Port Macquarie, NSW, Thursday 19th April 2012 – Day 2 of the Port Macquarie Festival of Bodyboarding commenced with Women’s Round 1, Men’s Round 3 and Heat 1 and 2 of Men’s Round 4 in rampy 3 foot waves at Break Wall today.

This past year we have seen a great movement in the japanese girls on the WWT.

There are a lot of new faces that have stepped up in every event.

With their “Ballerina Spins” and “Never-Frown” attitude they represent around the world how Bodyboarding has almost become a tradition for Japan’s youth.

It has been a great mix of generations. Years ago names like Aoi Koike  and Chigusa Niguiyama  were leading the pack on Tour. Today, these names have mentored the youth through their bodyboarding schools, making this newer generation hungrier and and stronger than their own. Today was an example of that relay between generations.

The Ladies heats were dominated by the Japanese contingent, Hiromi Takake (JPN), Mayumi Tone (JPN), Miya Inoue (JPN) and Ayake Susuki (JPN) who all won their heats this morning.

Emma Cobb (AUS) and Nicole Flemming (AUS) were the sole Australian’s in Round 1 and easily managed to stand their ground to advance into Round 2 along side Ruth Parra (VEN) and Miyumi Kondo (JPN).

Round 3 of the Men’s saw Port Macquarie’s, Nathan Branch, Jones Russell, Sam Bennet, Charlie Holt and Damian King in the drivers seat with stylish and smooth riding to advance.

Heat 6 of Round 3 saw a neck on neck battle between Aussies, Joe Clarke (13.96) vs Nick Ormerod (13.67) who respectively placed first and second.

Other standouts of Round 3 included Ewan Donnachie (AUS), Dan Worsley (ZAF), Hayato Enokido (JPN), Alberto Colucci (VEN) and Canarian’s Nelson Mora and Ruyman Rey.

Due to a relentless rain squall and deteriorating conditions, event organizers decided to halt competition after heat 2 of Round 4.

Heat 1 of Round 4 saw Magno Passos (BRA) and Jones Russell  advance in 1st and 2nd respectively whilst Sam Bennet and Western Australia’s Lewy Finnegan took out Heat 2 of Round 4 in 1st and 2nd respectively.

Event organizers are asking competitors to check in at 7:00 am, planning for a 7: 30 am start.

Schedule of events is a follows.

DK Round 1

WWT Round 2 

Men GQS Round 4

Men GQS Round 5

WWT Round 3 (on stand-by)

Entries are now open for The Dunes NSW Body Board State Titles Round 1 at Soldier’s beach, presented by Wyong Shire Council and Greater Toukley Vision and to be held on the 10/11/12 of April 2012.

Bodyboarding NSW and Surfing NSW would like to extend a warm welcome to special guest IBA judges Chico Garittano (head judge of the IBA world tour) Marc Rossow, and body boarding legend Ben Severson who will be heading up the judging panel for the event.

Please note that to further develop our great sport, NSW Bodyboarding and NSW Surfing, in partnership with IBA International and IBA Australasia are proud to announce that two FREE OF CHARGE judging courses for level 0 and Level 1, will be held at The Dunes NSW State Titles at Soldiers Beach, they will be run by Chico Garittan. These are open to all members of NSW Body Boarding, not just the State Title competitors.

Dunes are the naming rights sponsor for the event and we thought it would be fitting to get to know a little bit more about the brand and the man behind its inception. Please meet Greg Sandmann:

“While being a fashion cutter in Surrey Hills, I started selling rash shirts. I was the first company producing, and wholesaling, flat lock rash shirts in the world. As a result of its success I expanded the business and set up a manufacturing base at Berkeley vale on the Central Coast. We set up a retail outlet in the front of the factory, and focused on producing rash shirts and distributing them across Australia and overseas.

We made a few questionnaires about the business with our local customers and we discovered they wanted wetsuits. As a result, dunes wetsuits began ten years ago. Locally made at first then we needed to produce overseas to remain competitive in the marketplace. That was the start of Australia’s homegrown all original body board specific wetsuit. We have always sponsored riders from the early days and continue to do so.

Being able to give back to the grass roots of body boarding by sponsoring events like The Dunes NSW State titles at Soldiers beach is dunes way of giving back to all who have supported Dunes over the years. We at Dunes believe with a little extra industry support, body boarding will benefit as a whole”.

Greg Sandmann CEO DUNES

So hurry up and get your entries in on the following link for what is shaping up to be a fantastic event.

http://www.surfingaustralia.com/nsw/event.php?id=441

Note; Make sure to select Enter Event on the bottom left corner of the page to fill in the online entry form.

The women’s tour, like the men’s and dropknee, began in February at the Pipeline Pro in Hawaii. Five-time world champion, Neymara Carvalho from Brazil, won the event, beating Aguirre in the final minutes of the heat.

After Hawaii, the women had a six month break before they competed again in Portugal at the Sintra Portugal Pro. Eunate Aguirre won the event, beating Miya Inoue, Sari Ohhara and Lilly Pollard in the final.

