Viva El Gringo! Arica Early Rounds Underway

Arica, CHILE,  Jan. 27, 2010 — Off to a great start, the South American leg of the tour and the 2010 IBA Arica Chilean Challenge is well underway, completing 3 rounds of competition thus far. The surf has been providing too, with day 1 (5/15) offering up 6-8′ and perfect conditions, allowing the event to get all of round 1 and most of round 2 in. Highlights of day included local Chilean Miguel Encina who recorded the highest tally of the day, showing strong combos and scoring 15 out of a possible 20 and giving the Chilean faithful plenty to cheer about.

IBA Arica Chilean Challenge 2010 – Day 1 from Paipo Bodyboarding on Vimeo.

Day two (5/16) was smaller but still plenty contestable, with highlights including Jacob Romero exhibiting solid wave selection and powerful maneuvers to move the Maui superstar on to the next round of competition. Jacob has a sweet blog you should check out at www.jacobromero.com Late a.m. seabreeze crashed the party, but not until Round 2 and and all but 2 heats of Round 3 were completed.

IBA Arica Chilean Challenge 2010 – Day 2 Competition from Paipo Bodyboarding on Vimeo.

jacob romero advances to next round

The 3rd day of the event (5/17) showed fading swell, and with a Grande swell on tap for this week, only the last two heats of round 3 were completed and the event put on hold until 7 a.m. Tuesday. Hawaiin David Phillips showed he is a force to be reckoned with, netting the highest score of the day (15 out of 20), flat out ripping and taking first in his heat and advancing to Round 4. Also of note was Aussie Nick Omerod being eliminated with less than a minute left in the heat, being upset by Brazilian Joao Zick who is competing in his first IBA world tour bodyboarding competition.

IBA Arica Chilean Challenge 2010 – Day 3 Competition from Paipo Bodyboarding on Vimeo.

Tuesday at 7 am is next scheduled call for competition. Stay tuned for more coverage, big swell in the forecast, could be the biggest event at Arica to date! Don’t miss the action