Rip Curl Boardmasters Finals at Fistral beach

Posted on August 13, 2007
Filed Under - leisure |

Fistral beach

Newquay has been hosting its most high profile festival this week: the RipCurl Boardmasters, a heady mix of surf, skate, music and chicks in bikins. I’ve only popped my head round the door a couple of times this week but I thought I would go down to Fistral for the finals.

Ben Bourgeois and Heitor Alves

First up was the surfing final between American Ben Bourgeois (in red) and Brazilian Heitor Alves (in white), who had been a favourite with the crowds throughout the week - perhaps because there were quite a few enthusiastic Brazilian fans flying the flag! Conditions were not ideal to say the least, with 2-3 ft surf and onshore winds making the waves very choppy. The surfers had to work really hard to catch waves, fighting through churning surf each time they finished a run or wiped out.

Ben Bourgeois

Ben Bourgeois won the day by a safe margin. His performance was really tight and he made the most of the crap waves. Alves seemed happy with his performance in the competition overall.

Heitor Alves

Further up the beach, the Vans vert final was getting underway. The line-up was a decent mix of older, international heads such as Aussie legend Renton Miller, Terence Bougdour and Jussi Korhonen, with up and coming British groms Sam Beckett, Paul-Luc Ronchetti and Sam Bosworth (seen below mid-grab).

Sam Bosworth

Sean Gough and Andy Scott were also holding it down for the UK. The young ‘uns really impressed, with Ronchetti coming highest in the final scores. I thought the two Sams, Beckett and Bosworth really ripped too. Unsurprisingly, Renton Miller won both the vert final and Best Trick. He was not even at his best but he has such amazing vert style. It’s just a pity about the orange shoes….

Renton Miller

I didn’t see any of the music which was going down at Watergate Bay, as this was ticketed entry. I would have liked to see The Milk Teeth, who played on Saturday night. I first came across them on Caught in the Crossfire and I really like their surfy-punk-rocky sound. Check it out on their myspace page.

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