This past Sunday saw the Globe Llandudno Boardriders Shootout club event take place. The conditions were arguably some of the best ever seen with regard to the clubs contest history. Llandudno delivered 6-8ft spitting, heaving pits for the 1st Llandudno club contest of the year. Wipe-outs, numerous broken boards, thrashing seals and pure entertainment was on offer. The contest included several divisions from juniors, bodyboarding, open, masters, and grandmasters. The wave itself was comparable to Backdoor Pipeline with many locals licking their wounds whilst channeling the courage to tackle some of the heavier surf.
The bodyboarding division was a pure barrel fest. Eight of the top local Llandudno lads fought it out over 3 heats with Seth Phitides narrowly missing out on the barrel of the day. Jared Barbe was on hand to take the kids to school, giving the young guys a taste of the big time by busting maneuvers straight from the world tour. But in the end, it was Adam Grant showing consistency and superb barrel knowledge that carried him to the title.
In the junior division, the groms had to dig deep and muster some serious courage to surf their respective heats. Coming out on top was Llandudno’s favourite son Luke Slijpen taking the win over the backhand attack of Greg Torrington, dark horse Callum Seha and Jordy Talbot.
Grandmaster, the old guard, took out the zimmer frames, did some serious yoga stretches and charged harder than any other division. Volker Mielk got a couple in the early rounds but was just etched out in the final by the in-form John Slijpen, Dinor Bienz and brother in law Mike Snyman. In the final, the stylish barrel master, Matt Kramer, had the wave magnet throughout the event and took the final with ease standing tall in every set that came through.
The main open division brought all the spectators to their feet from the get-go. Airs, barrels and power turns were on the menu making some QS events look mediocre to what was on display. The likes of the Eales brothers, Iyk Forsyth, Paul Daniel, Ryan Payne, Dale Staples, Josh Brodie and Jordan Alexander could have taken the title.
But in the end, it was a serious display of barrel riding and big turns between Dale and Luke with Luke just taking the win over Dale showcasing commitment, strategic contest surfing and some power turns coming out the barrel.
A huge thanks must go to the whole surf community for making the event an unforgettable one including Globe, Koalition, The City of Cape Town, Llandudno Surf and most importantly Ryan Payne for his patience judging all day and teaching the groms how to run a surf event. The flag is flying high for the future of Llandudno surfing.
