Two Filipinos, Indonesian take top honors at surfing competition

LA UNION, Philippines – Hometown favorite Daisy Valdez nabbed the women’s championship trophy and $1,000 USD prize at the Rider Sandals Beach Break International Surfing competition in La Union, Philippines, which took place from February 21-22.

Valdez, a mother of two, bested Australians Belinda Baggs and current ASP Australasian Women’s Longboard champion Georgia Young, as well as American Carla Rowland in the tightly contested 25 minute final.

Topping the Men’s Open Division was Arip “Mencos” Nurhidayat of Indonesia. His was was an impressive display of classic longboarding skills which included such maneuvers as hang 5’s, switchfooting, drop knee turns, and even a daring headstand.

“I’m so happy to be the winner here, as this is my first time to the Philippines and to win this contest is really something special,” Arip said.

Although Valdez took fewer waves and performed less maneuvers than her fellow contestants, according to head judge Subyakto the key to her win was taking the cleanest set waves and performing her maneuvers with complete control of the board in the most critical parts of the wave. Her familiarity with the wave as well as her low center of gravity was definitely an advantage in the conditions on offer. 

“I’m so very grateful and proud of myself, to compete with these girls who are really good and win,” said Valdez. “I was just out there today to enjoy it, not expecting to be the champion at all. I’m happy and thankful that for this last day we got such good waves and at my home break. Carille and here are both good, but winning here at the place where I usually surf was the best.” When asked what she will do with her bundle of cash she said, “I’ve got two kids, a boy and a girl, so this prize money I’m going to save for them.”

Filipino Jhenard Fernandez, a 16-year-old upstart, took home the junior division trophy. He out-surfed 9 of  the best up-and-coming longboarders the country has to offer.

The event  kicked  off at Carille “Jesus” Point for the elimination round and wrapped up at Mona Liza Point, which offered better waves on championship day.  A total of 59 surfers from countries including Australia, Indonesia, Korea, the USA and the Philippines competed in this first surfing tournament of its kind.  The surfers used 2-3 foot waves perfectly scripted for what is known in surfing speak as “logging” (the use of traditional 9 foot plus single fin surfboards).

When asked how he managed to pull off a win under those conditions against the 3 La Union locals who pushed Arip to the limit, he says,  “I don’t know how I won, I just kept trying things and having fun out there.  The wave here was way different than at Carille yesterday, and also different from my home break of Batu Karas in West Java, (Indonesia), but it was fun too, as it gave me a lot of options to try.”

Arip also won the Nixon “Most Exciting Maneuver” of the event award for his unique Hang 5 switchfoot to Hang 10 then back to Hang 5 move, adding a Nixon “The Unit” watch to go with his trophy and $1,300 USD cash prize.

Mike Ochosa, president of the event’s chief organizer Viva Sports Management Inc., was delighted with the quality of the event, stating, “We embarked on this project because we believe that our local surfers can compete with the best in the world. To know that they can become the best they need to match up with the best.  We wanted to give them the opportunity and experience to know where they are at, where they can go but most importantly to believe that they can do it.  

“We have world-class surf spots so our surfers should be world class as well.  Our goal was simple:  To start a competition and create momentum to make it a yearly sporting event. Goal achieved.” – Rappler.com