Keshia enters the Ericeira Surf Shop Pro as a Willcard and makes the final

Last week Keshia got a phone call from Ericeria Surf Club telling her she had received a wildcard to enter the Open Nationals in Ribeira D'Ilhas.

Obviously stoked about this opportunity but nervous to be competing in her fist open event.

The contest was held over a two day period and due to the very small swell at Ribeira, they moved to Foz, much to Keshia's disappointment of course. The girls did not go in on the first day and the call for Sunday was at 06am...and at Foz again. Driving from home we saw the lines coming in at Ribeira can could not work out why they had not moved it for the final day.
Arriving at Foz, made our question even more questionable........! There were no waves.... somehow the Gods heard our prayers and they stopped the contests just before Keshias heat went in....and moved it to Ribeira.
Now Keshia was smiling :)
The first heat went pretty well although nerves seem to play a little part in not catching the best waves and Keshia got through in second. She surfed amazing throughout the day and her semi was 100% local girls.....but Keshia had left all the nerves and emotions behind and went for the kill. She totally dominated the heat from start to finish and scored a combination of 13.00 points, the highest score combination so far of the event.

There was going to be a break between the girls semi and the finals with an expression session, giving the girls from the second semi, some time to rest but, they changed their minds and put them in straight away.
Keshia did not have time to rest and get some food and I think fatigue took the best out of her. She did not manage to find the best waves and although she still scored pretty high, she could not get a better back up waves.

She still finished 4th in the final getting an amazing result for her first Open event.

Now is time to prepare for the Grom Search next weekend, the inter clubs championships and then the European Pro Junior Series :)

Many contests and many more good results to come for sure. Thanks to everyone and will update again soon.

Ericeira Surf Shop Open Pro

Keshia wins Nationals in Aveiro

This weekend was the 3rd round of the Nationals in Aveiro.

Keshia had an amazing weekend, winning all her heats. On the first day, Keshia had the highest combined score of the day with a total of 14.00 points out of 20.

Second day she surfed two heats, and both both with scores around 9.00 combined.

The final was on Sunday and Keshia comboed the field with a total of 12.90.

A great weekend for Keshia. She leads the rankings in the Girls Under 18's having won two out of the 3 events so far.

Next one will be in August in Viana do Castelo.

Saltrock UK Pro Junior

Last weekend was the UK Saltrock Pro Junior.
Always a fun event but, not always fun waves.

The first day was not too bad with some small but consistent waves. Luis had entered the Pro Junior event and he had a couple of pretty good heats scoring some of the highest wave combinations of the event.

But the last day failed to deliver and the surfers even had a meeting to try and call off the contest and split the points. Well, somehow that did not happen and they had to surf the heats....well, wait and try !

Luis did not manage to get anything that you could call a wave and it was the two local guys that, used to those conditions, took 1st and 2nd. Luis took home 3rd spot.

It was all not too bad as, because of the final qualification, he has now guaranteed his spot in the Nike 6.0 night surf event which will take place on the 08th and 09th of July. Also the Cash for tricks will be on at the same time for which Luis has already got his invite :)

Lets hope for better waves for then.

A bit thank you to Phil Williams and everyone involved in the Christian Surfers organization :)

Keshia at the Swatch Girls Pro / Hossegor

So, after a couple of hours at home, Keshia headed to Hossegor ready to compete in the Swatch Girls WQS 6 star as well as the Pro Junior event.

Today was an early call at 07:00 French time, with Keshia in the second heat. The conditions were tough and some of the heats had super low scores.

Keshia, one of the youngest in this prestigious event that has some of the World Champions competing for the title, came out fighting, and ready to show what she is capable of.

Check out below her quotes, results etc on the ASP site :)

Tomorrow, check-in is at 06:30 with round 2 of the QS. More updates and photos as we get them.

Swatch Girls Pro / Hossegor

ISA World Juniors in Peru, 2011

The Isa World Juniors in Peru, have come to an end, and what an event it was.

