| Inilek Wilmot wins the 5th stage of the Jamaican Open Series in Portland |
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| Written by Editor at SurferToday.com |
| Monday, 21 December 2009 09:07 |
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The 5th event of the 2009 National Open Series was held at Long Bay in Portland on Saturday 19 December in 2’-3’ waves. Seventeen of the islands top surfers turned out for the event which saw six heats run to narrow the field to the top six competitors. The north coast surfers had a big advantage at the popular Portland surfing beach and a number of junior surfers stood out in the smaller less powerful waves. Surfers were under the watchful eyes of the judges as 15 minute heats were run for the surfers to demonstrate their surfing talents, and when the field had been narrowed the top six were Inilek Wilmot, Ackeem Taylor, Icah Wilmot, Ackeam Phillips, Michael Panton and Garren Pryce. The surfers paddled out in the glassy conditions for the 20 minute final. The exchanges had the judges working to split the differences of the surfers’ rides as they executed “bottom turns”, “off-the-tops”, “cutbacks” and “aerials”. Inilek sat closer in and found some “nuggets” which allowed him to show off his manoeuvres on nice sections right close to the judges and take first. Young Ackeem Taylor had a number of impressive rides and one brilliant wave that had the small crowd on the beach cheering as he surfed all the way to shore securing second. Icah who has been dominating the series also surfed strongly seeming to be able to magically get the most out of the tiny waves he caught and held onto third. Ackeam Phillips kept the pressure on everyone with his looping off the tops and foam rides for fourth. Michael Panton also mixed it up and held a level head throughout the event but couldn’t find the wave he needed to do better than fifth. Garren Pryce who surfed impressively throughout the elimination rounds struggled to find waves offering good scoring potential and finished sixth. Results after 4 events: 1 Inilek Wilmot
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