Fresh Water Line
Tuesday 5 October 2021 As the chlorinated foam fades from the recent Cuervo Surf Ranch Classic, one thing is evident: this spot was made for longboarding and hipster indie is not bad for a sound track, writes Spike.
{youtube}HY1QH6qfZJo{/youtube}
It's funny how the results seem to matter less with longboarding, or is it maybe that the concern about winning or losing is cleverly covered up by a languid style that seems so congenial and aesthetically soothing. I don't feel that soothed when I watch elastic man Filipe Toledo trying to cut the wave up with sharp ninja moves.
Either way, Haiwaian Honolua Blomfield's switch foot barrel that earned the first 10-point ride (like in all competition ever) at Lemoore, easily elevates itself above the mere fact that someone had to win and someone had to lose. If you can't find it in the above video, fast track with toes on the nose to 1:47.
For the record, since it happened five days ago already, Blomfield won the women's event after a marathon day in Lemoore, while Edouard Delpero won the mens. They both get 10,000 valuable points heading into the final event of the season in Malibu that has already started (3-10 October). There are only two events on the 2021 longboard tour, thanks to that tiny green menace with the buzz-cut dreads.
BLOOMING MOVE: Her switch foot had people agape with wonder and delight. Photo WSL / Lodin
Blomfield stunned everyone with her perfect 10-point ride on her first left. The 22-year-old's amazing style and ability to ride switch foot deep in the barrel left fellow finalists Soleil Errico, Avalon Gall and Alice Lemoigne needing a near-perfect ride to catch her. Note, that is a grammatical hiccup to say "ride switch foot deep in the barrel" in the sense it suggets she switched her stance deep in the barrel, but when I watched, I realised they mean she RODE deep in the barrel in switch foot stance, ie, she switches as she is about to pull in. If she got a 10 by switching before the tube, what would she have got had she done that INSIDE the barrel? The eternal judge's conundrum and the reason 10s are not dished out that often.
Anyhoo. Sadly J-Bay's Steve "Steezy" Sawyer could not make the semi-finals, but ended the event in joint 9th place.
Delpero claimed his fourth-career WSL win on a longboard by overcoming reigning WSL Longboard Champion Justin Quintal, style icon Harrison Roach and Longboard Tour veteran Kai Sallas. The Frenchman earned an excellent 8.33 to begin his campaign on the right and backed it up immediately with another impressive 7.67 -- finding one of the deeper barrels on the left-hander.
{gallery}SLIDESHOW/2021/october/surf-ranch-classic{/gallery}