European Pro Juniors

The European Pro Juniors have come to an end, it seems like we wait for ages to get these events under way and once they start, its over in no time at all, specially this year as, at the start of the season they were expecting to have 8 events and then only 4 got confirmed.

Spain had 3 contests with the first one in Sopelana, then San Sebastian and the last one in Las Palmas.
The final event was held in Lacanau.
It was a shame for most of the days as the swell didn't really help and only provided the competitors with pretty small waves.

Luis had average results in 3 events but found his path in the Pro Junior in Las Palmas, claiming a 9th place and some nice green dollars.
As Las Palmas was a 2 star event, it gave Luis a good finish to the season and placing his ranking in the Top 20 for next year Pro Juniors.

Below are some shots of Luis during the various events, that appeared on the ASP site.

Grom Search and Portuguese Nationals

Its been an eventful couple of weeks.

Keshia has been busy doing the Grom search events ( she came 2nd in her last one at Ribeira D'Ilhas ) and the next one was during the Ocean Spirit Festival in Santa Cruz. It was a full day with all age groups competing, excellent waves and plenty of sun.
Keshia managed to do it again and came 2nd which means, another set of FCS fins....funny when she is sponsored by Futures and the event was a Rip Curl contest......and a place in the European Finals which will this year will be in Peniche during the WCT event, in October.

Last weekend was another round of the Portuguese Nationals, this time in Viana do Castelo. Blessed with amazing weather and glassy waves on the first couple of days, Keshia found her rhythm scoring second highest in the whole event. The final day, the swell picked up and the waves were bumpy making it harder to be in the right spot. After much searching Keshia only managed to get a couple of average waves, placing her in 3rd place.
The trophies where made by an association of mentally handicapped children from Viana and they are the traditional symbol of that area, called Cabecudos meaning ...big head!! Pretty original and certainly unique.

Next stop for the Nationals will be Sines at the end of September :)

Magazine time for the Eyre's

SURF PORTUGAL has just come out with Luis and Klaus making an appearance :)
Klaus talking about what he's going to do when he is older......maybe its best if you don't understand Portuguese on some of his answers...hahah.
Luis on a man on man battle with Xico....and totally owning the results......but note that they were both full of knowledge when it came for Surfing but anything to do with History was totally out of their league ( at least Luis has the excuse that he did not study Portuguese History )

Also NA ONDA BAR at Foz do Lizandro ( Ericeira ) have just put up a massive poster of Luis. Guess he will not be walking in the bar from now on......!

All in all a good show for the Eyre's

3 EYRES, 3 FINALS

Two weekends ago we had the first part of the Ericeira Surf Club contest with all age categories and amazing prizes...there are trips to Maldives, surf boards, street cruisers, skate boards, clothes, restaurant vouchers and much more.
The 1st weekend was held at Praia do Norte with huge waves, allowing only the open and Under 18's to go in and show us how to surf those unseasonable swells.
Luis entered both Under 18's and Open. The open was first and he sailed through all the way to the semis, finishing his run in 3rd place.
The Under 18's went in on Sunday and due to the increase swell, they had their work cut out with long paddles.
Luis scored two high 7's, leaving the second place in combination. Claiming first place, gets him closer to winning some great goodies at the end of the season.
This weekend it was Keshia and Klaus' turn to shine and so they did. They decided to put all age groups together for the girls and Keshia come out a clear winner on that one, specially when they moved to contest to Ribeira, it's home to her now:)
Klaus has a great semi final with a 7.5 and a 6 but, did not manage to find the strength to carry it through to the final to win 1st place, but a 2nd is nothing to complain about !

There were also Masters, Retro and Jurasics, making it a super fun and full event with BBQ and drinks at the end of the day :)
A great event, lots of friends around and fun for everyone. Next one will be the first week in September at Ribeira.

One in the final, one in the hospital :)

This weekend was the RIP CURL Grom Search in Ribeira D'Ilhas, Ericeira.
It started off great with some excellent waves.
The set up was really cool as the event was sponsored by SUMOL and they had a whole play ground for the kids, at the car park in Ribeira.

Klaus of course was one of the first ones to try the trampoline and show everyone " how not to do it " as he went down, an older and heavier kid came up, hitting him in the nose with his knee. Blood poured out from everywhere and eventually the paramedics decided it was better to take him to Hospital to have him X' rayed.
After many hours and tears, it was good news for his nose as it just had to be put back and was not broken, but more tears were to come when he heard he had missed his heat at the Grom Search. As the nurse said, he will have many more heats but noses, he only has one :)

As for Keshia, it was plain sailing for her as she made it to the Final of the Under 16's Girls.
With some excellent choice of waves and variation in her maneuvers, she claimed second place, earning herself a spot in the European Finals :)

This one came with two :)

Luis has just returned from doing the GUL NIGHT SURF, in Croyde, UK.
It's a novelty event as surfers go out to prove what they are made out of, in the middle of the night!        The beach is flood lit and the contest went on until 12:30 AM.
There were bands playing, BBQ's, fireworks and of course, lots of surfing.

The contest started on Friday with the Open category and as Luis had no seeding from 2009, he went in Round One and making it all the way to the final, seeing big names like Russel Winter, Josh Ash and Sam Lamiroy getting knocked out in the earlier rounds.

The final 4 were Luis, Gordon Fontaine, Ruben Ash and Johnny Frier. It was a close call to start with, as all surfers has a very small difference between them. Gordon seemed to adjust to the dark conditions better than the rest, getting two excellent waves and putting him conformably in the lead.
Luis was in 4th place with only a minute to go but managed to get a solid wave to grant him 3rd place.

After a long day...and night, with a few hours sleep, it was time for the Pro Junior event on Saturday and Sunday.

Again, there were some surfers that you would normally expect to see in the final, specially being in Newquay and so many locals entering the contest but at the end, only one made the final and the rest were all "outsiders ", including Luis.

This has put Luis in a great position in the rankings as he is the only competitor to have made both finals in the Pro Junior claiming a 1st and 3rd place.

Now there is a long break for the summer and Luis will be concentrating on the european events.
Back to the UK in September :)

Thanks to Gul, UK Pro Tour and Saltbox for broadcasting the event live over the internet!

2 new videos

Two new videos are available for you to check them out.

1 is from the Portuguese Nationals where all 3 Eyre's are features, Klaus and Keshia surfing and Luis surfing, interviews etc as he took the title :) How cool is it to see all 3 of them in one contest and showing on National TV.....

http://vimeo.com/12155982

The other one is during the UK Pro Juniors in Croyde with Luis taking 1st place.

http://www.hollaboxxtv.com/video/junior-ukpsa-event-761223