Boardmasters Report 08

Outsider Dantas Solid in Jaws of the Storm.

Young Brazilian sensation Wiggoly Dantas blindsided his veteran fellow QS campaigners with an incredibly fluid and gung ho display of power surfing at this years Rip Curl Boardmasters music festival. The eighteen year old from Ubatuba, Brazil out-pointed the favourite and ex-two times Pro Junior champion, Pablo Paulino, in the final at Fistral beach in some of the most horrendous conditions for a final ever to claim his first major WQS title. The final day was dominated by the weather; strong onshores, relentless 4 – 6 foot surf and torrential downpours made it interesting for competitora and officials alike (you wouldn’t want to be a priority judge stuck out in that!). Despite the horrific conditions, the man-on-man quarters saw some epic surfing with the Brazilian chargers Dantes, Paulino and Henrique finding the faces and unleashing some crazy turns to eliminate the Aussies Davo, Hedgie and Nic Muscroft respectively, the other quarter howver, was probably the best heat of the event in which ex-CT crusader Dave Weare battled with Europe’s finest Marlon Lipke: The goofyfoot German had control of the heat with an 8.33 over the Saffa’s 7.93 and with a few minutes to go looked certain to progress when he added an 8.57, however it’s never over til it’s over and as Fat Fistral Fanny was clearing her throat, Weare hooked into this steaming right hander that he crucified and collected a heat winning 9.77 to kill the kraut. After that Weare couldn’t pick himself up for the semi and once again the Brazil Nuts confirm their authority and predilection for Fistral’s beach break waves with Paulino doing Henrique and Dantas having an easy ride against Weare in the semis setting up an all Brazil final. Dantas took contol of the concluding heat from the start, posting an 8.33 and while Paulinio huffed and puffed he looked tired and couldn’t match the non stop energy of the young man from the small seaside town just south of Rio. Dantas sealed victory with his fifth and final ride of the event, an 8.07 giving him an assured 4 point margin of victory.

On the podium he said. "I had a great time in England and people were so nice to me all week. We had great waves at the start and tough ones today but it was always lots of fun. (I’m) so stoked to get this first title, such a big thing. It is a great confidence boost for the upcoming events."

A lot of people critisise the ‘newquay surf festival’ and it’s true that the week long event has turned into a bit of a sideshow for the enormous music festival held at Watergate bay and although the weather was dismal most of the time the waves this year were splendid, especially at the beginning of the week when Fistral was dressed in it’s summer best, peaky, clean and headhigh. The British boys gave it a go as usual but the gap has grown even wider and our boys seemed to make simple mistakes against the frothing and hungry WQS legions, although Stoksey, Oli Adams, Matt Capel and Jayce made it through into the money round. It seems that we are becoming more and more isolated from the world surfing juggernaut and every effort needs to be made to ensure that top level competitions continue to be staged on these shores to push our top surfers and gauge their progress on a world scale.

Expect to see Paulino, Henrique and Weare qualify this year along with Lipke as for the young upstart Dantes, who now officially has the best name on the WQS (usurping Spains Gony Zubaretta), what he lacks in experience he makes up with fitness, ability and exuberance, and with three six stars coming up in Brazil – who knows.

 © Ester Spears