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World Surfing Games 2008 - Update

posted on 16th October 2008

As the contest winds down to the business side of the event, we catch up with Pamela Bowren and David Lee to find out a bit more about what is cooking in the SA camp during the World Surfing Games 2008, currently taking place at Costa de Caparica in Portugal.

Dave: Firstly I would like to thank the National Lotto for their support, because without them none of this could be possible. The trip is only half way through and already I cannot count all the things I have experienced and memories gained.

For the first couple of days we free surfed as a team, preparing for the pending contest. The waves were small, in the 2-3 foot region, but clean offshore winds made for groomed, fun conditions.

On the morning of the opening ceremony the team set off in search of some uncrowded surf, when we stumbled upon a gem. Although the water was packed with locals, we were not discouraged as solid 5 foot peaks were heaving keg after keg onto the shallow wedging sandbar. The locals stopped us in our tracks as 10 of us in SA tracksuits started running down the beach, amping to go surf. We were told to leave or else!!!

After Sacha managed to calm down the angry locals, the actual problem came to light. This beach was run by bodyboarders and did not welcome surfers. So to our delight, Pam, Sacha and myself suited up and waved goodbye to out team mates, only to enjoy the cracker surf...and what a surf it
was.

On the contest side of things Sacha and myself made it through our first two heats, beating the World tour leader, Hugo Pinheiro and getting a close second to defending ISA WSG Champion Manuel Centeno respectively. Pamela unfortunately was on the receiving end of the soft high tide conditions in her round 2 heat and will have to keep the SA flag flying through the repo round.

Pam: Team SA arrived in Portugal on 8 October after very long flights and waiting in airports. We were greeted by fun waves for the first couple of days including a wedge with sick barrels and voyager miles waiting to be gathered.

Opening ceremony was a new and exciting experience with Matthew Moir and myself doing the pouring of the sand. WSG declared open!

Contest days:

Day 1: Bodyboarders were up first on podium 2 and longboarding on poduim 1. Sacha, Dave and myself won our heats with basic clean surfing.

Day 2 and 3: surfers were in, no bodyboarding

Day 4: bodyboarders in with small and soft conditions. Sacha and Dave managed to get the waves to put them in 2nd and 1st respectively. Due to the small and weak surf, I did not manage to find a backup score and had to settle for 4th place with only one decent score. Thanks to the repo rounds, I am still in the contest and if all goes according to plan, i will have to ride two extra heats to make it
into the Final.

The whole team vibe is amazing with teams flying their flags on the waters edge, supporting their team mates. After each victorious heat the SA team unleashes a war cry to strengthen spirits and intimidate others. The contest is an experience on its own, especially being a women competitor. Its awesome to see so many other girls in the water. Also a new experience is the amount of heats that need to be surfed to make it to the final. I would love to see more of this back in SA.

The Contest has run really well and is extremely organised with two podiums going simultaneously all day.

Thanks to all the sponsors, including that of the SA team - The National Lottery.

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