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Nokia Biarritz Surf Festival (10-18 July)
Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) www.aspworldtour.com 2004 World Longboard Tour (WLT)
Joel Tudor wins the Nokia International Longboard Bear Championships Prize money $35,000
Sunday, July 18 th 2004 Perfect 4-5 ft glassy waves on offer for last rounds of the contest.
With 4 ft waves on offer, the two last surfers of the week entered the water in a friendly state of mind. Joel Tudor (Usa), wearing the red singlet, looked really relaxed as his long time experience helped him to deal with the pressure. With it's fourth year on the tour, Kekoa Uemura was a bit more nervous but still smiling before the heat.
The third man in this 35 minute decider was patience; with long breaks between the heats, the tension was growing out there as hundreds of people were keeping their eyes on the outsider and the former world champion. They both started with high scores but Joel got an 8.50 pts whereas Kekoa managed to grab 8.00 pts on his first; then came the long break leaving everybody impatient to get the action.
With no big sets coming-in, Kekoa caught an inside wave to take the lead with little 3.25 pts. Joel chose to wait about ten minutes and it payed: he scored a 6.25 pts wave after Kekoa and took the lead with a beautifull one foot hang-five as there was 15 minutes remaining. After paddling to the outside and with a white priority, another good wave came in but Kekoa preferred to stay still and Joel went back for a ride in the row getting a 7.50 pts extending his lead by more than 8 points.
The grey sky was giving a heavy atmosphere on the Côte des Basques as the ocean went flat again; it was obvious that only one more set was going to break before the hooter spoke, and the pressure got at its highest level with five minutes remaining on the official ASP timer. Nothing came, and Joel grabbed the World Champion Crown for the second time of his career after waiting 6 years for it.
Delphine Stein
ASP Europe/EPSA Manager
Villa Casa Mia
9, rue des Acacias
40 130 Capbreton
France
Ph. (33) 5 58 72 39 96/ (33) 6 85 05 49 46
Fax. (33) 5 58 41 85 89
e-mail: aspeurope@wanadoo.fr
site: www.aspeurope.com
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