Lenny barrels win at the bell
THE World Surf League’s Big Wave World Tour continues to excite, with an entertaining one-day event at Mexico’s Puerto Escondido on Monday.
I was amazed to see 24 of the world’s best big wave chargers basically surfing a complete close out beach break wave that served up waves in the 20 feet range!
Mostly, they were wiping out and pulling into close out barrels and I’m amazed that someone was not seriously hurt.
But these guys simply know how to handle such big waves and they know how to wipe out and protect themselves.
The winner was Hawaii’s Kai Lenny and he’s a super deserving addition to the big wave tour.
Lenny is only 24 but he’s a superb waterman having been a windsurfing and stand up paddle surfing multiple world champion and his all around surf skills are incredible.
He stole the win in the final minute of the hour-long final when he caught his best wave of the day, which was a rare barrel ride that he made it out of to score the required excellent eight-point ride and take the win.
Australia’s Jamie Mitchell finished second after leading the final throughout.
It was a great performance by Mitchell who surfed the event while still recovering from a fractured sternum which he suffered only three weeks ago surfing big waves.
There is no doubt, watching these guys take on the ocean in as big a waves as possible is super exciting and it will be great to see the next Big Wave Tour event take place in either Hawaii or in Portugal later this year.
FOUR-DAY SURF FORECAST:
No massive waves for the Surf Coast but we should see a continuation of what has been a super consistent run of clean and moderate sized surf. Small today, best suited to beach breaks but look for a swell increase tomorrow with clean winds and reef waves to 1.5m right through the weekend outlook period.