Keshia was present in this prestigious event for the first time and did not know what to expect as she has not done any international contest before and only one European Pro Junior before.

She did not go with any big expectations and was just stoked to be part of the few chosen ones.

There were 24 countries representing with 12 members per Country so a huge turnout and lots of hungry surfers wanting to perform.

Keshias first heat was great, despite having been in hospital before, having an injection for a ripped muscle on her hand and having acupuncture and one of the most painful injections ever.

She made it through to next round and was looking strong.

The way the event works is that, you have two chances, if you loose in 3rd or 4th in the main event, you go to the repercharge and can still get through that way, as long as you get 1st or 2nd that is. Otherwise you get relegated to the cheering squad....

Well, Keshia was determined she was not going to be part of that squad and that the rest of the surfers where going to cheer for her.

After many surfing days, many happy moments, good and bad waves, Keshia made it all the way to the repercharge 5th round.

It means that:

She finished top 20 in the girls under 18's ( with still 3 years to go in the same category )
She scored the highest wave combination of the girls, 14.33 of a possible 20
She was 4th out of all the European Girls representing !

Keshia was still thinking she was dreaming......! Its a great way to start the international contests and to gain confidence and to know that she can go far. Specially after the winner of the girls was Canelle Boulard from France.

Keshia left the event on the 29th of May, arrived home on the 30th at 20:30.
She had time to unpack, pack, have a home cooked dinner and.... time to get on the road again at 1am.

This time she is off to France for the Girls Pro Junior and WQS event that will take place in Seignosse.

You can check all progress on Swatch Girls Pro

For now we leave you with some photos of the event and a link to the ISA site ISA World Juniors

Luis at the Nike 6.0 Cash for tricks in Praia Grande

Not sure if you are aware of this great event but Nike has come up again with a winning concept.... in more ways than one :)

The idea is simple, the more tricks you do on the waves, the more money you get.

Luis was invited to enter the event in Praia Grande. There is a waiting period of around 10 days and the contest director calls the shot, you get a text and the... heats are on ;)

The day started early with a 7am check-in. The waves were not looking great for airs and tricks but, as everyone was in the same position, you just had to go out there and bust some moves, impress the judges and take the cash home.

There were around 40 entries and the initial round stated with 6 heats with anything from 6 to 8 guys in each heat.
The winners are only announced after all heats are completed as they have to see who has the best moves and most money. You are counted on 3 different tricks, if you do 10 massive double grabs for example, no matter how spectacular they are, only one will count... so you can even loose with that if you do not have any more tricks up your sleeve.... Keeps the competitors alert and the crowd entertained as we are given a full show of anything that goes high up in the air, although they do have to ride off it of course.

After a long day, many waiting hours, many heats surfed, a long long paddle out, big currents and waves that got up to 1.5 meters, the show was over and it was time to collect the fruits of the day.

Luis was the 5th highest earner that day, collecting a productive and well deserved 305 Euros :)

Thanks to Nike 6.0 and all the organization. Next event will be in Seignosse from June 30th.

Check out the video below so you get the idea of what went on that day :)

Nike 6.0 cash for tricks, Praia Grande

Pro Juniors update

The second and third Pro Junior took place in Somo / Cantabria and Las Palmas.

Somo was a 1 star so not great for points but perfect for competition practice and heat training.
The waves were small and did not allow for great scores.

Las Palmas was slightly different, overcast and windy for the first couple of days and improving as the event went on.

Luis made it to round 4 which, in a 3 start event, was pretty important to accumulate points and improve on the ranking for the year.

Next events will be also in Spain. San Sebastian , a 2 star event and then Sopelana with 1 star rating.

Check out the video of Day 2 in Las Palmas. It was the Luis Eyre show at the end of the clip :) Nice interview and nice waves :)

Will keep you updated.

Check out Day 2 video