On Saturday, January 19th 2019, after a month of practice, talk, lots of laughter and heavy sessions in the surf, the beach was closed to the public and the HummingBird Point Freestyle Surf Challenge began.
Surfers hit the water to compete for the 2019 title.
This is the second year for the Surf Challenge Series, and like anything new, has had a few rule changes, plus a couple of organizational amendments to make the competition flow better.
What is the Surf Challenge?
A surfer vs surfer competition against the clock to show off their skills in a freestyle format. The competitors are required to judge each other as part of the registration agreement, and with a brief orientation on the judging criteria, all judges to date found it relatively easy to orientate themselves with nerves calmed to judge quite confidently.
The Surf Challenge attracts some of SL's finest competitive, seasoned surfers who surf alongside and against first timers with the pro's handing out encouragement and tips on how to give the first timers the best way to beat the pro's, all in a very positive atmosphere, where Judges and competitors all hang out together. Everyone finding it a relaxed fun competition atmosphere.
The Challenge is about riding your favorite board and is flexible on changes to which board is used depending on the conditions. As the first day kicked off with 7 heats in the first round, conditions were trying. Board changes were made to better fit the conditions. Excellent surfing was seen across the board for each and every surfer.
Day 1, Round 1, Heat 1 - Bunni Kismet faced Corrigan Campbell with Bunni coming out the victor to progress.
Round 1, Heat 2 - Ilaria Resident, SLSA's most improved last season, against newcomer Nihiwatu with Ily taking the heat.
Round 1, Heat 3 - Kris Marley took on "The Bug" aka Andin Kismet, a very talented grom, in a very tight heat with Kris landing an exceptional air to get him over the line for the win.
Round 1, Heat 4 - Richie Marley went up against newcomer Mina, who kindly substituted in for Moonie Kismet-Strat, who could not be with us due to RL, with Richie taking the win.
With day 1 wrapped up, we stopped early so the surfers could get their party gear on and go celebrate at the SLSA end of season awards ceremony.
My (Shilow Carter) personal congratulations going out to all who got to the end of season of the SLSA comp at the top of the podium.
Day 2 kicked off and the amount of work ahead was not in short order. I set my alarm clock wrong, slept in, and did not make it inworld until it was 4:30 am in RL. Each heat was judged with myself and a competitor. To be on point that early in the morning is nothing short of a fight.
Day 2, Round - Heat 5 found Solsty Kismet and Sirena Skye pitted against each other. Both ladies gave it their all. Solsty got within a frogs hair of landing the air of the comp and personally for me one of the best aerials I have ever seen on the grid period. Unfortunately, she came down on the back of the wave, kudos to her for having a courage to give it a shot.
Round 1, Heat 6 - found me in the surf subbing in for Gia Villano who was running late, so Gia was moved over to heat 7 when Jus Strat could not make it online due to RL. I was completely surfed out of the water by newcomer Leanne Mordue, whom I thought was going to pass out from nerves but she took the heat cleanly out of my hands.
Round 1, Heat 7 - the last one in the first round found Bodhi Lowtide in the surf with Gia Villano. Both surfers shone in the trying conditions, Gia took the heat with her smooth flow and style, a fine thing to watch in action.
With the first round complete, we moved into Round 2.
Round 2, Heat 1 - Ilaria facing Bunni, Ilaria took the heat with 36.5 points to Bunni's 34.5 points, it was very tight and was one of the hardest to judge of the day.
Round 2 Heat 2 - We then saw Richie face off Kris for their round 2 match up. Richie really pulled one out of his hat with determination and fine sense of humor to defeat Kris with 78 points to 75. The best fun heat of the day with both of these dudes laughing and joking all the way to the finish line cracking all of us up along the way.
Round 2 Heat 3 - Followed shortly thereafter was Solsty and Leanne. Many congratulations to Leanne for giving it an all out effort to take on Solsty who is surfing like an absolute demon at this point. Solsty took the heat with 71points to Leanne's 66.5 points, I predict a big future for this newcomer Leanne Mordue, you heard it here first.
Round 2, Heat 4 - Gia then had to face Bodhi again, due to the fact that Bodhi was the highest scoring eliminated surfer just nudging out the Bug, otherwise Gia would have gone straight onto the semi final without a 2nd round heat. In this closely contested heat, Bodhi went full surf comp mode and derendered everyone and everything. Bodhi and Gia fought with grit and determination and was a thing of beauty to watch. Bodhi got over the line with 66 points to Gia's 63.5.
At this point, it was getting so late, especially for the folks from Europe, so after an all in competitors discussion we decided to push the semi final and final over to next Saturday 26th January to finish this journey to find the Hummingbird Freestyle Champion for 2019.
We will be kicking off the action at 11am SLT sharp, the beach will close to the public for surfing at 10:30am SLT. The sim will be restarted at this point.
Semi Final, Heat, will find Richie Marley surfing with Ilaria. Good Luck to you both.
Semi Final Heat 2, will be the rematch of last years heat between Solsty Kismet and Bodhi Lowtide, Bodhi knocking out Solsty in the first round last year. Solsty's form is running hot and will be up against one of the most seasoned surfers in the comp. This will be the battle of the challenge, not to be missed.
Final ....... Will be decided with a surf off between the winner of each semi final heat to take the title and prizes, a custom surfboard made by the incredible surf legend Shack Schapira. Also cash to the tune of 1000L for the Champion and 500L for the runner-up plus rights on Hummingbird Point that most do not get access too.
I want to give a huge thanks and much gratitude to everyone who surfed, judged and cheered on to make this event a success and here's to going forward from here.
It is my hope that this year, we will have 2 or 3 Freestyle Challenges with other sim's wishing to get involved in this freestyle competition. It is a multiple wave competition and cannot be held on a single wave set up with a few other factors also coming into play to make this style of competition work successfully. My vision for this competition is to run beside other competitions and be totally inclusive to all who want to get on a board and have a go competitively to promote SL surfing to all the corners of the grid.
SL surfing is an amazing inworld sport that can create a wonderful community, getting as close to RL surfing as possible, that a lot of us for whatever reason do not have access to. Bringing together RL surfers and those who wish they could get in the surf in RL. Surfing has the potential to be a stand out sport in the SL community, leaving ego's and personal differences on the beach, and finding solace in the waves, wind, sun and each other if we let it.
I wish all the finalists the best of luck and may the surf conditions be perfect on Saturday. We will crown the 2019 Surf Challenge Series, Freestyle Champion at HummingBird Point, on Saturday 26th Jan 2019 beginning at 11AM SLT.
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