win in the Pro Junior and 3rd in the Open :)

Still waiting for the rankings to be updated. One more contest might be confirmed by the end of the year and then it will be the end of the season :)

Will update you soon! Thanks for your support as always.

2 days and 2 podiums for Keshia

The Circus is coming to Peniche for the last leg of the European tour so what better way to get everyone up to speed with everything than throw in the guinea pigs and check judges, sound, score boards etc etc.

Keshia had two events in two day. The first one was the final Pro Junior event, for girls under 21 years of age. This one was due to take place in July, when Keshia was away competing in San Sebastian so, she had not entered it. The organization said that she had to be there early to be the first alternate and try and get a spot. Well, the gods were with her and she was in. The waves were pretty small and not easy for girls to surf as it was fast and closing out but Keshia fought all the way to the final, scoring the highest of all the heats in her semi, with a total combination of 9.50. The final was a fight for first and second all the way to the end, Keshia did not manage to find the wave she needed and came out claiming second spot, which means, Keshia is Pro Junior Vice Champion for 2011 :)

The following day saw the best 16's and under in Europe, compete for the title of Rip Curld European Champ. Keshia, once again was away for one of the comps in Portugal and ended up getting her entry ticket for the event, in the UK. There were girls from Spain, Portugal, UK and France. The semi final was almost a disaster for Keshia, waves were hard to get and scores were low, meaning that anyone could have taken those two spots to advance to the final but keshia proved to everyone that she wanted it more than the rest, going for pretty much every wave that came her way. It paid off at the end and the final was next.

One girl from each country made the final but only Keshia and Leticia ( from Spain ) were in the hunt for the title, exchanging places all the way till the countdown. Once again, Keshia came out with 2nd spot.

Two vice champion titles in two days, more trophies and some great experiences and lessons learnt.

Thanks to everyone that was there, and all of you who support her.

A very nice write up on the ripcurl site, shows that she is one to watch :)

Grom Search European Final 2011