Two months later and almost half way through their tour, the women competed again in Venezuela. A win in the Latin American country would put Aguirre so far in the lead her rivals wouldn’t be able to catch her. Aguirre bowed out of the event with an equal third, allowing Isabela Sousa to claw her way back into the title race. Sousa, who had an equal ninth in Hawaii and an equal fifth in Portugal, won the event and moved into second, behind Aguirre and ahead of Carvalho, who had two equal fifths in both Portugal and Venezuela.

Puerto Rico was the last Grand Slam event on the tour; the last chance to earn valuable points. Carvalho and Sousa had to finish ahead of Aguirre if they were to keep their title dreams afloat. The waves pumped the entire event, four to six feet and offshore. Natasha Sagardia, from Puerto Rico, sank Carvalho’s sixth title dreamboat, knocking the Brazilian out in round four. Sagardia went up against Aguirre in the quarterfinals and knocked her out too, allowing Sousa close the gap even more. In her semi-final against fellow Brazilian, Karla Costa-Taylor, Sousa made spectators stop look, as she proceeded to put on a display of bodyboarding worthy of the world champion she was. She landed a big roll on a right on her opening wave, caught a left, got barreled, came out, banged an air reverse a couple feet above the lip, landed it and was rewarded with a perfect ten. Isabela couldn’t, however, do a repeat performance in the final and lost to Australian Lilly Pollard, who caught two lovely long barrels, rolling out of the one and when the heat ended Sousa had been combo’ed by the Australian.

A world title showdown was to take place in the Azores. 1000 points were up for grabs and Sousa was a mere 240 points behind Aguirre. They both made the semi-finals; Aguirre in the first heat and Sousa in the second. Aguirre had to lose and Sousa had to win the final. They won their semis and Eunate Aguirre won the Women’s World Tour. Sousa literally put her body on the line in the final, not wanting to walk away empty-handed. She went for an ARS on a wave that washed her into the rocks, injuring her badly and causing her to need assistance getting out of the water as she clutched her chest. Aguirre won the final.

2011 Women’s World Tour final Rankings:
1. Eunate Aguirre (Basque Country)
2. Isabela Sousa (Brazil)
3. Neymara Carvalho (Brazil)
4. Luz Marie Grand Perez (Puerto Rico)
5. Lilly Pollard (Australia)
6. Maylla Venturin (Brazil)
7. Catarina Sousa (Portugal)
8. Karla Costa-Taylor (Brazil)
9. Natasha Sagardia (Puerto Rico)
10. Maria Viana (Brazil)

Wednes – DK, Seniors and Juniors

Thurs – Open men and Open Women and pro Mens

Sat – Masters, Pro women, Pro DK , Grand masters.

Make sure you check with the beach marshall if any changes have been made for the day you compete.

The NSW team will have a team meeting on Monday, 17th Oct for those of you who are already in Kiama. It will give you a chance to collect hoodies, caps and check- in with team management.Meeting will take place at Surf Beach Caravan park at the function room near the pool at 4pm.

For those of you who haven’t returned an entry form to me, please bring a completed form with you when you check –in.

Presentation on the Friday night will more than likely be relocated to Coronation Park (opp. Surf Beach) due to higher than expected numbers attending. You will advised via text message closer to the date.

The IBAA presentation night is on Sunday the 23rd. Please advise me when you check-in if you will be attending as it is a catered event.

Aulão com IsabelaSousa from Adrena Produções on Vimeo.

Evento que ocorreu na praia do Futuro, Barraca Marulhos no dia 31 de Julho por realização da Campeã Mundial Isabela Sousa, Confiram.

The permit has been secured and the detailed planning underway for the 8 day period of the Easter Holidays 14^th April – 21^st April. The IBA are looking to hold the Port Macquarie Festival of Bodyboarding.

The PMBA will manage the Teams Challenge as always and this will have its own dedicated 3 days of competition from the 14^th – 16^th April 2012 to mark the special occasion. The IBA are sourcing funding for a $10,000 prize for the teams challenge winner (and free entry for all clubs). We all hope that every club in Australia will send a team to compete in this special event. Please start planning now and considering fund raising activities to send a team from your club.

Immediately following the 3 day Teams Challenge, will be a 5 day mix of International Bodyboarding Action including:

• IBA Regions Team Challenge featuring the Top IBA World Tour Bodyboarders in the World representing Australia, USA, South America, Europe, South Africa and Japan.
• IBA World Tour Drop Knee Event
• IBA World Tour Women’s Event
• IBA Grand Slam Trials Event for a special East Coast Grand Slam World Tour Event (soon to be announced). The Grand Slam Trials will also double up as an Australian tour event.

Nicole Flemming lucked out in the Pro division but in the State Final her clean barrel ride saw her stamp a 7.9 giving her 1st place over Laurie Marie Vee and Taylor Allen who placed 2nd and 3rd respectively.