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12/08/2009

While the Chinese invented the fan, the Japanese were the clever people who invented how to fold the fan for portability. The Japanese are incredibly resourceful when it comes to thinking through a tight problem, which is why they have led the world in miniaturising electronic equipment. Oxbow were faced with the problem of finishing off a world contest event in style, even though the contest proper had finished to make the best of the wave conditions earlier in the week. So they crowned things off with a tag team showdown and a spectacular expression session.

For every sponsored surfer, there are thousands more just surfing for the fun, far removed from the hustle and bustle of contests. ‘Free’ surfing is true surfing for most. But soul surfers in a sense are always competing in the ocean, as a contradiction in terms, as they attempt to better what they did yesterday. Many youngsters surf as if they were professionals in contests, and we all know how powerful such identification with heroes can be, and in this sense the real contest is with yourself and with the mastery of a range of often fickle, ever-changing conditions. ‘Competition’ is something even soul surfers do – the trick is to turn competition into an art and a celebration.

Oxbow and Yumeya entertained the weekend crowd beautifully at Akabane, Tahara, with a tag team on Saturday and an expression session on Sunday. A strong cross-shore wind had whipped up three foot surf for both days. And there was a great audience eager to watch some of the world’s top surfers putting on a show – the cream of longboarders displaying their wider repertoire. In the multi-board tag team Oxbow team riders Antoine Delpero, Matthew Moir, Bryce Young and Ben Skinner surfed shortboards with jaw-dropping ability. While fun was the essence of the tag team, there were winners, and Frenchman Romain Maurin was outstanding on a stand up paddle board (SUP), leading international team mates Tony Silvagni (USA), surfing a shortboard, and Amaro Matos (Brazil), using his longboard, to over all victory.

On Sunday Tony Silvagni, Antoine Delpero, Colin McPhillips and Harley Ingleby made it through to the expression session grand final. The sea was riddled with foam heads from the strong wind, and the waves clustered and span off right, crashing as shorebreak. Tony Silvagni choreographed high quality hang tens to claim the best noseride award, but it was Antoine Delpero’s day. The Frenchman was on-fire and won the expression session in invincible form. He made space in the cramped, tight-to-shore surf by linking critical noserides and explosive snaps, roundhouses and huge floaters at breakneck tempo. This was the level of unbeatable surfing that Antoine displayed on the opening day of the Oxbow WLT main event, resulting in 8.25 and 9.50 wave scores. Antoine’s performance was capped on a clean set wave. He carved a low bottom turn and hit huge off-the-lip-aerial, punctuated by a crisp landing. The appreciative audience hoisted their arms and burst into cheer for Delpero. The presentation was followed by an extravagant fireworks display. It was a way for the Japanese hosts to say thank you, graciously, to a weekend public audience for their support, and there is nobody better than the Japanese at packaging an event. Thank you Yumeya and Oxbow for a fabulous time.