LEWIS St.JOHN WINS SANS SOUCI PRO!

Lewis St.John took top honors at the 2009 Sans Souci Pro and is now the CSN points leader by a great margin.  

Barbadians Lewis St John and Chelsea Tuach along with Jamaican Ackeam Philips shared the championship honors at the 2009 SUZUKI SAN SOUCI PRO surf contest which went off in some small challenging conditions at the “Beach Break” surfing beach in San Souci, Toco on the 31^st Oct and 1st of Nov. The event featured the top Caribbean pro surfers and attracted 16 pro men, 3 pro women and 12 junior pro surfers.

A much anticipated North Swell cautioned the Contest Director to call a’ lay day’ to competition on Saturday, but still run an Expression Session.  The Best Maneuver was awarded to Lewis St. John (BAR) and the Best Wave to Inilek Wilmot (JAM).  The entire event was run on Sunday in 1’-3’ waves using a double elimination format with a full repercharge round. The event, now in its third year, is loved by the Toco Community who were on hand to give loud cheers and whistles each time a surfer executed an impressive maneuver.

There was much excitement as Trinidad and Tobago ’s top surfers matched up against the best from Barbados and Jamaica and showed that the Trinis are a force to be reckoned with. Trinidad ’s top performer, Christopher Dennis, was narrowly edged out by Tour Leader and Defending Champion Lewis St. John (BAR) in the open men division. Other top finishers in the open men included Icah Wilmot (JAM) Luke Williams (JAM), Alan Davis (TT), Christopher Clarke (Bar), Inilek Wilmot (JAM), Jason Apparicio (TT) who all finished in the top 8.

In the women’s division, Chelsea Tuach showed that it is going to be challenging to beat her this year as she has taken a very commanding lead in the point’s race. Dario Jordan (TT) fought to put Trinidad in a top Podium position, but just came up short to Ackeam Philips (Jam). The event was made possible through the kind sponsorship of Suzuki, Life style motors, Trinidad and Tobago Surf Experience, Corona, Dasani Water, Red Bull, Tropical Power and SATT

 

MENS DIVISION (US$)

1st Lewis St John BAR $1,200.00

2nd Christopher Dennis TT $ 700.00

3rd Icah Wilmot JAM $ 500.00

4th Luke Williams JAM $ 300.00

 

WOMEN DIVISION (US$)

1st Chelsea Tuach BAR $400.00

2nd Tova Miller TT $200.00

3rd Chrisanna Harewood TT $100.00

 

JUNIOR DIVISION

1st Ackeam Philips JAM Trip to Barbados

2nd Dario Jordan TT Prizes

3rd Enson Lightbourn JAM Prizes

4^th Chelsea Tuach BAR Prizes

5^th Michael Panton JAM Prizes

6^th Shane Simmons JAM Prizes

 

Photos by Anthony Wilmot and Joanna da Silva.

 

JAMAICAS TOP SURFERS FOR SANS SOUCI PRO IN TRINIDAD

Jamaica’s top performers at the ’09 “MAKKA PRO”, will travel to the southern Caribbean to compete in the “SAN SUCI PRO”, the second event of the 2009 Suzuki Caribbean Surf Tour, to be held in Toco Trinidad from 31^st October – 1^st November 2009.

Shane Simmonds, after successfully defending his title at this year’s “Makka Pro” is the current points leader in the junior division, and with a second place showing in the open men division, is Jamaica’s top ranked surfer in both divisions of the ’09 series.

Other top finishers in the open men who will make the trip included last year’s runner up in the men’s open division Inilek Wilmot, Luke Williams, Ackeam Phillips, Icah Wilmot and Michael Panton who all finished in the money, with Eneson Lightbourn finishing in the prizes in the pro juniors.

“We want to cement Jamaica’s name as a real contender for Caribbean surfing dominance, and with the caliber of athletes we now have I think we have what is necessary to take Jamaican surfing “To The World” said JSA President Billy Wilmot.

Jamaica’s participation in this series was made possible through the kind sponsorship support of The Sports Development Foundation, Insight, Xtrak, Magma, Ipath, Mailpac AND The JSA.

