Hot action and fierce sun; everything was cooking down at Fistral

Finals day of the Boardmasters Surf festival saw a mixture of conditions both in and out of the water.

The day started with mizzle, that wonderful Cornish combination of sea mist and drizzle, which accompanied by rather small waves, gave both competitors and spectators a bit of a challenge! 

Spectators on the beach enjoyed sweltering conditions and as afternoon temperatures soared

None the less everyone made the best of the early conditions.  As high tide came up, so did the sun, with both sea and shore conditions changing for the better. 

As the afternoon progressed the seas peaked saving the best waves for the Women’s and Men’s Open Finals at the end of the afternoon.  Spectators on the beach enjoyed sweltering conditions and as afternoon temperatures soared, the morning’s waterproofs and layers being replaced by bikinis and board shorts.

Saturday saw the Quarter’s, Semi’s and Finals of the WSL QS 1,000 Women’s and Men’s events, culminating with the champions receiving points, prize money and trophies as well as a drenching in Champagne!

At the beginning of the day there were two British ladies still in contention, Lucy Campbell and Peony Knight. 

Lucy went out in her quarter final to the eventual Champion, Claire Bevilacqua, but Peony continued into the Semi’s by beating Chelsea Roett in her quarter final.  Peony was eventually defeated in her nail biting Semi by Ariane Ochoa, who progressed through to the final. 

Claire Bevilacqua of Australia prevailed in the final against Ariane Ochoa with a score of 12.83 to Ariane’s 10.40. A former world number 6, Claire had a fantastic completion surfing with relaxed ease throughout the contest.

The men’s Semi’s saw Shane Campbell from Australia up against Tomas Fernandes of Portugal and the Italian Angelo Bonomelli competing with Bruce Mackie from Barbados. 

Angelo giving us the highest wave score of the completion so far at 8.9 and Bruce the second highest at 8.73. Shane Campbell prevailed over Bruce in a nail biting final with wave scores of 7.17 and 6.33. 

Angelo however took the best wave score of the completion with a perfect 10, the only 10 recorded in Boardmasters’ history!  A dramatic interference on a wave meant that only one score for Bonomelli was taken through, which left Shane the victor with 13.5.

So a dramatic end to a day of exciting surfing…

Words and images Suzanne Gilbert