FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – February 4rd, 2013 – Big Wave World Tour Champion 2010/2011, Jamie Sterling, takes top honors at the Nelscott Reef Big Wave Classic in Lincoln City, Oregon this Saturday, February 2nd 2013.
Contest organizers started the event with a pre-contest meeting Friday night as John Forse (Contest Director), Gary Linden (Director of the BWWT), competitors and staff discussed the following day’s contest operations, judging criteria and start time for maximizing peak swell conditions for the contest.
All awoke Saturday morning with clear skies and glassy conditions. In the earlier part of the morning, Ian Wallace, Haley Fiske and Drew Brophy gave an SUP Exhibition and were the test pilots to decide when to start the Big Wave World Tour Event.
By 11:15 am the first heat hit the water. Although a slow start, the event saw waves in the 25-30ft faces range in perfect conditions with the best big wave surfers in the world displaying their modern approach to big wave surfing. The display of big wave surfing at Nelscott Reef was incredible and the judges were handing out excellent scores throughout the day.
“After missing last year for the first time in seven years due to lack of swell/conditions, Nelscott Reef Big Wave Classic came through in a big way to make #8 the lucky number.” John Forse, Contest Director
The A-frame nature of the reef allowed competitors to split the peak and maximize scoring potential with big drops and long walls. Round 1 standouts included Gabriel Villaran, Grant Washburn, Ben Wilkinson & Ben Andrews.
The Semi Finals saw an increased size in surf and many of the usual suspects were charging toward the final while other BWWT newcomers battled for the remaining slots. The standouts of the round were Gabriel Villaran, Jamie Sterling, Greg Long, Ben Wilkinson, Joao De Macedo, and Aaron Ungerleider.
The Final started at 4:15 pm with only 1½ hour’s left of sunlight. The final saw the largest and most critical waves of the day. Jamie Sterling stepped it up during the Final and collect two excellent scores, a 9 (best wave doubled) and 8.5 to receive a total of 26.5 out of 30.
“I’m stoked to have won. I love the wave… That’s why I’m here. To surf against world-class surfers at a world-class wave is just icing on the cake.” Jamie Sterling
The South Reef Bomb exhibition was a close battle between Nic Lamb and Rusty Long. Both exchanged many great waves in the 30ft face range. At the awards ceremony the surfers and fans gave the nod to Rusty Long.
We would like to especially thank SportsGuard for all their support for making this contest a reality.
Competitors:
Gabriel Villaran
Peter Mel
Colin Brown
Cliff Skudin
Felipe Cesarano
Paul Wetterau
Grant Washburn
Greg Long
Jamie Sterling
Adur Letamendia
Brian Gorrell
Andres Flores
Ben Wilkinson
Aaron Gold
Chad Jackson
Will Skudin
Rusty Long
Mark Yazbek
Ben Andrews
Aaron Ungerleider
Joao De Macedo
Marcos Monteiro
Jeff Rowley
Jeff Denholme