MAKING bigger surfing waves while continuing to impress on the world stage in the New Year!
That’s the goal of Barbados’ multiple Junior and National Open Women’s Surf champion and 2013 Sports Personality, Chelsea Tuach.
Tuach, who is the third ranked Junior female surfer in the world, told MIDWEEK SPORT that she will be going after more surfing glory next year.
“This (2014) has been an amazing year for me. I have learned so much and I feel ready to make the push to qualify for the World Championship Tour next season,” Tuach said.
“I have become acquainted with many of the surf breaks, surfed against and matched up with some of the best professional female surfers in the world,” she noted.
Tuach said she has benefited from having an amazing coach in Jim Hogan and personally thanked her sponsors, ROXY, Dakine, Dragon, Futures and Surfergirl Suncare for their support.
The first assignment next year for the 19-year-old Tuach will be the World Surf League (formerly the Association of Professional Surfers) 6000 event in Hainan Island, China, in mid-January.
“I have already begun my training to be ready and hopefully continue to make Barbados proud,” she said at the close of her season last weekend as she takes a short break to spend Christmas with family and friends.
Tuach had started off the 2014 ASP Pro Junior season in a blaze of glory, winning the inaugural event at Soup Bowl while she reached the semi-finals of both the Ron Jon Junior Pro at Sheppard’s Park, Cocoa Beach, Florida, in March and the Vans US Open of Surf at Huntington Beach, California, in July.
She was second at the Chain Resources Junior Pro in Taranki, New Zealand in April and ended the ASP North American Pro Junior season a close second to American Meah Collins after leading the rankings for most of the year.
Tuach also qualified for the ASP World Junior Surfing Championships which were held in Ericeira, Portugal in late October where she ended third overall for the second straight year. She was the highest placed North American Junior, male or female.
Tuach also performed impressively on her first full year on the ASP World Qualification Series, consistently dropping scores in the good to excellent range to get two top ten finishes, competing against more than 80 professional surfers.
The former Queen’s College student ended the season as the second highest ranked female from the North American region, after World Championship Tour surfer Sage Erikson.
She is ranked 25th out of more than 200 professional female surfers from around the world – the highest ranking ever of a Barbadian surfer on the ASP World Qualification Series.
Tuach ended her season taking her second consecutive ASP Soup Bowl Junior Pro title in mid-November which catapults her to the top of the ASP North American Junior Pro rankings.
Just one week later, she was victorious at Puerto Rico’s Corona Pro held at Middles when she was crowned the overall series champion after three events.
She is the first Barbadian surfer to achieve this honour and her outstanding achievements have caught the eye of film producer Penny Hynam, who is producing a documentary entitled – Living The Dream – The Chelsea Tuach Story.