CURRENT MENS DIVISION STANDINGS (US$)

1^st Lewis St John BAR $1,200.00
2^nd Shane Simmonds JAM $ 700.00
3^rd Jordan Heaselgrave BAR $  500.00
4^th Inilek Wilmot JAM $ 300.00
5^th Luke Williams JAM $ 250.00
6^th Ackeam Philli8ps JAM $ 200.00

7^th Icah Wilmot JAM $ 150.00

8^th Michael Panton JAM $ 100.00

WOMEN DIVISION STANDINGS (US$)
1^st Chelsea Tuach BAR $600.00
2^nd Ametza Nichols BAR $300.00
3^rd Imani Wilmot JAM $150.00
4^th Jessica Williams JAM $100.00

JUNIOR DIVISION STANDINGS

1^st Shane Simmonds JAM Trip to Trinidad

2^nd Jordan Heaselgrave BAR Prizes

3^rd Stefan Corbin BAR Prizes

4^th Eneson Lightbourn JAM Prizes

19th Annual St.Lucia Billfish Tournament.

September 28, 2009

to

October 2, 2009

19th Annual St.Lucia Billfish Tournament.

SATT Blessed with Epic Nationals for 2009!

SATT Blessed with Epic Nationals for 2009!

Chris Dennis Wins 3 In A Row!

Chris Dennis is now completely dominating the SATT National Team Trials circuit! This Sunday he successfully won his third event in a row at Beach Break, Sans Souci. He has claimed his spot on the National Team to represent Trinidad and Tobago at the World Surfing Games in Costa Rica this August!

The National Team Qualifiers are as follows:

1) Chris Dennis
2) Jason Apparicio
3) Che Lovelace
4) Alan Davis

Alternates:
1) Shane Hennaman
2) Shawn Rostant

RESULTS Trials #4

OPEN MEN

HEAT 1
1. SHANE HENNEMAN
2. ANDREW AWAI
3. ANDRE STEUART
4. KEWAN LANDRETH-SMITH

HEAT 2
1. SHAUN ROSTANT
2. MIKEY PHILLIPS
3. CHAD HAMELSMITH
4. MICHELINE FERREIRA

HEAT 3
1. SIMON CABRAL
2. ALAN DAVIS
3. DOMINIC PERCY
4. SEAN MORUF

HEAT 4
1. JASON APPARICIO
2. CHRIS DENNIS
3. CHE LOVELACE
4. KENDELL FRANCIS
5. BRYAN RAMCHARRAN

SEMI 1
1. CHRIS DENNIS
2. SHANE HENNEMAN
3. ALAN DAVIS
4. SEAN ROSTANT

SEMI 2
1. JASON APPARICIO
2. CHE LOVELACE
3. ANDREW AWAI
4. SIMON CABRAL
5. MIKEY PHILLIPS

FINAL
1. CHRIS DENNIS
2. JASON APPARICIO
3. CHE LOVELACE
4. ANDREW AWAI
5. SHANE HENNEMAN

SATT TRIALS #3 2009 RESULTS … The Road to The World Surfing Games…

This sunday Trinidad and Tobago’s National Surfing Champion 2008, Christopher Dennis, continued his winning form by securing his second victory in a row at SATT National Team Trails #3, held at Beach Break, Sans Souci.

Replicating the form of on-fire ASP surfer Joel Parkinson, who also won his last two events back-to-back, Chris has all but fully secured a birth on his country’s National Team for the second year in a row and is likely to be representing the Red, Black and White come July 31st in Hermosa, Costa Rica at the World Surfing Games 2009!

Conditions at Beach Break, Sans Souci once again turned on for the field of competition, proving why it’s considered the most consistent surf spot in the twin island state. Both Juniors and Open surfers had an opportunity to compete in their divisions.  The results were as follows:

OPEN MEN

ROUND 1
HT 1
1. Che Lovelace
2. Sean Rostant
3. Sherrard Spiers
4. Simon Cabral

HT 2
1. Jason Apparicio
2. Shane Henneman
3. Kendell Francis
4. Kiwan Landreth-Smith

HT 3
1. Chris Dennis
2. Mikey Phillips
3. Kevin Seetai
4. Simeon Cupid

HT 4
1. Alan Davis
2. Bryan Ramcharan
3. Ryan Chin
4. Tristan Richardson

SEMI 1
1. Chris Dennis
2. Che Lovelace
3. Bryan Ramcharan
4. Shane Henneman

SEMI 2
1. Alan Davis
2. Jason Apparicio
3. Sean Rostant
4. Mikey Phillips

FINAL
1. Chris Dennis
2. Jason Apparicio
3. Alan Davis
4. Che Lovelace

JUNIORS MEN

HT 1
1. Jamie Phillips
2. Stefan Lue Chin
3. Craig DeFreitas
4. Findley Howard-Stevens

HT 2
1. Dario Jordan
2. Christian Chin
3. Matthew Milne

FINAL
1. Dario Jordan
2. Christian Chin
3. Stefan Lue Chin
4. Jamie Phillips

NEXT TRIALS ON 17TH MAY 2009

Legend of the Month - Pirate of the Caribbean.

