INSANE IN THE RAIN

The Flow Tour National Championships Blows Into Wave House San Diego
September 21 - 22, 2007

On the last weekend of summer, the Flow Tour National Championships blew into Mission Beach, at the same time as the first rainstorm of the season. As clouds and rain swept down from the northwest, more than 90 bodyboarders and stand up flowboarders swept into Wave House San Diego from across the country and as far away as the Netherlands and South Africa.

After nearly five months, 13 states and hundreds of competitors from all over the globe, The Wave House Flow Tour International Flowboarding Championships brought together the best of the best to compete over two days in nine divisions for bodyboarders, drop knee bodyboarders and standup flowboarders.

Presented by Royal Caribbean International, the winners of the Expert Bodyboard and Expert Stand-up divisions won seven-night Royal Caribbean cruise vacations for two on Freedom of the Seas SM or Liberty of the Seas SM - the only cruise ships in the world you can surf on.

There wasn't much cruising going on at this event, which started on Friday.

The divisions were Junior's Bodyboard Junior's Stand-up, Men's Bodyboard, Men's Stand-up, Female Bodyboard, Female Stand-up, Drop Knee, Expert Bodyboard, Expert Stand-up and Traveller's.

The competitors for the Traveller's division came from as close as La Jolla and as far away as the Netherlands and South Africa. Nic Huebing was part of a posse of flowboarders from the Midwest, from the Kalahari Water Park in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin: “This was our second year at the Wave House for the national competition. First year we took five, this year we took twelve. But I can honestly say that this was the better trip. Three of our crew - Scotty Stoltz, Mike Johnson and Dan Higgins - had flown down to San Diego four days prior to the rest of the team. The night they arrived they had been invited to surf at a private party at the Wave House hosted by “Hot Tuna.” Dan Higgins got a laceration on his head, but he had to wait to go to the hospital until Mike and Scotty were done riding. Doctors told him he couldn't ride for a few days but he ignored their precautions and rode the beach-break the next day and followed with the B-Max (he is now stuck with the name “scarface”). Mike J. and Scotty S. adapted pretty fast and ripped it up. Brenden Fenske was a rookie this year but he shocked us with how well he did: being goofy-footed helped. But he still can't hold his Corona very well.”

In every heat, all riders took four runs of 45 seconds, and were judged on barrel riding, sprays, switch-stance riding, airs, grabs and style: “The judge's forms and instructions were to score each ride in 5 different categories each accounting for a percentage of their overall score for that ride,” said Chris Granone of World Class Bodyboards, who served as Head Judge:  “The categories are:  Use of Barrel (10%) Cutbacks/Sprays (10%) Switch (20%) Airs (40%) and Style (20%) . As the judges and competitors alike were instructed of these guidelines, the Judges were required to put one score in each of the five categories for every ride of the finals (80 scores for 20 rides).  The level of performance throughout the final was simply phenomenal and unprecedented.”

The judges and competitors ground through dozens of heats on Friday, as the storm came down over Mission Beach, turning the blue skies gray and throwing a lot of spray of its own.

On Friday night, announcer Manny Vargas took some of the Traveller's crew for a walk on the wild side of the border: “Manny took us across the Mexican border Friday night for some delicious lobster and beer,” Nic Huebing said. “ To say the least our couple trips that we took across the border were FUN J (TJ-what can I say lol).”

SATURDAY

 What happened in Tijuana stayed in Tijuana, but what was happening at Wave House on Saturday morning was gray skies and the threat of rain. The rain was threatening to drench a lot of spectators who weren't being drenched by the spray from the Bruticus.

The morning started with a pancake breakfast put on by the Rotary Club. Competitors fueled up on all-you-can-eat pancakes and sausage for $8, and then spent the day rotating.

Nic Huebing and friends went into the final day with the right attitude: “I would say that we all pretty much were not expecting to do great in the competition as we do not have a B-Max of our own here in Wisconsin. But we all just went to have fun and enjoy ourselves and I think we thoroughly accomplished that.”

Competition highlights on the final day included Hayley Balderrama going hard in
the Drop Knee Division against three men, but there was no surprise when Tyler Danek dominated the Expert Bodyboard division: “ The Expert Bodyboard Final was judged with our ASP style Flow forms that allowed the Judges creative freedom to consider the fundamentals,” said Chris Granone. “rather than giving them points and put more concern on the degree of difficulty and overall style of routine. That final was as difficult to judge as the Stand up.  The results seemed to be in agreement with spectator opinion.”

James Lovett made it into the final of the Men's Bodyboard division, but that, and really everything that happened that day was all fireworks leading up to the battle in the Expert Standup division between Greg Lazarus and Jamie Lovett: “Watching the Expert Stand-up division was awesome” said Nic Huebing. “Especially Lovett and Lazarus pulling off some insane tricks and aerial maneuvers.”

Jeff Ranta and Tyler McIntyre pulled off moves in the Expert Stand-up final that would have been more than enough in any other heat, but this final had the two current superstars of flowboarding, and they went off. Greg Lazarus had to interrupt a run halfway through to switch out a broken board. He got back on the Bruticus and pulled off a one-legged backflip.

Lovett countered with some insane runs that included a double backflip, and then Lazarus did one run strapless, throwing out a Superman air and then hanging five in the barrel, which sounds easy but is way harder than most people think.

Four runs each for all of the Expert Stand-up finalists, and in the end it was anyone's call between Lazarus and Lovett. Chris Granone was the Head Judge and he put into words what a lot of people were thinking: " You are certainly not alone in your thoughts that Greg should have won.  Aaron Stele was the first to suggest from a spectator's view he thought Greg won before the results were even tallied. I also felt, as a spectator that Greg was the most progressive, stylish rider in the event. Although Jamie clearly went huge, performing a wide range of spectacular, unprecedented  air maneuvers. Lazarus not only equaled or exceeded the amplitude and range of maneuvers, Greg was the most stylish and progressive.  In my opinion, the reason Jamie received more points (and ultimately the victory) was because he was getting full points in the Switch category.  Switch Category accounted for 20% of the overall score on these sheets. Even thou Greg matched or surpassed Jamie's scores in 4 of 5 categories, Greg was not getting full scores in the switch category and Jamie received max points in this category every ride, which was 20% of the total score of each ride. ”

Aaron Steele backed this up: “ Like a lot of people I thought Laz should have won because of his silky-smooth riding and dynamic runs (he even killed it strap-less for one run when Jamie didn't) but in the judges defense they were noting all these variables between the two riders and it was still very close. I tallied all the judge's scores and here are the results of the top two guys. Jamie Lovett 's three-wave average was 9.80. Greg Lazarus ' three-wave average was 9.50 I personally reviewed the score cards and the major difference between the two riders was Jamie performed nearly all of his aerial maneuvers from a switch-stance which has a higher degree of difficulty.”

Lovett got the nod and won a seven-day cruise from Royal Caribbean – click here for Jamie's interview. But this was just the start of a beautiful rivalry between the South African and the Mexican. Jamie Lovett and Greg Lazarus are two guys who are pushing the hybrid art of flowboarding deeper into the stratosphere. 

In the end, a pretty good time was had by all, according to Nic Huebing. Who had to be handcuffed and drugged to force him on the plane back to Wisconsin (just kidding):
“There were a lot of people that we met there, both local and out-of-state with a few international thrown in there and a few friendships were made in the process. This trip was very fun to say the least, everything we did and experienced might be a bit too graphic to write down haha but this year was a great one and we are very much looking forward to next years nationals turned internationals .”