The 2012 IBA World Tour is about to start with event #1 – The Pipeline Pro in Hawaii – 15th to 24th of Feb. 2012 – Watch the tour trailer and event trailer on the official IBA Youtube Channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/ibaworldtour
Read more about each event and the tour on the IBA website: http://ibaworldtour.com/
This year’s tour events: http://ibaworldtour.com/events/
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Congrats Jase ! Yewwwww Fronton Pro Winner !
Jase was a wildcard in this event, awesome Jase !
More details and videos on the IBA Wesbite
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Pierre-Louis Costes is the 2011 World Champ ! Congrats PLC ! What a crazy year ! Incredible performance, so much talent and commitment ! Yewwwww
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For many reasons we have not been covering the ISA world bodyboard championships on Spongercity.com – sorry about this. We have received some PR stuff but it’s all in Spanish and we only speak a little spanish, not enough to really be able to translate it.
Other than that we never understood how someone could be crowned “world champ” in one comp. A comp is a comp, a winner is a winner, it’s awesome to win a comp but how can you say you’re a “world champ” if you won one comp where 50% of the world top pros haven’t even showed up ?
Other than that the ISA is mostly managed by stand ups (we stand up surf too and love surfing as much as bodyboarding). We like things to be separated for many reasons. We believe each sport should have its independency. In most countries bodyboarding is part of the surfing federations or associations or whatever you call it. That sucks. To each sport its federation or association. Bodyboarders have been looked down on since ever, they’ve coped with stupid nicknames and clichés since ever and now they should be happy to be part of another sport federation ? Nah. Sorry but we believe in independency and we reckon bbers should drive their own destiny and make it happen for themselves even if it’s harder this way. Once again this has nothing to do with surfing, we love surfing as much as bodyboarding but we just think it’s normal for each sport to have their own structures. Same as wakeboarding is not associated with kayaking.
Other than that we’ve looked for a website and a live webcast for the ISA but couldnt find antyhing on Google and then when someone pointed us to a website that might be able to give us answers it seemed that we needed to login to watch a live event. We don’t login anywhere to watch a live event, sorry.
So, yes we might be stubborn idiots but we’re sure there are tons of other stubborn idiots like us out there supporting core bodyboarding and independent bodyboarding such as the IBA World Tour and other bodyboarders-owned-and-operated events.
Sorry for being so “extreme” or stupidly “hardcore” and we must confess this whole article doesn’t have much to do with the ISA event but it’s just some stuff we wanted to say and we just did now. Thanks for reading.
Eunate Aguirre is the new 2011 World Champ ! Congrats’ Eunate ! Yewwwww
We interviewed Eunate a few months ago on Spongercity.com – we knew it ! ha !
Read the interview here: http://spongercity.com/global/2010/11/25/interview-eunate-aguirre/
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Follow the Azores Bodyboard Festival here: http://www.bodyboard.pt/azores-bodyboard-festival/ (GQS Series).
The first day of the Azores Bodyboarding Festival went down in perfect 2 mtr waves today.
The race for the WWT world title continues with both Isabella Sousa (Brazil) and Eunate Aguirre (Basque) progressing through their first round heats
In the Men’s GQS event Tom Rigby and Jones Russell along with Sergio Alonzo progressed as the edge ever closer to spot on next years GSS.
The waves for the window look great and you can follow all the action here at the official website or here on the dedicated facebook page
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French shredder Pierre-Louis “PLC” Costes wins the Encanto Pro ! (Event #7 our of 8 events on the 2011 world tour) today in Puerto Rico ! Congrats PLC ! Well-done !
With this performance PLC has barred Jeff Hubbard from having a go at the crown during the Encanto Pro (Jeff could be the world champ during this event) and Jeff will have to battle his way toward the throne during the last event next month in the Canaries Islands his he wants to have a shot at the title ! PLC can now be the world champ as well since he’s #2 on the world tour rankings, so this is gonna be nuuuuuuts next month ! Final showdown at el Fronton ! Yewwwwww stay tuned for more ! We’ll let you know when to be ready and we might actually move to the Canaries for 10 days during the event and cover this ! Fingers crossed !
In the DK division Dave Hubbard wins the event while Damian King becomes the new DK tour champ ! Congrats to both you guys ! If we’re not wrong Damian is the only guy who has won the DK and Prone world titles ! Versatility !
Side note: Too bad other good dkers cannot make it to these events (Roach, Lackey, Feast, etc.). Had they been able to follow the tour and make a good living out of the sport we would have seen a real good DK scene like we have in the prone division. Appart from Dub who’s skills on the knee are unmatched on tour (and who’s probably THE most versatile rider right now) the other competitors are mostly entering the dk contest because they’re out there anyway for the prone contest. Some are super good (like Kingy and Winny) but the DK events lack some of the other super good dkers. Too bad!
In the womens division Lilly Pollard has won the event and the title race is still on ! Congrats Lilly !
Both Men’s and Women’s World Tour titles will be decided at the final event of each respective tour; the Men’s in the Canary Islands and the Women’s in the Azores. Pierre-Louis Costes has leapfrogged up the rankings to second and 300 points behind tour leader Jeff Hubbard while Pollard’s win has pushed her into third position on the WWT and Aguirre has maintained a 379 points lead on Sousa.
Check the IBA world tour website for more news and vids, no need for us to copy/paste/embed everything here, the IBA has been doing an amazing job this year ! Seriously, once again, thank you guys, bodyboarding has never been so cool to watch and follow during the last 15 to 20 years we reckon.
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Sorry we’re one day late on this one. The Encanto Pro (Stop 7/8 on this year’s world tour) started yesterday with the trials of the event. Waves looked pretty fun and the conditions are supposed to be good for the rest of the event says Manny Vargas on the latest highlight video. Check the IBAworldtour website to follow the event, live, news and everything ! The 2011 world champ could be crowned there so stay tuned !
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Congrats Alex ! From the IBA Site: “Alex Uranga from the Basque Country in northern Spain is the winner of the 2011 Nissan Reunion Bodyboard Pro at Les Archers in Saint-Pierre, Reunion. Uranga, 22, who won the trials into the main event, took his winning streak all the way to the final, defeating Jake Stone from Dunsborough in Western Australia, with minutes to go, in glassy four to six foot waves.
The Basque was carried on the shoulders of his brother and a friend from the water’s edge to the presentation area while the crowd whistled and cheered for him. He dedicated his win to all the people who believed in him back in the Basque Country. “It’s incredible”, said Alex Uranga, “I can’t put these feelings into words”.
Jake Stone, 22, beat reigning world champion and local, Amaury Lavernhe in the quarterfinal and Frenchman Pierre-Louis Costes in the semifinal. Stone, was coming first until 2 minutes before the final siren when Uranga caught his winning wave, a big back flip scoring him a 7.6 out of a possible ten. “It was a sick final unfortunately I got nipped at the end there. He [Uranga] took it apart, so I’m stoked for him”, said Stone. This is Stone’s best result on the IBA GSS world tour.
The full GSS & GQS Rankings after the Reunion Island event can be downloaded from http://ibaworldtour.com/downloads/”
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The Reunion Island Pro is ready to start ! (30th of Sept – 9th of Oct.) – The stage is set for what will be an amazing event in Reunion Island with the worlds best riders poised for a start tomorrow at 7.30am – The trials will offer 9 spots for the main event so the competition will be fierce. The waves are expected to ramp up overnight so the action will be red-hot as Les Archers goes into top gear. Check the IBA site for latest info about the contest and watch the trailer for this amazing event here: http://ibaworldtour.com
Can’t wait ! Should be a sick comp once again on the 2011 IBA tour !
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