Source: Portuguese Surfing Federation - www.surfingportugal.com

Rémy Arauzo seizes 2008 European Tour Longboard Champion Title
The São Pedro do Estoril beach held, on the past December 13-14, the last and deciding event of the 2008 European Longboard Tour.  The event served to name the winner of the championship, French athlete Rémy Arauzo, who seized this year’s title, while veteran Ben Skinner showed once again his skill by winning first place here for the second consecutive year.

Organized by the Portuguese Surfing Club, with a long Longboard history, this stage had excellent conditions in which the perfection of the right-leaning waves of the Santo Amaro beach, of about a meter and a half, contributed to the exhibition that was seen during the two days.

Skinner controlled all the heats, and not even under pressure at the last 25-minute heat broke the quality of his performance against his fellow countryman Adam Griffits, or even the French phenomenon Antoine Delperro and Rémy “Shawn” Arauzo, who would end up as the 2008 champion.

Changes to the Surf and Bodyboard Hopefuls National Circuit 
The Technical Board of the Portuguese Surf Federation informs that after the annual club summit and PSF board meeting, the following changes were made to the Surf and Bodyboard Hopefuls National Circuit in order to give it more competitiveness and create sporting objectives to a broader range of athletes.

1. The Hopefuls’ Tour is constituted by six events.
   
   
2. Of these six, the first five will be qualifying for the last event that will be called the Final Hopefuls’ National Circuit.
3. The last event will be exclusive to a maximum number of sixteen Portuguese athletes from each age group (Under 12, Under 14, Under 16, Under 18 and Ladies Under 18), as long as the number of ranked athletes is equal or more than 24.
   
   
4. If the number of ranked athletes in each of the age groups is lower than 24, the number of athletes able to participate in the Finals will be of eight Portuguese nationals.
   
   
5. The champion and runner up of each age group of the previous year will be allowed to compete in more than one age group during this year’s tour as long as the Technical Director is thus informed during the year’s first event.
   
   
6. The selection of athletes that may participate in the final competition is made through the sum of the three best results during the five qualifying events.
7. If one of the qualified athletes is absent during the final competition, his/her place will not be fulfilled by another athlete.
   
   
8. The final score for each one of the first five events refers to the 1000 point PSF table.
9. The final score of the Final Event refers to the 1200 point PSF table
   
   
10. The final tour ranking for all athletes will be based on the four best results during the six stages.

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), Mike Gerard (USA) and Karin Sierralta (Peru).

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