Freedom Expression Session - 2007

The Jersey Bodyboarders would like to thank Freedom Surf Shop for supporting this event

Freedom Expression Session

Clint Loake has won the Freedom Expresion Session, held by the Jersey Bodyboarders in epic heavy waves at Greve De Lecq on Saturday.

A combination of a neap tide and a huge Atlantic swell meant Greve De Lecq was in fine form with 5ft shoredump surf slamming onto the very steep mid tide sand bank.

The Expression Session was run using a format designed to further challenge the level of bodyboarding in the island, with the judges rewarding the competitors for attempting the biggest moves on the largest and heaviest waves.

The competitors were split into two large heats with the top three riders from each heat progressing to the final.

Heat one saw some great action from the start, with junior Pascal Quemener pulling into the biggest tube ride of the heat, to advance through to the final. Also progressing from the heat was Eduardo Silva, who was brought up surfing the heavy waves of west Portugal. Silva revelled in the conditions and after recovering from the first big wipe-out of the day, went on to complete one of bodyboarding's most technical manoeuvres, an air roll spin (ARS) to get some big scores from the judges. Also progressing to the final was Clint Loake who consistantly landed some good rolls and clean reverse 360's.

Heat two saw much bigger waves coming through with some big tubes ridden. South African Rob Hulst, who used to be one of the top bodyboarders on the South African National Tour, landed the biggest manouevre of the heat, a high speed down the line roll on one of the biggest set waves which came through. The heat though belonged to local big wave charger James Manners, who found a clean barrel on a rigt-hander before exiting cleanly with a solid roll. Third place in the heat was closely fought out between Andy De La Mare, David Speller and Peter Bolam, with De La Mare's consistant no fear charging just giving him the edge.

The final will go down as one of the highlights of the club's brief history, as the finalists demonstrated just how far Jersey bodyboarding has come since the club was formed three years ago. All six bodyboarders showed a fearless attitude in the serious conditions taking off and pulling into the thickest heaviest waves ever seen at a local contest.

No sooner had the heat started when a huge freak wave just reared up out of nowhere, leaving all the competitors scrambling to avoid having it break on their heads. As the wave, which was by far the biggest of the day, jacked up in size to around the 8ft (around 12ft high in regular terms), De La Mare turned around late and paddled for it, which resulted in the first real beating of the final.

This set the scene for the rest of the heat as one by one the finalists rode the biggest and heaviest shorebreak waves which Greve De Lecq could deliver, with several nasty wipeouts keeping the spectators entertained on the beach. De La Mare later went on to get the worst wipeout of the day as he and Quemener both paddled for the same 5ft wave, which jacked up suddenly sending both of them into freefall, with De La Mare dropping over the falls in the lip of the wave backwards and head first. Fortunately both riders surfaced unscathed.

Manners was on a mission charging some big barrels before taking a heavy wipeout which left him catching his breath on the beach for a moment, before heading out and freefalling straight into a another super hollow left-hander.

The biggest barrel of the final though went to Hulst, who took off from way deep on a big set wave, riding into oblivion as the wave encased him in a thick sandy curtain of water before unloading its energy onto the shallow sand bank.

The pivitol moment in the final occured midway though, when Loake took off on a nice shaped right hander. After gathering speed Loake launched a flawless ARS off of the close-out section of the wave, a move which sealed the win and left the remaining competitors fighting it out for second place.

At the end of the heat the judges gave the runner-up spot to Manners for his no fear attitude of consistantly dropping into and riding the heaviest barrels to come through. Hulst big right-hand barrel helped him into 3rd spot ahead of the charging De La Mare in 4th, Quemener, who took another heavy wipeout later in the heat in 5th and Silva in 6th.