Surfers Decide to Continue Waiting at ASP WLT Bear Pro presented by Jeep
LEVANTO, Italy (Wednesday, November 16, 2011) – A meeting was held at the ASP World Longboard Tour (WLT) Bear Pro presented by Jeep to discuss the options available to both surfers and organisers who are facing a very poor swell forecast for the remainder of the official waiting period. The majority of surfers decided to wait it out until Sunday and give the Bear Pro presented by Jeep their full support in an attempt to run the event.
Duane De Soto (HAW), 2010 ASP WLT champion and current rankings leader, was present at the meeting held with surfers, event officials and event management and gave his input to the whole situation and the outcome of discussions.
“Naturally everybody wants the opportunity to get some points or even maybe win the contest. Instead of looking at the forecasts ahead of time and making a prediction, the surfers as a majority would like to see the contest make a call on Sunday as well. Just to make sure we didn’t miss a surprise swell which didn’t come up in the forecast.”
“Respectable, very respectable,” continued De Soto in regards to the decisions taken. “It is hard to sit here every day but that is what we are here to do. So we can just let the days pass and see what happens. Hopefully something pops up.”
Marco Urtis from Area 51 surf club in Levanto is one of the most experienced locals in the area and was on hand at the meeting to give to the surfers what will be on offer over the coming days and the possibilities of having contestable conditions.
“The situation has not changed much. I was looking at the forecast all night and I have seen a really small low pressure system close to here off the north of Corsica. They predict 20 to 25 knots of wind. For Friday and Saturday they give a prediction of a 1-2ft wave, approximately 60cm.”
“The wind is good and the waves will come with offshore conditions but really small waves. It is still only a 50% chance of this situation happening. To be sure of that swell coming I need another day. At midday tomorrow we will be sure if the waves are going to come. I want to be sincere with you and this situation is not very promising.”
Bear Pro presented by Jeep Contest Director, Julien ‘Vico’ Hamel has continued to monitor closely the weather maps and wind charts to make sure that everyone is ready to go as soon as a swell hits the Levanto area. Fine weather is persisting over the Mediterranean and the summer like conditions are the result of the persisting high pressure hovering over Europe at the moment.
“The high pressure system is causing flat seas on the Mediterranean at the moment. I am checking on all the sites and it is hard to see anything coming. There is this little south push from Corsica which is close so the fetch will be very small and if we do have something it will be small and hard to surf.”
“The good thing is that both surfers and organisers want to make this event happen and get a proper champion from the results of two events,” continued Hamel. “I have been talking with the surfers and they want to make it happen whatever it takes. It is going to be complicated if we do have waves but we are hoping to have at least one and a half full days of swell so we can finish the event.”
Highlights from the pre-event free surf sessions and from the previous days of the waiting period can be seen by clicking on ‘videos’ at www.bearpro2011.com as well as the LIVE broadcast of ‘The Morning Show’ each day at 9am with interviews, forecasts and all the latest news on activities at the ASP WLT Bear Pro presented by Jeep.
The ASP WLT Bear Pro presented by Jeep will reconvene at 7.30am when another call will be made on conditions and a possible start to the event.
The ASP Bear Pro presented by Jeep will run from November 10 to 20 and will be webcast LIVE with the ‘Morning Show’, all results, photos and daily highlights seen at www.bearpro2011.com
The Bear Pro presented by Jeep is proudly produced by Reset Communications in association with Area 51, the Liguria Region, the Province of La Spezia and the town of Levanto. For further information regarding the ASP Bear Pro presented by Jeep log onto www.aspeurpe.com
ASP WLT Bear Pro presented by Jeep Round One Matchups
Heat 1: Antoine Delpero (FRA) Vs Matt Aldridge (AUS)
Heat 2: Eduardo Bage (BRA) Vs Mitch Surman (AUS)
Heat 3: Jared Neal (AUS) Vs Justin Bing (ZAF)
Heat 4: Rodrigo Sphaier (BRA) Vs Alessandro Demartini (ITA)
Heat 5: Kai Sallas (HAW) Vs Shohei Akimoto (JPN)
Heat 6: Tim Creignou (FRA) Vs Adam Griffiths (GBR)
Heat 7: Damien Castera (FRA) Vs Bradley Weare (ZAF)
Heat 8: Duane De Soto (HAW) Vs Marco Boscaglia (ITA)
Heat 9: Taylor Jensen (USA) Vs Ben Haworth (GBR)
Heat 10: Ned Snow (HAW) Vs Remi Arauzo (FRA)
Heat 11: Rusty Keaulana (USA) Vs Jefson Silva (BRA)
Heat 12: Amaro Matos (BRA) Vs Yasuaki Higashikawa (JPN)
Heat 13: Harley Ingleby (AUS) Vs Zak Lawton (GBR)
Heat 14: Ben Skinner (GBR) Vs TBA
Heat 15: Edouard Delpero (FRA) Vs Andre Derizans (HAW)
Heat 16: Tony Silvagni (USA) Vs Cole Robbins (USA)
Comments
Category: All ASP News, ASP Longboard News
What were they thinking? A contest in Italy? In the Mediterranean? Got what they deserved for being so stupid.
Why the F… they decided to run the event in Italy???!!!
There are waves there what, two times a year!
The WLT does not already have a lots of events so for the only ones, they could have choose
a better place!