Day 3 of competition at the World Bodyboard Games, Gan Canria, Spain saw the event move to La Guancha, just down the coast from a heaving and very windy El Fronton.
First up was the international debut for Olivia “Deadley” Smedly. The wedgy heavy wave was a long way from Deadley’s home break of Portreath but she gave a solid effort dropping into pit after pit with one notable lefthander, go Smedders! For a while she was hanging onto second place but a big push from her rivals saw her pushed out of the progression and into the repercharge.
Sam Brabyn was next up. Super relaxed Sam had a similar heat dropping into one particular bomb of a right. The little man looked like he was sitting inside a 10ft backdoor drainer on one wave and he very nearly saw the light of day after the wave blew its guts out but alas, “Welcome to La Guancha”!!! Another ticket for the the repercharge. The reper started well with Sam tweaking an invert on the now bowling left which put him where he needed to be. It was a super tight heat with everyone within just a couple points of each other. However the 15 minute heat was just too short for Sam to find a second solid high scoring wave and he was pipped for second place and out of the competition. A huge performance from Sam which included taking out a heat at Fronton, big up this man!
Smedders was next back in the water with the conditions now looking nasty, windy, confused and rocky! One competitor in Liv’s heat completed a roll and ended up lieterally high and dry on the rocks. Deadly got in the mix and again is was so close but the pelling wave she was rightly looking for never materialised and the chance of a long higher scroing ride didn’t come. Another brave effort. She’ll be bringing loads of experience back to the UK that’s for sure. A quick photo with Pierre put the smile back on her face!
The injured Winkle was next in in conditions that again didn’t exactly scream DK. Only local man Ardiel Jimenez managed anything decent. Winky paddled out with a patched up leg complete with stitches and started really well. A sick backhand left and tight spray throwing snap looked good but the judges only have it 4.8. Another decent scoring ride couldn’t be found so Winky too was into reper land. A second effort against none other than Ceasar Bauer. With an aching leg is was a big ask and proved to be too much for Winky and another Team GB rider fell. IN the eys of the Team Espana however he was the El Fronton champion of DK. They literally gave him a huge pat on the back for yesterday’s performance. What more praise could you ask for?
Tomorrow will see the completion of the DK, Juniors and Women’s back at La Guancha. The Open division may be in around low tide at midday but that is unasure at the moment.
Stay tuned, and if you’re lucky you’ll get Alex back on the live webcast commentary!