Keshia 2nd in the Grom Search European Final

Tuesday was the Grom Search European final at Supertubos in Peniche.
Keshia had come 2nd in both events held in Portugal and, for that she got invited to compete in the European final,
The first call was at 8am and the contest was in full swing by 9:00.

They started with the boys where we could see how high the standard was. The turn out was way bigger than we initially thought and that made Keshia a little bit nervous.

First heat she was in with one english, one french and one spanish girl so, a great mix of nationalities :)
The waves were pretty small at the start but the swell started to pick up and the tide to come in.
In her semi final, Keshia got the highest score of the day with a 6.17 on a set wave and bringing it all the way to the sand.

After a 1 hour break for lunch, the finals started.
A pretty good mix in the girls, two portuguese, one spanish and one french.
In the boys final there were 1 portuguese, one french, one spanish and one english.

Ana Morau from France was dominating the heat putting Keshia and Carina in combo.
With 10 minutes to go, Keshia found two great waves and she was first, and it stayed that way until 2 minutes to the end when, Carina, needing a 5.97, score a 6.04 and went into first.......
So close for Keshia....she was 2 minutes away from Australia as that is the prize for the winner of the event.

Carina deserved to win the event, its her second year winning and Keshia still has another 2 years.

It was good to see the level of the girls as it's not often you can have some many European girls in one spot, at the same time.

Thanks to Rip Curl and everyone involved in the event. See you next year...in OZ :)

http://www.surftotal.com/pt/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=2542:vasco-e-carina-vencem-gromsearch-europeu&Itemid=2

Two opposite ends of Europe....well, almost :)

Last weekend, was a busy one for all 3 Eyre's.
Luis was in Scotland doing the UK Pro Junior and Open event, whilst Keshia and Klaus were in Sines, South of Portugal, where the Portuguese Nationals took place.

Luis met some extreme conditions in Scotland. After leaving Portugal with warm water and amazing weather, he found himself in the middle of nowhere with freezing water and ever colder weather but hey, at least there were waves so, not all was bad, oh and don't forget great English Breakfast :)

Both categories went very well for Luis. He finished 3rd in the semis of the Open event and got 2nd place in the Pro Juniors.
After the contest, he was off to an 11 hour drive to Manchester to spend the night with his grandparents and even managed to meet up with some old school friends. A great way to end the trip :)

Keshia and Klaus also did everyone proud.
Sao Torpes is not normally known for its big waves, only for the very warm water due to a Power Station just behind the beach, but the swell predicted waves up to 2 meters and for two days, for sure we had great swell.

Keshia has a good couple of heats on Saturday and Sunday, leaving just the semis and finals for Monday.
Klaus did great in the round of 32. 1/4 finals was nail biting with Klaus getting the score he needed with just 30 seconds to go. A well deserved heat for Klaus as he surfed his best and kept calm until the very end...not the same can be said for the coaches, team managers and parents that were there to support him :)

Monday was the big day for both. Klaus was in first at 8am. He started off with a very strong score of 6.25 and then got another high 6, dominated the head and come out smiling with a place in the final.
Keshia had a very shaky heat and didn't catch any waves for the first 10 minutes but she found her balance and again, claimed a spot in the final.

Klaus was the first final of the day. Again, straight off from the horn going, Klaus got his first wave, a long left all the wave to the sand. The other competitors just didn't seem to be in the same game as Klaus as he was the only one catching all the good waves. He left everyone speechless, surfing so cool and composed, so much so that when the heat was over and he won, everyone ran to the beach to get him...and he didn't know he had won :) The coolest kid in the world.

Keshia also started her heat strong with a good long left. At the end of the 25 minutes it had been pretty much just between Keshia and another girl with Keshia not managing to get another good solid wave to take first place but still claiming a well deserved second place.

All in all, at both ends of Europe, the Eyre's took the victories and claimed the prices.
Well done again to all 3 of them!

Luis warming up after a surf

Winning another heat

Pro Junior Finalists

Under 12's Finalists

Klaus doing his victory speech

Under 18's Girls finalists

Portuguese National Winners

Ribeira D'Ilhas Surf Comp

Under 12's final

Last weekend was the 2nd stage of the Ericeira Surf Tour, this time held at Ribeira D'Ilhas.
As the swell predicted, Saturday was blessed with sun, no wind and great waves :)
Both under 18's and OPEN categories went in and completed most rounds just leaving the finals for Sunday.
Luis entered both and after a long day of surfing...and paddling, it was time to go home and rest.

Sunday the swell had dropped and there was a lot to do. Klaus was in the first heat of the day and Luis was in the last.

As there are not many girls doing the contest, Keshia decided to also enter the Under 14's boys..... which made some of the boys wonder if they should go in or not as, none of them would want to admit that they got beat by a girl. Anyway, many of them had to as Keshia got to the finals.

So, a great weekend with some excellent results and prices ( even if some were too big for the kids...)

Luis claimed 1st in the OPEN and 2nd in the Under 18's
Keshia 2nd in the girls OPEN and 3rd in the Boys Under 14's
Klaus with a 2nd place in the Boys Under 12's.

Thanks so much to all the members of the club, the organization and spectators. They all do a great job.
Next round will be in October.

Till then, here are some cool shots :)

You take one leg and I will take the other :)

Boys Under 14's final

Boys Under 18's finalists

Girls Open final ( where were the other girls.....?) 

OPEN Final

One more video , one more magazine article

At last the video of the 3rd stage of the Portuguese National event, that took place in Aveiro in May, has arrived. As they say, its better late than never and also it brings back good memories.
Luis took 1st place in the Under 18's.

http://vimeo.com/14724557

Also Pit Pilot this month has just printed out a double page shot of Luis, taken in Constantine Beach, during a trip to do one of the British Pro Junior events.

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