Harley Ingelby is the Oxbow WLT Champion; Kai Sallas wins in the Maldives 2009

Harley Ingelby is the Oxbow WLT Champion; Kai Sallas wins in the Maldives 2009!!!
OXBOW WLT final - MALDIVES

Pasta Point – Chaaya Island
Thursday 29th October 2009

HARLEY INGLEBY IS THE OXBOW WORLD LONGBOARD TOUR CHAMPION – KAI SALLAS WINS IN THE MALDIVES

A hot Indian Ocean wind reached deep into blue eyes to keep them wide open as the top eight competitors focused on the quarterfinals today at Pasta Point. Eduardo Bage opened the show on uneven faces, with smooth chords and tinkling runs to the nose. Hawaiian Kai Sallas outfunked the bigger walls with strident high register turns, playing a tactical, patient heat, savouring intense moves, and advancing to the semi finals. When Oxbow’s Ben Skinner met Ned Snow, the Hawaiian opened with two huge scores, displaying clear and eloquent power turns. Ben responded with his trademark total commitment, never holding back, and racing a full hang ten in the sweet spot of the curl, suspending time, then setting loose on a series of rapid-fire hits. But he did not find the second set wave he needed to unleash, and was left with an excellent 5th place finish.

If Harley Ingleby could knock out 2007 Oxbow World Champion Phil Rajzman, he would claim a long-deserved, popular World Title. The two consummate professionals paddled out, focused and calm for a crucial thirty minutes. Harley improvised fluidly across the first wave, with tumbling notes at railroad pace. Then Phil found a thick wall, offering a new vocabulary of driving, piercing carves. The outcome was an 8.0, so Harley wrapped back, running onto the tip, then planting on the tail to score a 7.25. In the dying minutes Phil needed a 6.0, and took off on a smaller set with priority. He did not get the score he needed and all of a sudden, Australian Harley Ingleby was the 2009 Oxbow World Longboard Champion. Harley paddled in beaming like never before. He was handed his flag and carried with pride across the walkway by fellow Australians Josh Constable, Jared Neal and Bryce Young.

“This is the best day of my life,” said the overwhelmed Champion, a tear in his eye, after finally achieving his childhood dream. “Before I arrived in the Maldives after winning in Japan, all my mates back home were saying ‘don’t choke out there’. So I just dealt with things heat-by-heat, tried not to think about results, and surfed at my best. I’m so happy. It’s done now, so the rest of the event is just a bonus.”

Outback the entertainment continued, as an all-French heat unravelled between Antoine Delpero and Remi Arauzo. They both played patterns around the wave, recreating traditional style, and mixing it with the light-board revolution. This is what modern longboarding is all about. One style shouldn’t compromise another. Styles should mix. That’s the postmodern moment – and contemporary longboarding is a postmodern artform. Antoine flew into the semi finals.

Both Kai Sallas and Ned Snow showed great stamina in semi final one, keeping up their level of intensity with 8 point rides. There seemed to be no gaps between their moves, no apparent in-breath, just an outpouring of flowing noserides and turns. And it was Kai who clinched a slot in the final. Semi final two matched natural stylists Harley and Antoine. Both displayed footwork and noseriding, weighting and unweighting the board to create trim, all put together so quickly that the outward appearance is co-ordination. Actually, the movement of the feet offers a weaving of many points of balance. And the nose ride is the blue note, squashed and performed with soul, oozing quality and feeling, and signalling ‘style’.

Harley mixed feathering fives with outlandishly vertical re-entries and bagged an 8.90 wave score. Antoine stood at the tip, spine arched, head thrown, singing an anthem, dropped down, let the lip tap him on the shoulder out of curiosity, and made radical accents on deep sections for a 7.75. Up above, fleecy clouds thickened to the consistency of milkshake, darkened, dampened and gathered as thunderheads. A heavy tropical downpour let loose. As the steam and rain passed the waves turned glassy, and Harley emerged as the winner.

Following a short break, Harley paddled back out into the now shimmering lineup with Kai Sallas for the grand final. This was irresistible stuff. Watching it felt like you had just seen the secret, the mystery of surfing. The waves peeled perfectly. Kai and Harley surfed on an edge, working against the grain, milking every possible ounce of speed to set up for a blast, before ringing out. Some musicians play so much from the heart that their music hits you like a bullet. If it hits you like a sledgehammer, something is wrong, because then the music dulls or knocks you senseless. You want music, and surfing, to be killer, to take the breath away, so that you can be reborn in its presence. If you could can intensity in surfing, this would be the top brand. But this was also a display of ‘soul’ surfing - a devotional outpouring, a passion for longboarding. Kai Sallas won in the Maldives with a 7.90 and 7.75, and Harley is the new Oxbow World Champion.

By Sam Bleakley

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