Captain Gerard “Frothy” De Silva, (Capt. Frothy, as he is known), started his love affair with the sea at the age of 6, and he would constantly plead with his mother to take him fishing in his tender years.

In his teens, Capt. Frothy was also an avid surfer. In his early twenties, he was a member of the Trinidad & Tobago National Team for 5 years and the National Champion at one time; he was also a semi-finalist in the Orchard International Classic in Barbados.

In his final year at school, he was asked by his teacher what he wanted to do when he left school, his response was – “I want to be a fisherman”. This, of course, caused the class to erupt with laughter as most of the answers coming for the other students were – Doctor, Lawyer, etc.

He has always known who he was and what he wanted to do – and that was to fish. After leaving school at 17, he worked for 8 years as a hook-and-line commercial fisherman off the coast of Trinidad.

In 1988, in his mid twenties, Capt. Frothy moved to the sister island - Tobago to set-up a charter fishing operation, Hard Play Fishing Charters.

Today, Hard Play Fishing Charters is a well established business in the sport fishing world, with clients from all corners of the globe coming to try their luck at Tobago’s game fishing grounds with Capt. Frothy.

He has been successfully competing on the Caribbean tournament circuit for many years in events in Tobago, Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada and Martinique.

Capt. Frothy and his team have won the Spice Island Billfish Tournament - 7 times, the Tobago International Game Fishing Tournament - 4 times, the Trinidad & Tobago Game Fishing Association Tournament - 5 times and the St. Lucia Billfish Tournament - once.

Furthermore, on many occasions, Capt. Frothy and his team have also placed 2^nd & 3^rd in these events.  It should be noted that all of these tournaments are conducted under IGFA rules. Capt. Frothy is probably the Caribbean’s most successful tournament fisherman.

Apart from these Caribbean circuit events, Capt. Frothy and his team have won the prestigious Ernest Hemmingway Tournament in Cuba.

In 2003, they won 2^nd place in the Rolex/IGFA Tournament of Champions in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. He has also qualified to participate in these Rolex/IGFA Tournaments on several occasions.

In 1999, Capt. Frothy became an IGFA representative for Tobago. He can boast of over 1,000 billfish releases over the course of his career and is a true advocate of conservation in the Caribbean. He has been given a great talent and enjoys sharing his knowledge with anyone willing to learn about fishing.

Capt. Frothy is the founder and President of the 14 year old Tobago International Game Fishing Tournament which takes place in Charlotteville, Tobago in the month of March/April each year. www.tgft.com

Due to his knowledge of the sea, Capt. Frothy has saved more than a few divers who have gotten into trouble off the coast of Tobago. He has been called at all hours of the day and night to rescue divers, and is usually able to know exactly where to find the divers hours later, because of his knowledge of the ocean currents.

Capt. Frothy met his wife - Teija, a Swedish national, when she came to work for a Scandinavian tour company in Tobago in 1991. She has been the driving force behind the Hard Play Fishing Charter operation and exposed Capt. Frothy to a whole new world of fishing in Europe. He has fished in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Madeira. He became particularly fond of Fly Fishing in the lakes and soon mastered it, while developing his own technique.

He worked on Charter boats in Madeira with some of the Big Game Fishing Legends for two summers. Here, he got a taste of the “grander” action that Madeira has to offer, when the fishing vessel, on which he was aboard, landed a 1008 lb. Blue Marlin in 1995. Capt. Frothy fulfilled a life long dream in 2008 when he and his wife purchased the fishing vessel Pesca Grossa in Madeira.

Over the years, Capt. Frothy and the Hard Play Charter operation have developed a well know reputation in the world of sport fishing. He has been featured in many fishing publications such as SaltWater Sportsman, Marlin, and several European magazines and fishing television fishing shows, including Mark Sossins ESPN in 1998 and Matt Hayes – Total Fishing. He was also featured on the Norweigan television show – Bedo in 2002; and in 2003, he was featured on the Swedish television show – Fiskedrag by Mikael Odell and Johan Broman.

He has clients who travel from Europe and America to fish with him annually. Over the years, his clients have included famous names such as Koffi Annan (the then Secretary-General for the United Nations), Queen Latifa, Gladys Knight and Basdeo Panday (the then Prime Minister of T&T).  Jimmy Buffet also wrote a small chapter “Looking for Captain Frothy” in his book – “A Pirate Looks At Fifty”, relating the lengths to which he went to try to fish with Capt. Frothy, who was out of the country at the time.

