After three super exciting heats of night surfing (yes, you read that right), Rip Curl walked away with the title at the Anglet Night Surf. Otherwise known as the Surf De Nuit, this fun and most unique annual event sees surfers compete in the dark, with LED boards so spectators can see them.
The competition consisted of three heats, each made up of six surfers that represented their teams. The winning team will be granted a couple of wildcards for the main event, Pro Anglet, which is held next week.
This year 18 athletes took part in the event, which kicked off at dusk in front of an audience of about 20,000, who watched excitedly from the beach. The first heat went to young ripper Thomas Debierre, who said: "It's pretty impressive to see all those people on the beach," he said. "There was such a fun vibe out in the line-up, we were all here to have fun and represent our team in a friendly spirit. I'm stoked to give Soöruz a first point and I'll cheer on Tessa and Jorgann in the next two!"
World 13, Pauline Ado for Rip Curl owned the second heat. Despite a slow start, she cut through the waves with some serious skill and put others to shame. She was just as impressed with the turn out this year – which is incidentally the first year that women have been allowed to compete. "I can't believe so many people showed up to watch us surf tonight," she said. "It's awesome to be a part of it this year, honestly us girls have been looking at it quite enviously these past few years. It's really beautiful out there, but pretty confusing cause you only see the waves right when they hit you pretty much, so you have to be sharp and alert at all times."
In the final heat, six surfers dazzled the crowds with some big turns and rotations. It was Vincent Duvignac who came out on top and scored the winning point for Rip Curl. "I'm super stoked to win with the team tonight, we're going to proudly showcase that awesome trophy in our Rip Curl offices," he revealed. "Thanks everyone who showed up to support us and the city of Anglet and WSL for putting it on, it was a lot of fun to be a part of."
The event is about much more than surfing, and atmosphere played a big part of the festivities. Crowds were entertained with surf films all afternoon, which were shown on a giant outdoor screen. Once the sun set a concert was held and music rang out all night. Isn’t surfing fun?
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Results
Overall Standings
Team Rip Curl
Team Soöruz
Team Quiksilver / Roxy
Team Lastage
Team Billabong
Team Hurley
Heat 1
Thomas Debierre 13.00
Gearoid McDaid 12.50
Gaizka Housset 12.23
Noa Dupouy 9.67
Julien Thouron 8.60
Dean Vandewalle 4.90
Heat 2
Pauline Ado 15.10
Tessa Thyssen 14.00
Neis Lartigue 7.90
Juliette Lacome 7.10
Ana Morau 6.63
Mahina Maeda 6.17
Heat 3
Vincent Duvignac 13.57
Jorgann Couzinet 13.33
Mathis Crozon 12.30
Romain Laulhe 11.56
Tiago Carrique 11.50
Iker Amatriain 8.67
Next week
We'll look back on the main event! Pro Anglet takes place on August 22 – August 26. Check back here next week for all the details...
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