Rapanui Frostbite Surf Series Event 5
May Bank Holiday Monday saw the fifth and final event of the 2010/11 series take place at Sandown. After a poor run of swell no contest took place in April but a fortuitous Easterly wind-swell arrive at the start of May.
With strong winds & currents it was going to be about stamina as much as it was about surfing talent. The Juniors were first in to face the testing conditions. In the Final Dominic Anorld took a superb wave at the start of heat to beat the rising talents of Jamie King and the very talented Henry Holmes.
Robyn Forrest emphatically took the overall Frostbite Junior Series, with Dylan Hamlet, Dom Arnold and Henry Holmes all tying for Joint second and Jamie King third. It could not have been closer! Well done to all the Juniors and it looks like we will have a very competitive series for next year.
In the Open we had a great turn out of 18 competitors all vying for points in the league and the chance to win the last event of the series.
The first semi-final saw a stacked field of talent including; Al Reed, Joe Truman & Josh Jupe, all three surfers vying for essential points to finish top three in the league. Unfortunately, it was Joe who lost out as he just could not find two waves that would let him show his skill.
In Semi-final 2 current ratings leader Matt Harwood had to contend with Chris Mannion and Phil Skelly. In a tight heat Matt managed to win through with Chris taking the second spot. Skelley was incredibly unlucky though and throughout the series he has continued to improve and will no doubt be pushing for final berths next year.
In the third Semi-final conditions had further deteriorated with the tide and all the competitors struggled to find any good waves. But it was Rapanui head-honcho Mart Drake-Knight who took the win and Kyle Abram taking second.
The six man final took to the water in hard, small and difficult conditions. Matt Harwood started like a man on a mission catching as many waves as he could, meanwhile the others played a more patient game; Josh Jupe on his frontside found some good speed, bagging a couple of reos & attempted airs, Chris Mannion found some nice waves showing some good backhand turns & Al Reed catching a superb lefthander and executing a good backhand carve and floater – the final was looking to be a very close call. However, in the last five minutes Matt Harwood killed off any challenge with two good lefts, putting in some solid progressive turns in the pocket all the way to the beach to claim the fifth event of the series – his third win in the series, and the overall 2011/12 Rapanui Frostbite title!
The overall event standings finished as follows:
Pos Name Points (Best 3 results)
1st Matt Harwood 60
2nd Al Reed 46
3rd Joe Truman 42
4th Josh Jupe 40
5th Chris Mannion 38
6th Doug Richards 32
7th Mark New 30
8th Phil Skelley 28
9th Nick Whittle 20
10th= Oli Harvey 16
10th= Jamie Whittle 16
A massive thank you must firstly go to Rapanui Clothing www.rapanuiclothing.com for supporting the re-birth of the Isle of Wight Surf Club, their continued support & the prizes they have supplied for every FrostBite Event from the start – it wouldn’t have happened without you!
If you are interested in getting involved please visit www.iowsurfclub.com or find there facebook page.