September 23, 2011: The KSP World Tour is pleased to officially kick off the One Eye Pro in Mauritius, the first of its three World Championship Wave Riding Tour stops.
With light wind forecasted for this first day of the event, no competition will be run today, as event organizers have decided to wait for better conditions to arrive. “Conditions for the rest of the week look excellent,” says Head Judge Brad Price. With both wind and swell forecast to build the next couple days, the outlook for epic conditions couldn’t get any better. Tuesday looks to be the peak, promising 4.5-meter swell, at a period of 15 seconds, along with strong winds.
As the final competitors arrived last night at the Indian Resort & Spa, the 36 riders completed registration at the rider’s meeting, where they met with event staff, the media crew, local organizers and the judging panel. All ISA-accredited (International Surfing Association), the six-person judging panel is comprised of Brad Price (Hawaii), Carla Twelkemeier (Germany), Felix Pivec (Hawaii), Johno Hutchinson (South Africa), Jose Luengo (Spain) and Lex Donse (Holland). Yesterday afternoon, judges spent a portion of the day judging dummy heats out at One Eye. At the rider’s meeting, the judges fielded questions from competitors, laid out the rules for wave possession and interference, as well as announced a maximum number waves (15) that can be scored per heat.
Meeting the field of competitors at last night’s meeting, riders also met the KSP’s media crew, comprised of Christian Tillmanns (Media Director), Diogo Cardoso (Videographer / Editor), John Bilderback (Event Photographer) and Brian Wheeler (Publicist / Staff Writer). The local event organizers ”” Patrick Desvaux Marigny, Matthew Buzza and Benjamin Draper-Bolton ”” who have done an incredible job of making the One Eye Pro happen, were also introduced.
The official lineup of riders for the One Eye Pro includes: Airton Cozzolino (Cabo Verde), Bruno Bordowsky (Brazil), Etienne Lhote (France), Guilly Brandao (Brazil), Gunnar Biniasch (Germany), Gustavo Foerster (Brazil), Herve Boure (France), James Donaldson (USA), Jeremy Eloy (France), Jesse Richman (Hawaii), John Amundson (Hawaii), Juan Pabloo Diban (Chile), Lee Harvey (United Kingdom), Marc Ramseier (Switzerland), Mauricio Pedreira (Brazil), Max Bonieux (Mauritius), Mitu Monteiro (Cabo Verde), Nans Laviolette (La Reunion), Nuno Figuereido (Portugal), Oswald Schmith (South Africa), Patri McLaughlin (Hawaii), Patrick Desvaux (Mauritius), Sebastien Schmitt (La Reunion) and Sky Solbach (USA). The female roster includes: Elsa Saintville (Mauritius), Erika Lindberg (Sweden), Ines Correira (Portugal), Kelly Wren (USA), Kristin Boese (Germany), Maayke Tadema (Netherlands), Marie Gautron (France), Melissa Gil (USA), Muriel Vandenbempt (France), Ninja Bichler (Germany), Steph Bridge (United Kingdom) and Suzanne Kuiper (Netherlands).
The first live broadcast is archived at kspworldtour.com/live, available for immediate viewing. Stay tuned and follow the action via live webcast and live scoring.
The Mauritius One Eye Pro 2011 is sponsored by Indian Resort, MTPA Mauritius, Air Mauritius, Mauritours, Le Gall, Habit, Club Mistral and Silent Partners. The KSP tour is supported by ION and Vitamizzer.