JEFFREYS Bay surfer, Steven Sawyer, finished in the top 10 on the World Surf League (WSL) Longboard rankings after the final event of the season at the 2019 WSL Taiwan Open World Longboard Championships.
The former world champion finished in ninth place after he lost to Peru’s Lucas Garrido Lecca.
The event was forced to move to ‘The Left’, a protected corner to escape the strong wind and large swell that continued to lash the Taitung County coast.
“It’s been a very challenging week at Jinzun Harbour with an unusual run of large typhoon swell accompanied by very strong winds,” said WSL Longboard Tour Director, De-von Howard. “Seeing that we’re here not only to showcase the world’s best traditional longboard surfing, we will also crown our men’s and women’s Longboard World Champions. We felt it was upon us to seek out a better option nearby to handle the big surf and winds.”
Sawyer thanked the WSL and Taiwain Open of Surf organisers for relocating the event and said it “couldn’t have been any better.”
Honolua Blomfield (HAW) has won her second WSL World Longboard Title at the 2019 WSL Taiwan Open World Longboard Championships. After a super consistent year for the 20-year-old Hawaiian, everything culminated in pumping, but challenging, five-to-six foot surf at ‘The Left’ in Taitung. Blomfield claimed the Championship along with the event win with Rodrigo Sphaier (BRA) who also wins the 2019 Taiwan Open Longboard Tour event.
To take the win, Blomfield overcame Brasilian Chloe Calmon who came into the final event of the season with a decent lead, but needed to finish higher than Blomfield in Taiwan. Unfortunately for Calmon, Blomfield was too consistent on Finals day, leaving her to finish runner-up to the World title for her third year.
Florida’s Justin Quintal (USA) claimed his maiden WSL World Longboard Championship at the 2019 Taiwan Open of Surfing. With a number of his closest opponents dropping out of the draw earlier in the day, all Quintal needed to do was win his Round 3 heat against Josh Constable (AUS) which he did comfortably, gifting the 29-year-old the highlight of his career.
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