New team surfer back from Japan

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Our new team surfer Adam Griffiths has just recently returned from Japan where he was competing in a World longboard contest and he finished 17th out of the 96 competitor's that attended the competition.

Here is his report from the event... 

It was my first time in Japan and I didn't really know what to expect!  We came out the airport on to the streets of Tokyo, where we were greeted by two Japanese guys; To-mo & To-may (it got a bit confusing) who turned out to be absolute legends and really looked after us. 

We loaded the boards on to the roof of the car, which was a bit of a fine art as there was four people & about 10 surfboards to fit on the roof of one not so big Japanese car.  Not just short boards but 9 foot boards !  So that was interesting.

We arrived about two hours later at the contest site to find out that the surf was absolutely pumping.  There had been a typhoon the day before, which is what makes the waves over there. 

Happy days!  Waves which we didn't expect! Had a quick surf then hit the sack as we had been up for 36 hours with the change in the time zones. 

First day of the contest got off to a good start with waist high waves, sunshine and a cool crew hanging around the beach. I was not seeded as I entered late so had to start in the first round. I went on to win my next three heats putting me into the round before the quarter finals (round 4). 

It was only a four day trip, arrive on the Friday, two days on competition and then fly back on the Monday.  On Sunday, the last day of the contest the waves had gone a little smaller than the day before as the typhoon was dying.

I surfed my heat but was unluckily drawn against Kevin Conley (contest winner) & Keegan Edwards (semi finalist).  I finished 3rd and not sure about 4th place. 

I am still pretty stoked with 17th place though, it is my best placing in a world event so far!  In the last event I attended, I finished 33rd.

They way I look at it is, you can only keep improving and I'm a few years younger than most of the guys on the tour, So they better watch out over the next few years.

Keep checking back to our team news and keep up to date with Adam's progress over the year.