WHETHER there are big waves or small ones, Team Barbados is ready for whatever the surf in Peru can dish out.
This was the assessment of coach and manager of the Barbados junior surfing team Nicholas Donawa after the Barbados Surfing Association (BSA) held its second junior and senior Surfer Of The Year event at Parlour, St Joseph, last weekend.
He was speaking in the wake of members of the Nissan Barbados Junior National team dominating the competition which had to be switched from Drill Hall due to unfavourable conditions on the South Coast.
Two-time winner Danny Edghill, along with Caelum Blandford, the Chelseas and Che Allan thrilled spectators and judges with their talent as they gave a sneak peak of what to expect when the team participates in the International Surfing Association’s World Junior Surfing Championships in May.
Edghill showed his versatility in winning not only the Under-21 Open event, but the long board division, with a smile on his face, as well.
He came up against Brandon Frazier and Andre Clarke, wave riders and teachers from Zed’s Surfing Adventures, who made him fight for every point and every wave.
The other national team member Blandford, who surfed in two finals on Sunday, followed up his third place finish in the Under-16 Boys’ event with a first-place medal for the Under-18 Boys.
He also won the Expression Session with a front side air 180 manoeuvre.
Meanwhile, the Chelseas traded waves and split the winnings over the two-day event.
Roett took the top honours in the Under-18 Girls’ final, while Tuach won the two women heat in the Open Women’s final.
“I am extremely pleased with all of the finalists [Saturday] and [Sunday] because almost all of them are on our junior team to Peru,” Donawa said after the medal awards ceremony on Sunday.
“We’re heading out to Peru in the middle of May and we have, definitely, the strongest junior team we have ever had for over 20 years. I’ve been the manager and coach on quite a few teams and this is most definitely the most powerful [team] Barbados has ever produced,” he revealed.
Commenting on the two-day competition, he added: “We had Under-21, Opens, Under-18 and a lot of these surfers in the final were 12, 13, 14, so this shows a great promise for where Barbados is going to go.”
However, it was experience that trumped youth at the end of the day with Chris Clarke taking the prestigious Open division.
He also won the Senior Men’s division, while Carlos Wharton took the title in the Masters final.
The results are:
Under 18 Girls – Chelsea Roett; Chelsea Tuach; Isabella Venezia;
Chelsie Grant.
Long Board – Danny Edghill; Brandon Frazier; Andre Clarke.
Under 12 Boys – Che Allan; Zander Venezia; Andrew Rose; Jacob Burke; Liam Grant.
Masters – Carlos Wharton; Simon Coles; Louis Venezia; Melanie Pitcher.
Under 10 Boys – Zander Venezia; Damian Pitcher; Caleb Rapson.
Under 16 Boys – Joshua Burke; Danny Edghill; Caelum Blandford; Che Allan.
Senior Men – Chris Clarke; Louis Venezia; Geoffrey Tryhane.
Under 18 Boys – Caelum Blandford; Joshua Burke; Danny Edghill; Che Allan.
Open Women – Chelsea Tuach; Chelsea Roett.
Under 21 – Danny Edghill; Joshua Burke; Chelsea Tuach; Curtio Brathwaite.
Open Men – Chris Clarke; Curtio Brathwaite; Danny Edghill; Joshua Burke.
