A lay day allows the World’s best youngsters a chance to recover and recharge in the hope that tomorrow morning begins a little bit brighter. After two days of non-stop high performance surfing in epic conditions and hot sunshine, everyone can now at last, take a breath.

Windy 1-2 ft waves are not what contestants are used to look at here at Seignosse Le Penon. It seemed even the sun wanted a day off. The world famous French beach breaks have provided fantastic conditions for the opening 2 days of the event. Contest director Marcos Bukao said, “This has been the easiest decision I have had to make. We ran the maximum amounts of heats yesterday; we have completed 30% of the contest in just two days.”

Marcos was not worried about the pressure of a heavy schedule. He has the job of completing the event, which will crown the three new World Champions.

His cool Brazilian attitude has a positive outlook. ‘We can still finish the contest without time problems. We’re fortunate to have two independent contest podiums. Each one can run independently without any problem at the same time. This allows even better use of time and gives the surfers the best chance of surfing quality conditions’.

Forecasted wave conditions look to improve slightly tomorrow. A larger swell will hit again on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, when the event will produce even higher performance surfing from this great generation of surfers.

The 2008 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Championships takes place from the 24^th of May through until the 1^st of April.  Live action can be viewed via the following website: http://www.isaworldchamp.com/. Action commences at approximately 6.00pm (NZ time) each night.  Day four includes the second round of the under 18 girls division for New Zealand with all four girls in the water.  The boys will have a rest day.

Media releases on the teams performance will be distributed daily throughout the event.  For further information regarding the Rip Curl New Zealand Junior Surfing Team, please contact Ben Kennings at Surfing New Zealand 07 8250018, 0212278732 or email benkennings@surfingnz.co.nz. 

All surfers heats have been logged and can be viewed on http://www.isaworldchamp.com/ by clicking on ‘heats on demand’.

Support faxes can be received by the team in France through the following fax number - 0033 825 380 370.

The 2008 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships is an annual event having been held since 2003.  New Zealand has competed at the event since its inception as well as competing at the World Grommet Titles as it was formerly known since 1989.  New Zealand has been one of the top nations at each event with Jay Quinn (Gis) securing New Zealand’s first World Championship in the Under 18 Men’s division in 2001.  New Zealand also placed fourth in 2007 – it’s highest placing since 2001.  The 2007 team were aided by finals berths for Matt Hewitt who placed third in the under 16 boys and Paige Hareb who placed fourth in the under 18 girls.  28 countries are competing at the event in 2008.

The tour would not be possible without the support of Rip Curl, New Zealand Community Trust and Surfing New Zealand.

Surfing New Zealand are proudly partnered by

Corona

Hyundai

SPARC

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