The Second Life Surfing Association (SLSA), organisers of the Monkeh Barrel surfing competition on Saturday 23 February, announced Thursday the match-ups for the first round of heats. The second SLSA competition of 2008, the event was originally scheduled for 16 February, but was postponed to this coming weekend. Sim lag and the short wave run is top of mind for many competitors. "Sim performance can be an issue unfortunately," said one surfer at the Monkeh on Thursday. "There's a nasty lag spike up by where you enter the wave these days."
Devinna Toll tops the SLSA table after the association's first competition in January, followed closely by Colleen Brennan and Ritch Goalpost. Ritch is not now going to compete in Saturday's event, but instead will be one of the competition judges. "I expect some fierce competition at Monkeh Barrel. No one has ever won back to back competitions, so it's a lot of pressure on Devi: maybe she will make SL surfing history," said Rich. "This could be the weekend that the top dogs establish themselves. Its so much pressure and I'm excited for everybody taking part."
"Am I ready? Well I never feel ready," said Colleen when SurfWatch spoke to her on Thursday. "I find EPIC waves to be especially challenging. The run is short and it is a challenge to get in a good ride with innovative and sharp moves while also using as much of the wave as possible. It is way to easy to belly. Lag will be a major factor as usual."
"Monkeh Barrel is kind of my back yard," said captain of the Reef Riders Surf Team Bobbi Laval during practice on Monkeh beach, who
was fifth in January's competition and has several competition wins under her belt. "I spend as much time here as I do at Neart, so I hope to do well. I hope to get in the finals." "I'm fired up about it," said Pova Rustamova as the heats were announced. "Its the first EPIC of the year and its gonna be a challange! Its a short run and so you have to figure how to score high on a slower moving big wave and do a lot in a little bit of time."
Pova came in fourth in the January event. "Pova is one I always worry about," said Bobbi. "We end up together often in heats it seems and he is consistantly strong. He is more than ready for a win, as are several other strong contenders. There are a few surfers that can do really well if they are on"
"I'm looking forward to it! I think we all are, especially after the delay," said VW Sands of the Vibrations Surfing Alliance (VSA), who took 6th place in the last SLSA event. "I hope the sim holds up well for us on Saturday and I´m sure we´re all gonna have a blast! As far as my hopes, well, survive the first round! With so many great surfers all one can really hope for is to have way to much fun regardless of the results."
Saturday's competition will start with 8 heats, with five competitors in each heat. Heats are expected to start around 1100 hrs Second Life time (SLT). The following heat competitors lists were announced by the SLSA.
HEAT 1
DeVinna Toll (RED)
Cipriano Grut (BLUE)
Charl0tte Fearne (GREEN)
Coz Okelly (ORANGE)
Paeida Allen (PURPLE)
HEAT 2
Colleen Brennan (RED)
Desne Aabye (BLUE)
Vic Bonetto (GREEN)
Kathy Heberle (ORANGE)
Jaqueline Infinity (PURPLE)
HEAT 3
Pova Rustamova (RED)
Amphiprion Watanabe (BLUE)
Selina Otsuka (GREEN)
Jhuriel Hax (ORANGE)
Lollypop Congrejo (PURPLE)
HEAT 4
Bobbi Laval (RED)
Milo Voss (BLUE)
Timbo Flanagan (GREEN)
Payten Harrop (ORANGE)
Carolin Gausman (PURPLE)
HEAT 5
VW Sands (RED)
Desirea Beaumont (BLUE)
Kimmy Fitzgerald (GREEN)
Lanelle Saunders (ORANGE)
QUENCH Spotter (PURPLE)
HEAT 6
Carlos MacAlpine (RED)
Whamdamnit Merryman (BLUE)
Jesse Compton (GREEN)
Bailey Dazy (ORANGE)
TBC (PURPLE)
HEAT 7
Christine Daffodil (RED)
Abel Halderman (BLUE)
LeahJane Cazalet (GREEN)
Malcolm Sydney (ORANGE)
TBC (PURPLE)
HEAT 8
Ashleigh Dickins (RED)
Buffy Monro (BLUE)
Mick Lunasea (GREEN)
Mateus Rieko (ORANGE)
TBC (PURPLE)
Note: SLSA announced changes to heats on February 21st night. Cierra Theriac, Oroonie Oh, Kertin Gollob, Wendy Bouchard and Jaay Zymurgy have now dropped out of the competition. Carolin Gausman and QUENCH Spotter are now in.
Updated 21 February 2008, 05.40 hrs & 21.50 hrs SLT
SurfWatch: RL throws wrench at the Monkeh
SurfWatch: Surfing Calendar - February-March 2008
SurfWatch: INTERVIEW-- DeVinna Toll
URL: Judging Criteria
URL: Competition Day Requirements (for Surfers and Spectators)
SLURL: Monkeh Barrel
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