Second stop on the European Tour of Longboard this year was held at Vieux Boucau, (Landes, 15 kms north from Hossegor) last weekend, in testing conditions.

This event was organized by legendary Vieux Boucau Surf Club, established in 1973, a true hardcore, longboard-minded and traditions keeper surf club. The club has been organizing French Cups of Longboarding for more than 15 years in a row and this year was about  time to push things forwards and step up to the European level.

As the swell and weather forecasts were pretty negative, Vincent Guelfy (President of the Surf Cub, Contest Director and even contestant in this E.T.L), and his team had made it all perfect so that the contestants and staff members could enjoy their stay in Vieux Boucau, despite the awful weather and waves.

First check-in was scheduled on Friday morning, 9:00 sharp, and with overhead messy conditions, strong sideshore south winds, the forty contestants and the staff members decided to start the contest before the high surf alert arrived on the contest site, then the ocean would definitely be too big to run the event.

First round of the men and the two girls’ semis were therefore done by the beginning of the afternoon.

No big surprise from one heat to another, the best Europeans were there and went through their first heats without big trouble, except for Elliot Dudley (semi finalist at the LOGJAM in Jersey in July) who got smashed off by local hero Vincent Guelfy on the first round. All the contestants did have some difficulties to get a good second score in these big, messy conditions and most of the time the paddling out was really exhausting, so the guys who went through were either the best (or luckiest) paddlers, or the ones with a better ocean knowledge. The other surprise from this first round came from Mediterranean outsider Julien Forest, who got through thanks to a great wave selection and committed, controlled turns.

Entering the quarters, all the usual contenders were still in the contest, the three lads from U.K Skinner, Griffiths, Parry, opposed to the frenchies Creignou, Deniel, Castera, Delperro and Maurin.

By the beginning of the afternoon, the ladies’ semis were launched in totally wrecked conditions. Being the only Ladies event on the tour this year due to the Lacanau event cancellation, and with French longboard superstar Justine Dupont being down at Pantin WQS (Spain) chasing for her maiden European shortboard title, Claire Dereux (Lacanau) and Agathe Lasalle (Biarritz) had open field to fight  for the E.T.L 2008 title.


Agathe finally got the best waves and the most committed turns, in second came Claire Dereux and in third and fourth were young locals Julie Delhay and Emilie Libier. Congratulations to all the girls who did their best in testing, hardcore surfing conditions.

The Saturday morning call was not a big surprise, as contest director, tour rep and head judge decided to call the whole day off. The ocean was totally devastating, 15 ft swell, with strong onshore winds and pouring rains.

On Sunday morning the sky had become kind of quieter, the waves still overhead, were finally makeable and the contest resumed with first heat of the quarters.

Antoine Delperro had a bummer when, on a set wave before the beginning of his heat, he snapped his longboard and had to swim in, get his backup board and paddle out again. Exhausting journey for the French longboard maestro, who finally reached the line up with only 12 minutes remaining in his heat, but eventually managed to get the two best waves of the heat and qualify with French fellow Alexis Deniel to the semi final.

In the three other quarters, committed surfing, good ocean knowledge and a little bit of luck were obviously the keys to perform. Bad luck for Jersey winner Rémy Arauzo, who broke his favorite longboard on Friday afternoon and could not find the good way to surf a borrowed one.

Timothée Creignou, Romain Maurin, Damien Castera, Julien Forest, Ben Skinner and Adam Griffiths all qualified for the semis, in dropping but still overhead mushy conditions.

In the semi finals, Antoine and Alexis qualified again by choosing the best waves and committing themselves in every sections the horrible waves had to offer. Ben Skinner was definitely a standout, proving to be the fastest, strongest surfer out in the lineup. The E.T.L 2007 Champion even found a deep tuberide, combined with strong snapping turns and flawless noserides, and was rewarded with a near perfect 9.73 (out of possible 10). He even chose to paddle in and rest after this impressive second score, with more than 9 minutes remaining, and let good friend Adam Griffiths get the runner-up spot in that second semi, in front of the two Basques Damien Castera and Romain Maurin.

After a midday break, the contest resumed by two in the afternoon with the big final, between three powersurfers (Alexis, Adam and Ben) opposed to stylish and flaired Antoine Delperro. The sun was finally out, the beautiful Vieux Boucau beach began to be packed with interested spectators, and the ocean, still messy, was offering on the low tide sandbank a huge, closing-out wave, breaking offshore on barely two feet deep of water. The impact zone was totally gnarly and first victim was Adam Griffiths who snapped his two last longboards (he had snapped his first one on Friday afternoon) on his two first waves, and didn’t manage to do well in the final has he was constantly paddling back in and out to get his backup boards. Ben Skinner could not find the good waves and the final ended up in a mano a mano between Alexis and Antoine. Alexis (2007 French Champ) chose his waves cautiously and managed to do a few turns before the closing out.

The finalists all took serious beatings in the impact zone, and Antoine, heat leader during most of the final (with an impressive 8 point ride), ended up the heat swimming, as he snapped his second longboard of the day while looking for a second score as Alexis found a 7 pointer in the last minutes. Hardcore final, serious, difficult surfing conditions from the beginning to the end of the contest.

The end results seemed fair to the entire crowd present on the contest site, surfers and judges, as the most committed surfers scored the best waves.

The price giving ceremony was held down on the sunny beach, in front of the club, in the presence of the Mayor of Vieux Boucau, the founder of the Surf Club, and the President of the European Surfing Federation.

The contest was dedicated to the loving memory of Xavier Lavignolle, who had always been committing himself in helping the longboard and surfing community, sharing his love and passion with all.

Alexis Deniel dedicated his victory to Gauthier Hamon, French longboard superstar who tragically disappeared way too early.

Final results are:

1^st- Alexis Deniel (Perros Guirrec, North Britany)

2^nd Antoine Delperro (Biarritz)

3^rd Ben Skinner (U.K)

4^th Adam Griffiths (U.K)

Third stop will be next week-end in Biscarosse, France, for another hardcore longboarding weekend.

On behalf of the European Surfing Federation, we wish to thanks the Vieux Boucau Surf Club and his sponsors, all the staff from Vieux Boucau Surf Club, all the contestants and the judging panel.

Keep surfing

Julien “Vico” Hamel