Ben Player Takes The Arica Chilean Challenge
Source: www.ibaworldtour.com
posted by Jason Bitzer on 11th August 2007
Presented by: Science Bodyboards
In association with: Muncipalidad De Arica, No Friends, Via De Escape, Stealth Fins, Panamericana Hotels, Nacap, SOHO, Demolicion, Cyclo Publico Restaurant
Day 5 of the Arican Challenge was a very well orchestrated finally to a very successful event. The day started off with man on man quarterfinals! Manuel Centeno (Port) and Ivan Hernandez (ISL Canarys) started off the day's competition. The swell had backed off over night making it hard for the contestants to find the high scores! Manuel had been able to constantly find the sets as Ivan had bad luck losing his board and gaining slight injuries on the inside rocks!
Next up Yeray Martinez (Canary Islands) and Pierre Louis Costes (France) began doing battle against each other and the conditions. Pierre had been on the offensive the entire heat not giving an inch to Yeray and in the end Pierre came up with multiple scores which Yeray could not counter. In the final seconds both Yeray and Pierre let lose for the crowd, Pierre with a huge air reverse on a deadly close out section and Yeray with a barrel to ars that was a little to late to make a difference in the final scores!
The next heat was a crowd favorite as Dave Hubbard's fun filled tactics went into play against one of the fiercest competitors on the IBA tour Jugo Penhiro. Jugo would combo barrels to airs and Dave would counter with similar waves but with a bit more flare. Dave's Barrel to Ars to carve was enough to take out Jugo, who with 4 minutes left in the heat he took himself out of the heat due to a twisted knee on the inside rocks!
Following Dave's success fellow Hawaiian Paul Benco came up short to a on fire Ben Player. Ben controlled the majority of the heat with Paul only getting one last minute heroic wave under his belt with a long barrel to roll.
The Semi finals started to slow down a bit more with the waves dropping to an inconsistent 4 ft with still very solid barrels and air bowls. Pierre Louis Costes was not able to find the same stride he had been caring the rest of the event and Manuel Centeno progressed with ease, as he was able to find contestable waves with in and barrels and roll/invert sections. The following Semi was a bit more interesting with Dave Hubbard giving Ben Player a run for his money as they surfed wave after wave to perfection both gaining barrels to airs with Ben's scores coming out a small fraction higher then Dave's. When the buzzer sounded Dave was out of the event and in frustration took off on massive closeout in which he launched into the air with an invert, which was one of the biggest of the event, only to get smashed on the landing.
With some time spent with a slight break in competition a light wind textured the Prior perfect 4ft conditions making the final even harder for the Manuel and Ben to compete in. Ben took off on his first wave and rolled twice in the pocket to get a quick score under his belt. Manuel again tried to utilize the wave to the fullest but with the onshore conditions the lips where not as easy to time making his maneuvers not as crisp as in prior heats. With just under ten minutes a large lull had come to an end with Ben swinging around into what all thought would be a closeout barrel. Ben came flying out of a decent sized closeout section clean enough to crown him the winner of the event as no solid sets would roll through as the clock wound down!
Ben later went on to explain his strategy in the final, "I was injured early and had very little use of my legs so I was concentrating on finding the barrels in the heat, all I was able to do was a roll but luckily I found the one solid barrel in the heat". Ben later stated that fellow competitor Manuel Centeno had said to Ben that if he was too hurt to compete it was not a problem and he would exit the water with him if he chose to. This was a great gesture and showed the true nature of this event, which is the progression of bodyboarding competition through a combined effort.
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