The ISA World Masters Surfing Championships have been officially opened at Rincon, Puerto Rico
ISA World Master Surfing Championships
Rinon, Puerto Rico, January 20th, 2007:
On a beautiful landscape, in front of the well-known Rincon’s lighthouse, the ISA World Masters Surfing Championship was opened. In the next days it will be decided who the best 35yrs+ surfers of the world are.
More than 70 persons, representatives of twelve nations, participated in the famous Parade of the Nations and in the Ceremony of the World’s Sands which were followed by the speeches of the President of the Surf Federation of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Lucke, the Mayor of Rincón, Carlos López, the representative of the Entertainments and Sports Department of the Government of Puerto Rico, Javier González and the President of the Tourism Company of Puerto Rico, Estela González. The opening ceremony finished with a traditional boricua dance, performed by the Tainos, a native tribe of Puerto Rico.
Ricardo Lucke declared firmly: “To me, this event is the most important event of the world. The surfers who are here now are the best and here we have the surfing masters of our planet”.
On the other hand, the Mayor of Rincon, Carlos Lopez showed very satisfied for having such an important event on his city. He welcomed every Masters and continued saying: “It is an honour for us to have you all here; and to have this beautiful event on our beaches. It is an historical moment, an event like this took place on these same beaches on 1968 and now on 2007 we continued writing our history. Rincon’s sea will give you great waves, great waves for surfing! And our village, surfing capital city, opens its heart and hugs you all. Good luck, I wish you all the best and God bless you”!
The speech of the President of the International Surfing Association, Fernando Aguerre – was read by the Speaker of the Ceremony, Nuno Junet, as Aguerre couldn’t attend the ceremony due to a health problem- emphasized: “Surfers can now start to compete as members of their National Surfing Teams at a very young age in the Junior division at the Quiksilver ISA World Junior Championship. They can then do it in the Open division at the ISA World Surfing Games, also known as “The Olympics of Surfing”. Finally, they can now compete in the Masters division at this ISA Masters World Championship.
Being a member of the official National Surfing Team, is the highest honor for any surfer. With the creation of the Masters event, now that honor could be part of the life of any surfer not just in his or her young years but for the rest of his life.”
“The people from Puerto Rico feel very proud of our surfers”, the representative of the Entertainments and Sports Department of the Government of Puerto Rico, Javier Gonzalez declared and continued: “They have been very strong protectors of our coasts; they have the same passion for sports and environment preservation.” He concluded remembering the tragic death of Puerto Rican Joaquín Velilla, on Hawaii last January the 11th and he also welcomed all the athletes.
The President of the Tourism Company of Puerto Rico, Estela Gonzalez, who was also very pleased with the event, declared: “The Tourism Company feels deeply honored for being part of the event; to us sport tourism is very important. It is not only a good way of improving our citizen’s life, but also a good way to promote our destination and to contribute to our economy as well. On these days, our hostels are full of people because of the great deal of visitors who came to enjoy our coasts and this championship. I wish you all the best, have a great competition and let the best surfer to win.”
Once the speeches were finished, Jorge Gonzlez, representing the international staff of judges of the ISA, and Terrence Muschet from Jamaica, the oldest competitor representing the athletes -58-, took the oath. They swore that they will participate on the competition with the best sportsmanship like spirit possible.
The event starts tomorrow at 8 am –local time-. The first round of each of the three categories will take place: Masters, Grand Masters and Kahunas. According to the Director of the competition, Marcos Bukão, on Tuesday a good swell from the west will be coming and this is the best orientation for this zone of the island, so the athletes will get advantages from that conditions to make a great show.
It is possible a larger swell may come to the boricuas coasts on Friday. The waiting period goes till Sunday the 28th, staff and organizers feel confident that the event will be carried out in good conditions. Today, the waves at Domes and Marias, broke with perfect four to five feet. Many of the best Masters of the World surfed these perfect waves all day long.
ISA Porta del Sol World Masters Surfing Championship is possible thanks to the support of the Tourism Company of Puerto Rico, Heineken, Villa Cofresi, Ricoh, Entertainments and Sports Department, El Nuevo Día, Nido companies, Sprite, 103.7 FM, One Link Communications, Choice Cable TV, Liberty Internet, rad!, The Room and Rincon of the Seas. It is organized by the Puerto Rico Surf Federation and supervised by the International Surfing Association.
About International Surfing Association (ISA)
The International Surfing Association (ISA) is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the World Governing Authority for surfing, bodyboarding and surfriding. It was originally founded as the International Surfing Federation in 1964 and has been running World Championships since 1964 and the Junior World Championships since 1980.
ISA membership includes the surfing National Governing Bodies (NGBs) of over 50 countries on six continents. Its headquarters are located in San Diego, California. It is presided by Fernando Aguerre, first elected in 1994 in Rio, and re-elected five times since. The ISA's four Vice Presidents are Robin de Kock (South Africa), Alan Atkins (Australia), Maile Aguerre (Hawaii) and Mike Gerard (USA).
Pablo Zanocchi – on site in Puerto Rico-
ISA WMSC Media Manager
pablo@isasurf.org
Catch all the action from anywhere in the world by logging on to http://www.rincon-hangout.com/isa/home.htm and experience live scoring and video streaming daily. Additionally, photos will be available for viewing and free downloading at http://www.rincon-hangout.com/isa/home.htm. For more information email WMSC Media Manager, Pablo Zanocchi – Pablo@isasurf.org.
