SSS Contest 2013 – Result

On Sunday 10 November 2013 Full Moon Village, Suoi Nuoc hosted the 3rd Annual ‘Sunrise, Surf, SUP’Competition.

With more competitors from a host of different countries the 3rd ‘SSS’ surf comp was the biggest and best yet. Not just in terms of number of riders and spectators but also the biggest in the size of the surf.

Super Typhoon Haiyen although the cause of many problems in Vietnam, had stirred up the East Sea to produce a solid 6-8ft swell (2-3m) with over a 10 second wave period. “It was around 4 meters in the middle of the night” said Pascal Lefebvre, competition organizer and Suoi Nuoc local, “we’ve had some of the Russian guys riding here since around 5am”.

With a one month waiting period for the competition to get the green light it was always expected that the conditions were going to be good, but I don’t think anyone could of predicted it was going to be amazing. The conditions were outstanding, the sun was shining, the sea was a

shimmering turquoise and the beach was packed full of competitors and spectators and with the waves pumping it was all set to be an epic surf comp.

First up were the short boarders. The low tide produced some big, fast, hollow waves which really asked some questions of the riders abilities. With 23 riders entering the short board division the judges really had their work cut out just to keep up with all the action. After many rounds of big waves, barrels and bail outs the final was set in 2-3m waves, Sergey (Russia) known as Hulk Hogan to his friends had looked

solid all through the qualifiers and didn’t disappoint in the final. His fearless approach to wave riding made sure he was 1st placed on the podium; with Win Wilson (Vietnam) 2nd also showing a lot of courage to take on such big surf; 3rd place went to Joao (Portugal).

Results SHORT BOARD Event:

1 : SERGEY,RUSSIAN FEDERATION, SURF BOARD

2 : WIN, VIETNAM, LANG CA VOI VOUCHER

3 : JOAO, PORTUGAL, MANTA

As the tide came up the swell mellowed slightly to create perfect 1-2m waves for the S.U.P event. With 17 competitors taking part, all of them pushing each other to ride harder and deeper on the wave, resulting in at least one snapped board (do you realise how difficult it is to snap

a SUP?) Special mention goes to Yaroslav ‘Yarick’ and Tony ‘Bombora’ whose knowledge of wave selection was key to their progression through the early rounds. The final was very exciting, with all four riders pushing hard to be number 1. It was too close to call for most of ‘arm-chair’ judges (or should that be ‘sun-bed’ judges), but ultimately the honor of 1st place was given to Yarick (Russia) who seemed to catch every wave possible, Dimitry Polunin (Russia) placed 2nd and last years

winner Oleksander (Ukraine) got 3rd place.

Results SUP Event:

1 : YARIK,RUSSIAN FEDERATION,I SAW CAMERA

2 : DIMITRIY POLUNIN,RUSSIAN FEDERATION, SEA LINKS VOUCHER

3 :OLEKSANDR OLEFIRENKO, RUSSIAN FEDERATION, TAMAGO

The final discipline of the day was the Longboarding, 10 competitors battled it out in a very agreeable 1m surf, perfect for these guys. Some of the riders were showing amazing stamina as most had either been competing or free-surfing all day, some had even entered all 3 disciplines. Local ripper Win Wilson (Vietnam) was one such guy and was proving to many that his is a name to watch out for in the future, by not only making it on to the podium in the short boarding, but by winning the Longboarding, 2nd place went to the tireless Dimitry Polunin (Russia), also his second podium finish of the day and Alex Shimansky (Russia) placed 3rd.

Results LONGBOARD Event

1 : WIN, VIETNAM, CHEN SEA RESORT VOUCHER

2 : DIMITRIY POLUNIN, RUSSIAN FEDERATION, TAMAGO + RED CHARCOAL

3 : ALEX SHIMANSKY, RUSSIAN FEDERATION,LON SON MUI-NE

New to this year format was the Team event, this was a chance for local clubs, teams or businesses to enter a few riders. This meant that every rider had a chance to provide points for their team and therefore everyone’s effort counts, not just the podium winners. The bigger or more successful the team, the more chance it had to win the overall event. And congratulations goes to Team Bombora for winning the 2013 team event.

Results Team Event:

Team BOMBORA

After such a busy day of riding, duck diving, paddling and getting drilled, what better way to unwind and easy those aches and pains than with a few hard earned beers, vodkas or even rice wines. Willy Willy Bar

was the venue for a chance for all the riders to get together, share some stories about the day events, watch some footage of the waves they rode and dance and party away in to the early hours of Monday morning. It’s safe to say the line up’s of all the surf spots around Mui Ne were pretty empty the next day.

Special thanks goes to the event organizers Pascal Lefebrve and Silvian Blum, all the guy and gals at Full Moon Village who’s hard work and effort helped the day run relatively smooth. Our hardworking judges Kin Nguyen Ngoc, Chi Kim Chi Tran and Matt Kwantes.

And a big thanks you to all the sponsors: I-saw Action Camera’s , Chensea resort , AHI active holidays Indochina , Coca Cola , Tamago Japanese restaurant , Red Charcoal Vietnamese BBQ restaurant , Sea link golf couse , Lang Ca voi Guest house, Long Son Mui ne tropical restaurant ,Manta Sailing Centre, Full Moon Village Resort, Warehouse Wines who all donated so generously to provide great prizes for our competitors.

See you all again next year for ‘SSS-IV’

Words by Drew Parsons

Pictures of the event here.