*** Minuites before publishing this article, we Caribbean Waterman recieved word that Capt. Frothy and his crew executed a dramatic victory at the Barbados Game Fishing Association International Tournament by fighting a fish after lines up, bringing it to scale and racking up enough points to take the main prize.  This is the type of performance that has become quite typical of this Pirate of the Caribbean, known for stealing away the first place prizeware in exciting fashion.  Frothy is a True Caribbean Waterman Legend, and with 2 solid victories in CW Challenge 2009 / Southern Caribbean Billfish Circuit Events, he is well on his way to pioneering victory in the CW Challenge and securing a second consecutive SCBC title!

Over $1,000,000 to be won this year’s TTGFA “Marlin Madness” Tournament!

April 29, 2009

to

May 2, 2009

TTGFA Marlin Madness Tournament
April 29th - May 2nd, 2009 - Tobago

After last years massive record breaker, the hype is on for this years event!  See you there…

WWW.TTGFA.COM

This is another CARIBBEAN WATERMAN CHALLENGE 2009 QUALIFICATION EVENT!

 

The Swell of the Decade…

OFF THE CHARTS…

Modern day surfing in the Caribbean is often downplayed by the “Old School” surf fraternity who are quick to tell you about how good “it used to be”.  Stories of entire months going by with overhead North swell everyday during the winter season often makes you wish you were born a generation or two sooner, or that these glory days of consistent, quality North swells would come again.

The winter season of 2007/2008 dragged on with lackluster surf and no swell events of note blessing the Caribbean Islands.  Nearing at the end of the season, in late in March of 2008, the swell charts came alive with a series of predictions that the internet generation of swell tracking guru’s were yet to have the privilege of seeing.  A swell of epic proportions was forming in the North Atlantic.

Just in time for the Easter Long Weekend, it was as if the gods were sending a special blessing (for surfers anyway) and watermen from Florida, to the Caribbean, Africa and Europe, were all glued to their computers praying that this swell event would continue to unfold as first predicted.  The tremendous expanse of this swell “swallowed” the entire North Atlantic and would eventually send pumping surf to all four of the Continents it borders.

The brunt of the swells power and direction focused directly on the Caribbean.  With swell period of 18 - 20 seconds, which is normally reserved for Pacific Ocean Swells and is rarely seen in this region, the Swell of the Decade unleashed its fury on the chain of islands.  Touching down in Puerto Rico first, a crew of big wave legends towed into monster surf at Tres Palmes, the Premier big wave surf spot in the Caribbean.

This crew reported that they had been waiting for the last 8 years, with jet-ski’s fueled and ready, for a swell of this magnitude. When it eventually arrived it was nearly twice as big as what they had previously considered to be the biggest swell to grace their shores in recorded surfing history.  Likewise, members of the surfing community in Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados,  who have witnessed the last 30 years of caribbean swell history, confirmed that this swell event took precedence as the biggest and most powerful to date.

The shear power generated my a swell of this period and character meant that its waves penetrated normally sheltered harbors and bays, and lit up surf breaks that had been dormant for years.  For Caribbean Watermen in general, there was a bitter sweet ambience to the swells arrival as while the surfers enjoyed classic surf, the fisherman and sailors (many of whom are also surfers) feared for the well being of their ocean going vessels. Livelihoods were in danger, and consequently many a waterman suffered at the hand of this swell.

In the end, many surfers were caught off guard.  Some had easter plans, some had contest plans, and the Atlantic had it’s own plans.  A couple of pro surfers, like Peter Mendia, made the right call and scored the very best surf that the Caribbean has to offer with few other surfers competing with him for waves.  At the same time other guys were stuck on the wrong island, or in the wrong ocean, like Kelly Slater who was tracking the swell and made a last minuite decision to surf the Bell’s Beach WCT in poor conditions instead.  

Although Slaters decision worked out for the better and helped him win his ninth world title, other’s were not so lucky and were left to ponder whether they would ever get a chance to take advantage of such an amazing swell experience in the Caribbean again.  However,  considering the unpredictability of mother nature, there is absolutely no reason why is could not happen again this march! Keep your fingers crossed.

SATT AGM 2009

February 17, 2009

7:00 pm

SATT ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2009

Tuesday 17th Feb 2009

Location: TBA

www.surfingtt.org

SATT NATIONAL TEAM TRIALS #2

March 1, 2009

SATT NATIONAL TEAM TRIALS #2

Sunday 1st March 2009

Location: TBA

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