By Billy Wilmot –Jamaican Surfing Association-
www.geocities.com/jasurfas

JAMAICA NATIONAL SURF TEAM TO CONTEST 2008 WORLD SURFING GAMES IN PORTUGAL

Jamaica’s National Open Surf Team is currently in preparation for the upcoming 2008 World Surfing Games to be held in Portugal in October. Jamaica will be seeking to improve on their 25th place showing at the last renewal of the Games held in Huntington Beach California back in 2006.

“It is very unlikely that we will be able to field a complete 13 member team to the Games this year considering the very high airfares to Europe at this time…” said JSA President Billy Wilmot. “So far we have financial assistance from The Sports Development Foundation and our clothing sponsors INSIGHT of Australia. We already have wetsuits for the team courtesy of our sponsors BODYGLOVE and surfboards by QUASHI, but with airfares alone running $100,000.00 each plus visas, surfboard shipping, entry fees, ground transportation, accommodations and meals, we are facing a very formidable challenge.

Our tentative team will consist of team manager plus

Open Men
Inilek Wilmot, Luke Williams, Icah Wilmot, Ackeam Phillips

Open Women
Elim Beckford and Danielle OHayon,

Men’s Long board
Drum Drummond

Men’s Body board
Scott Murray and Daniel Chinyee

“These are our most capable surfers and we expect them to perform credibly at the Games. We have no female body boarder to complete the team but if we are able to send the abovementioned athletes we should have a very good chance of improving on our 25th place World Ranking considerably” said Wilmot.

IVAH WILMOT AND ACKEAM PHILLIPS ARE ’08 U16 AND U18 NATIONAL JUNIOR CHAMPIONS
The third and final event of the Jamaica Surfing Association’s 2008 National Junior Surfing Championship series was held at popular east Portland surfing beach “Long Bay” on Saturday August 2nd.

The conditions were good with 2’-3’ waves and intermittent showers. The event got off to a late start with 21 junior surfers registering for the event, fourteen under 16 surfers and seven under 18 surfers.

The under 16 division was run first. With 4 rounds of competition narrowing the field to the top four performers, Ivah Wilmot, Ackeam Taylor, Oshane Usher and Shama Beckford. With 1000 points on the line for first place the youngsters paddled out under the watchful eyes of the judging panel.

The horn sounded and the final was on. Thirty waves were ridden by the contestants in the 20 minute heat. Ivah opened up with a blistering wave where he executed 5 scoring maneuvers earning the highest wave score of the heat. Ackeam and Oshane mounted concerted attacks on Ivah’s lead with impressive rides of their own which got the north coast spectators into frenzy. Ivah responded with another high scoring ride which opened up a bit of daylight between himself and the rest of the field. They all had more rides but failed to get the high point score necessary to overtake Ivah and by the final count down the writing was on the wall. Ivah finished in first, Ackeam second Oshane third and Shama fourth.

Their point haul from the final was added to their point total from the two previous events in the series and Ivah Wilmot was declared the overall 2008 National Under 16 Junior Champion.

Final ‘08 Series U16 Standings

Place  Under 16            NJSC1  NJSC2  NJSC3  Total

Next up were the under 18 boys. Two semi final heats were run to reduce the seven man field to the top four performers to display their prowess for the scrutiny of the judges in attendance. Ackeam Phillips, Shane Simmonds, Michael Panton and Gawayne Gallimore then paddled out for the 20 minute final. The hirn sounded for the start of the heat and the surfers got busy. They rode 28 waves between them with Ackeam, Shane and Michael having the best time of it. Gawayne was struggling in the very challenging surf which required a very technical approach to garner high scores. The lead changed hands several times before the final horn sounded. When it did, the judge’s scores were tallied and Ackeam earned the 1000 points on offer for the top spot, Shane nabbed 860 for second, Michael 730 for third and Gawayne 670 for fourth. When the point totals from all three events were added to determine the 2008 National Under 18 Junior Champion was declared to be Ackeam Phillips.

Place         Under 18               NJSC1 NJSC2  NJSC3  Total

About International Surfing Association
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 six times since.  The ISA's four Vice Presidents are Alan Atkins (Australia), Robin de Kock (South Africa), Maile Aguerre (Hawaii) and Mike Gerard (USA).

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