The girls were in awesome form today at Pipe as the 2008 Pipe Women’s Pro came to a close. In perfect 4-6 feet surf, the world’s best women put on a dazzling display of committed Bodyboarding in front of a big crowd.
The final was a see-sawing event as the lead changed hands several times but in the end, Japanese rider Aoi Koike was just too good and outclassed Portugal’s Rita Pires with Hawaiian’s Claudia Ferrari and Leila Alli third & fourth.
In the men’s division round 6 dished up some absorbing battles and in the first heat Australian Mitch Rawlins snuck through ahead of South African Veejay Maharaj to progress into R7.
“It’s pretty good out there. It’s just really hard with 15-minute heats. You need to get a wave in the first two or three minutes, another one at the ten-minute mark and hopefully, finish with another one in the end as a backup”.
“I was stressing out because I didn’t get a wave for over 5 minutes and when I finally did I just pushed a big move on a close-out and that gave me the confidence to get another one.”
Rawlins is keen for a good start to the year and is serious about his attack on the 2008 IBA World Tour.
“ I want to get a good start to this year. I am getting on a bit and I just want to work on my contest surfing and get some good results. Ben’s won two (World Titles) and Kingy has one. Now I want to get one”
Round 7 will start at 8 am tomorrow and this round will see the introduction of the IBA “Back 12” and Wildcards. Round 8 has the top seeds and the event will be finished tomorrow.
Source: IBA World Tour