I arrived in Pantin a few days beforehand, getting the ferry over from Cork in the remenants of one of the many storms that have been hitting the UK over the last few weeks. The crossing started out pretty bumpy with quite a few meters of swell and I was pretty uncertain in the week beforehand as to whether or not the boat would sail. Fortunately, it did, and we managed to arrive in Pantin after 29 hours at sea, and a few more in the car.
The day before the competition I had a pretty relaxed morning, taking my time to head to the beach, so that the tide would fill in, giving better surf. What followed was a really fun session with a lot of great waves coming through, my highlight was definitely popping a very smooth air in the pocket of the wave before dropping back down the green face and finishing the ride up with a series of smooth carves and aggressive slashed top turns. Getting off the water I felt pretty confident going into the competition and was excited to get underway.
Competition day started off well with perfect clean waves and I was out in the second heat. I was stoked to get out on the water and throw my boat off the top of the wave after watching the previous heat. With this, I took off not long after the buzzer went, dropping fast and throwing the boat vertical trying to carve hard off the lip for a huge turn, but unfortunately falling off the back by pushing the boat a little bit too hard and leaving the turn slightly too late. I was pretty annoyed, but, I soon caught another wave and this time linked up a long smooth ride with quite a lot of turns a different manouvers and was soon feeling good again. I finished up the rest of the heat with a few more rides, getting the boat up high on the lip of the wave and showing off my surfing to the judges, giving me the win.
Just over 40 minutes later I was in the water again in the first semi final and raring to go. This time, I struggled to get on the best waves, but I still managed to surf well enough to make it into the finals with some really nice rides.
Straight after the second semi, I headed straight back out to the peak, managing to catch a warm up wave, while the top two from the second semi paddled out. This really boosted my confidence going into the final and I felt great throughout the heat. It was amazing being in the water with all 4 finalists absolutely ripping, throwing buckets of spray and generally surfing with a ton of style. The final went really well throughout and I pulled off some super aggressive slashed turns in the power pocket of the wave, but my final wave of the heat was definitely my favourite. Surfing with a ton of speed from top to bottom, first smacking the breaking lip of the wave, air dropping down the face of the wave, then throwing the tail up, next snapping the boat around on the top of the wave before finishing with a long float across the lip line, before surfing into the shore. I didn't really know where I would finish, but I thought it would be pretty tight after seeing everyone else surfing.
I was super happy to come away with 3rd in the event and I feel great heading into the next event, the Irish open, in 2 weeks time. See you in Easky!
Words & Images - Matt Lamont
