The Barbados Surfing Association (BSA) held its fourth Surfer of the Year (SOTY) contest at Parlour on the East Coast last Saturday in highly contestable four- to five-foot waves. The divisions contested were boys under-14, under-16 and under-18, girls under-18, open men, open women, and grandmasters (40+).
Barbados’ top surfers continued to display progressive surfing, advancing to multiple finals. Such was the case for Rafe Gooding, Tommaso Layson, Daniel Banfield, and Hayley Godson among others.
In the boys’ U16 division, Tommaso Layson topped the podium for the third time this year. The talented thirteen-year-old surfer, Christian Stoute, was second while Daniel Banfield and Ras Tafari Lewis were third and fourth respectively.
In the U18 boys Layson placed second to one of the outstanding surfers of the event, Rafe Gooding, who took the win with some explosive surfing. Two twelve-year-old surfers, Trent Corbin and Daniel Banfield, took third and fourth respectively.
Daniel Banfield would go on to take the win in the U14 boys while Trent Corbin was second, Ras Menelik Lewis third and his older brother, Ras Tafari Lewis was fourth.
The open men’s division was a hotly contested affair, with Rafe Gooding again taking the win while Jacob Burke was second, Tommaso Layson third and Kai St George fourth.
The open women’s division was won by Hayley Godson, who was outstanding all day. Her twin sister, Amy Godson was second, and ever improving Ava Banfield was third and Arianna White was fourth.
Hayley Godson was also crowned the U18 girls’ champion while her sister Amy was again second, Ava Banfield third and Arianna White fourth.
The grandmasters division (40+ surfers) was very exciting as it was the final event to determine the surfers who would be selected to represent Barbados at the upcoming ISA Masters Championships to be held in El Salvador in mid-October.
The division featured several past champions who put on an impressive display of radical surfing as they battled each other for a spot on the team. Coming out on top was Barry Banfield while Nicky Marshall was second and a determined Simon Coles was third and Bodie Rapson Fourth.
Absent were Barbados’ top female surfers, Chelsea Tuach and Chelsea Roett who were both competing in California at the 18th edition of the Nissan Super Girl Pro at Oceanside. This is the largest female surfing contest in the world, featuring 110 of the region’s best surfers. Chelsea Roett made it to the third round but was eliminated in fourth in the round of 64, ending 44th overall. Chelsea Tuach narrowly missed advancing to the round of 16 and ended 17th overall. Both girls surfed well in the small, challenging conditions on offer.
(PR)
