Roxy Jam 2009 Day 3
Could a European win the 2009 ASP Women's World Longboard champs for the first time?
After inconsistent waves hampered the standard of surfing on Sunday, an incoming storm brought in regular sets of three foot swell to the Côte des Basques beach, pushing the contestants to step up. And 17-year-old Justine Dupont did just that, with the two highest scores of the day with 16 (out of 20) against elegant Japanese surfer Yoko Furuchi in Round 2, and 15.50 in her quarter final with Hawaiian Roxy rider Kelia Moniz.
Dupont, a Lacanau local, will now compete against her good friend Coline Menard (another native) making their semi final heat a purely French affair.
Current number 2, Chelsea Williams also surfed strong, beating fellow Aussie Isabelle Braly in the second round. Then, in a chilled quarter final against Roxy's 'Longboard Queen' Kassia Meador, she won by less than half a point (12.50 to 12.15). Williams will meet another SoCal surfer in today's semi finals - 2007 champion and current favourite, Jennifer Smith.
As the quarter finals wrapped up, the grey clouds which had threatened all day, accumulated and cracked open releasing a downpour on Biarritz - soaking the neighbouring Port Vieux beach and the al fresco stage set up for Brooklyn's Santigold to perform.
What promised to be a gorgeous gig - on the beach with the Atlantic at dusk in the background - became a wash out. The lack of any type of roof or shelter left the entire stage, soundsystem and backline saturated, forcing organisers to reluctantly cancel the show as roadies rushed to carry equipment up the steps from the beach before it was ruined.
On the brightside, those same storms have brought four to five foot waves with clean peaks to Biarritz - perfectly timed for today's finals!
Find out exactly what happened on huckmagazine.com tomorrow.
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Roxy Jam 2009 Day 3 (text) by Gemma Freeman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 UK License.
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