Whatshot
Justin Becret and Rachel Presti claim Junior Pro Espinho titles
Justin Becret and Rachel Presti claim Junior Pro Espinho titles
Praia De Baia, Espinho - Portugal was under gray skies with bumpy, contestable surf, theJunior Pro Espinhocrowned two new champions asRachel PrestiandJustin Becrettook the titles.
In the men's draw France's Becret andAfonso Antuneswere the in-form surfers throughout the entire event. Fortunately they made their runs through opposite sides of the draw to meet in a dramatic final.
In men's Semifinal 1Kauli Vaastopened up with a mid-range score which Becret answered back with a 6.17. The heat sat quiet for a full 15 minutes until a set rolled through with Becret on the first wave and Kauli on the next. Kauli nailed two backhand gouges for the heat's highest single wave score, a 6.83, and seeing Becret paddling back out kicked out quick to engage Becret in a paddle battle for priority. Cheers erupted on the beach as the two surfers scratched elbow-to-elbow to be the first one out the back.
"I saw that Kauli pulled out of his wave early," said Becret. "I realized what was happening and I was trailing him and just gave it everything I could. It was really intense paddling against him like that. Having priority in a man-on-heat is really important. It gave me the advantage because he had to chase the smaller waves." It was intense to the final.
Women's semifinal number 1 was a seesaw battle between powerful regularfoot Rachel Presti and lanky goofyfootAinhoa Leiceaga. Presti's approach fit the bumpy rights and she produced some solid turns for the highest heat total of the women's semis, a 12.27.
"My strategy was to get a good one right off the bat and then back it up real fast with another one," said the German surfer by way of Florida. "But I took a really bad wave at first and my plan didn't go as it was supposed to so I was just trying to catch a couple waves under priority and get a good score."
Her strategy paid off with a 7.00 rewarded for powerful hook. "At the end I wanted to get a big set and do a big turn and that's what I did. It worked for me."
Scores mounted in the women's final compared to the earlier girls' heats. The UK surfer took the lead early with a 6.0s for a series of quick turns. Then Presti turned on her torque and secured the next two scores, a 5.93 and a 6.23. On Ellie's last ride she needed a 6.14, but only managed a 5.57, handing the victory to Presti.
Presti said she was super stoked with the win.