Sun, surfing & spectacle! On Saturday the time had finally come and 1600 students travelled to the most popular event of the 2019 surfing summer, the adh-Open surfing, at the Belambras complex in Seignosse. The atmosphere was fantastic, because even during the check-in, friends from the previous year were met again, new acquaintances were made and expectations for this year’s contest were exchanged. After all the students had moved into their bungalows, the heat sheets and competition information were announced at the Riders Night in the evening.
The first call was already at 8:00 a.m. the next morning in the Open Men category and officially opened the adh Open Surfing 2019 contest in the water. A Sunday couldn’t have started better. Shoulder-high waves awaited the contest participants, which remained constant throughout the morning and offered the best conditions for spectacular maneuvers.
Out of a total of 240 participants, 180 students started in the Open Men class in 26 heats, which were held in parallel on the north and south podiums. Tobias Hante, contest director and head judge, decided to hold the second round of the Open Men directly afterwards due to the large group and the weather forecast for the next few days. The surfers took advantage of the top waves and fought their way through the heats with confident performances in the sun and clear water. The atmosphere on the beach exploded: people cheered, got excited, danced and enjoyed the sun to the fullest. It didn’t take long for the contest moderators to give their recommendations for the perfect Sunday: good mood, shorts, plenty of sunscreen and drink plenty of water. That’s roughly how you could sum up the vibe in the contest area. Christoph Edeler, adh’s sports representative for surfing, was very satisfied with the first day of the contest and was particularly impressed by the solidarity among the athletes and the support of the spectators.
In the middle of the spectacle were, of course, the Wavetours team riders: Arne Bergwinkel, Marc Piwko, Lilly von Treuenfels and Max Schulz. The best heat result of the day, on contest day 1, for the Open Men, was achieved by Niklas Erb (TU Munich) with 11.8 points, followed by our Marc Alejandro Piwko (Uni Düsseldorf) with 10.8 points. One of the highlights and above all an absolute success that caused a lot of excitement and cheering on the north podium was the heat with Johannes Grasser (German Sport University Cologne), who is known as Jonny and who lived up to his ambitious motto “Nothing can be done”.
Jonny, who is dependent on a wheelchair due to his infantile cerebral palsy in the form of tetraspasticity, had a special board made so that he could take part in the 2019 adh Open surfing competition for the first time. His goal was simply to be there; all he wanted was to be able to stand up on the board. However, he far exceeded this goal and surfed his first green wave in the ocean thanks to his team, four of whom supported him in the water. Back on the beach, with his team and his fan crowd, he couldn’t believe what a great job he had done on the board: “I was super surprised that I could even stand up, as it was the first time I had been in the sea with the board. The board was only finished two weeks ago and we only practiced on the lake twice. The wave was super nice and the feeling was awesome. From now on, I could only surf for the rest of my life. This would never have been possible without the guys who worked hard in the water to get me on the board and catch me again. By the way, I wasn’t nervous at all, it all happened so quickly and before I realized that I was standing, I was already surfing the wave.” A true inspiration for all participants and visitors here on the French Atlantic coast.
Of course, the Wavetours crew should not be forgotten when it comes to the well-known surfers from the 2019 adh Open Surfing. Two of our popular surf assistants from Moliets surfed in the Open Men class: Leif Nordsiek and Niels Nietsche. Also there was Joas Müller, responsible for board rental and Springer as a judge. Another component without whom the contest would hardly run is our head coach from Seignosse, Tobias Hante, head judge and contest director during the week of the adh Open Surfing. Of the girls, Marie Theres Ott, surf assistant from Seignosse, was also in the water at the start, as was Zoé Levit, surf assistant in Moliets. Also on land was Seignosse camp leader Ann-Sophie Ott, head of the organization team, who coordinates with passion during and after the event to ensure that all teams are in their positions on time and that the participants not only experience a smooth process for the contest, but also have an unforgettable time here in the South of France.
And here we are on contest day 2, which began with the first call at 8:15 a.m. with the women, more precisely in the Longboard Women class with 16 surfers. As on the previous day, the heats were split and held on the north and south podiums. In each heat, the students had 15 minutes to catch the best waves and show the judges their best maneuvers. Unlike the Open Men, the competition started from land.
The day’s victory in the Longboard Women’s category was clearly won by Valeska Schneider with 12.33 points, followed by Marie Theres Ott with 10 points and Lilly von Treuenfels with a score of 8.33 points.
This was followed by the Longboard Men’s class with the first round of a total of 6 heats and 20 students. The conditions were a little worse on the second day of the contest, the waves were about waist to chest high, and the wind was still onshore. One of the participants even lost a fin in his heat, boards were shared and the participants faced all challenges solidly and still had a lot of fun in the water. The Open Women’s class continued, and they were finally allowed to jump into the water with their boards. 49 students were able to demonstrate their skills here and increased the excitement among the spectators with their heats. Valeska Schneider, winner of the adh-open surfing 2018, won the title of best of the day with 14.07 points. Second best of the day in this category was Wavetours team rider Lilly von Treuenfels with 12.13 points, closely followed by Rosina Neurer with a score of 09.47 points.
The quarter-finals of the Longboard Men concluded the event. The best of the day in this class was our team rider Marc Alejandro Piwko (Uni Düsseldorf) with a score of 09.77 points, followed by Johannes Flesh with 7.73 points, and Eric Randow with 7.67 points. The spectators were thus able to see a wide range of spectacular heats during the day and marvel at some maneuvers and turns.
So after another successful competition, contest day 3 is approaching, on which, depending on the weather conditions, the quarter-finals of the various classes and round three of the Open Men will be held. As the contest days progress, the level of the surfers also increases and the spectators and participants are excited to see how the competition continues. In round three of the Open Men, the 10 best surfers from last year are again set, which increases expectations for the performances even more.
Just as the first day of the contest ended with a relaxed flea market and beats by BLUEFUNKT and DJ Bastimilan, the evening program for the second day of the competition includes a musical highlight. Jules Ahoi and Lui Hill will get the evening in the mood before the party continues with more DJ sets. We remain excited about the upcoming line-ups and of course follow every single heat of all participants.