The way surfers greet winter..
Kriss | Surfing | December 08, 2011
When friends at home ask me what am I up for the weekend, I usually surprise people by saying, that I’m going to surf. People still don’t realize there’s enough surf in the Baltic sea. However I was surprised myself, when friends from Latvia announced the very first Baltic surfing contest right as the winter has started. The forecast was just perfect, some predicted swell for up to 4m (12 ft). And you really can get this big and gnarly windswell in the winter months. We just couldn’t miss it, thus another couple surfers from Klaipėda – Tomas and Marius, joined me for the trip on early Saturday morning. The calendar said DECEMBER the 3rd, but what the heck, competitors list was counting 19.
Team Lithuania: Marius, Tomas and myself.
We have parked right in front of the break and were analyzing the spot with a cup of tea in hand. Sadly, the wave wasn’t any good. Things happen this way, when the swell is generated by the wind, there’s no accurate forecast. However little by little the wave started to clear and organizers decided to take a shot. All three Lithuanians were drawn for the same heat, but Latvians decided it isn’t fair and put me on the first heat. Nothing better could have happened: surfing the very first heat on the spot I’m in the water for the very first time. First couple take-offs were unsuccessful, it’s been over a month since my end of the season. It took some time to get back on track and cold water wasn’t helping at all. I had to step back and see what other surfers are doing on the water. After some paddling I saw a nice bump coming towards me. Turn, paddle, take-off and I’m going for it. Bottom turn, some pumping and here I come for a cut back. My foot slid off the board and I fell, but that was good enough for the jury. I just got lucky! Everyone on the shore were stoked: “Nice turn!”. I myself was disappointed a bit, I didn’t finish the turn properly, but I made it to the semi-finals. Some time in sauna will get me prepared for that.
On the other end both Marius and Tomas made it through their heat against 4 Latvians. In the first semi-finals heat I was surfing against Tomas and Renārs (1 place), Artis (2 place) and couple more Latvians. I didn’t get a single wave and that was a miss. I can blame the board, the waves, the sea or sand, but this is the game. I just didn’t get lucky. Tomas went on the same path, but there still was Marius heat coming up. He not only made it to the finals, but also caught a really nice and long wave for the third place. Congrats again, pal! The wave at the Palm Beach spot is really nice and we’ll most certainly come back here. But maybe next summer?..
Results:
1. Renārs Bīrmanis, LV
2. Artis Mikāls, LV
3. Marius Satkevicius, LT
4. Gatis Anerauds, LV
5. Kristiāns Lipše, LV
6. Mikus Valdbergs, LV
7. Ilvars Pūpols, LV
8. Tomas Uksas, LT
9. Edijs Vucēns, LV
10. Kristupas Malakauskas, LT
11. Aleksandrs Bondars, LV
12. Mārtiņš Sproģis, LV
13. Mārtiņš Viļums, LV
14. Miķelis Baštiks, LV
15/16. Nauris Daukste un Mārtiņš Sleja, LV
Big thanks for Marcis Rukis and Kristine Garklava for pictures. Paldies!
