The Malibu FLOW Championships 2011 presented by the City of Durban - Friday 7th October - FlowRider

The Malibu FLOW Championships 2011 presented by the City of Durban kicked off at Wave House Durban in perfect conditions under the blue South African sky.

Today’s competition saw the entire FlowRider event running from quarter finals through to the finals with electrifying riding in all divisions. The day blasted into action with the Men’s FlowRider division and there was representation from almost every country the globe has to offer – showcasing the global reach the sport of FlowRiding has sunk its teeth into.

With all said and done in the Women’s division, Vanessa Arroyo – the wild card - stole the show. The Floridian clearly spends a lot of time on the FlowRider and her confidence, power and skill clearly showed. In second, but not far behind, was Jess Nichols who took out a loan to buy her ticket and would be stoked with her result and will hope to lay her smack down on the D-Rex tomorrow. Amy Luis from USA nabbed third with Singapore’s Gillian Tay taking 4th. All four girls have earned valuable points for themselves and were clearly stoked to be in the mix with their first visit to Durban, South Africa.

Next the bodyboarders hit the water, and it’s unreal to see how the level of riding has progressed. The old rivalry between Texas’ Nick Nguyen and Durban’s Billy Tennant was on. The two traded solid blows but in the end Nguyen held his nerve to steal the win. Tennant will have his work cut out for him in tomorrow’s D-Rex derby, but home town knowledge could give him the edge. Sean Silveira from Florida took third even though he is widely known as the master of stand up. Nick Edmunds from Australia came in a commendable fourth place amongst the elite in the sport.

The Men’s Flow had a serious air of tension about it and Alfian Affandi from Singapore tore the ride to shreds, boxing well above his weight category, and set the bar as high as humanly possible. And with the scene set, the rest of the elite field got to steady work redefining what was thought possible. To let you know how tough this heat was to judge – all three judges had the scores from first to sixth separated by less than a point! Never before has the sport been so tight.

Quincy Vligtig from Holland stomped arguably the trick of the heat with a 360 flip. Alfian Affandi landed a varial flip to the cheers from the Singapore corner. Nick Nguyen’s 540 big spin was landed so cleanly, and Greg Lazarus’ switch shuv was insane, but just wasn’t enough.

In the end the judges were hung after two hours of deliberating and a video review was the only fair way to split three ties. Stay tuned for the results. Talk about drama!

Stay tuned for D-Rex action tomorrow (Saturday 8th October) with quarter final action, Women’s semis and the Best Trick Event. This will be followed by a free concert with SA’s top bands, Locnville, The Graeme Watkins Project and The City Bowl Mizers. You don’t want to miss it.

Sponsors: Special thanks to Malibu, The City of Durban, Gateway Hotel, Primi Express, Quiksilver, Havaianas and Gateway Theatre of Shopping.

Team and individual results with scores to follow.