8th Odyssey Waves National Surfing Competition Results and Highlights

ABCD Beach, Calicoan Island, Giuian, Eastern Samar: The 8th Odyssey Waves National Surfing Competition held in Calicoan Island, Guiuan, Eastern Samar last Oct. 9-14, 2012 was indeed a successful event. Hundreds of surf athletes from La Union, Baler, Zambales, Daet, Lanuza, Siargao, Leyte and Samar gathered to witness and surf the amazing waves of ABCD Beach in Calicoan island.

Everyone was in awe of the massive swell forming during the competition week. Surfers were all excited to charge the left barreling waves of ABCD beach. “It’s big and it will get bigger in the coming days,” says Christian, a surfer from Australia who’s now living in the island for a couple years.

The La Union surfers dominated the longboard division. Jeff Dela Torre, showed everyone that he can manage to pull off a hang ten on a massive 10ft wave. The soft spoken JR Esquivel also showed his maneuvers nailing a second place spot for the shortboard division while Norman “Text back” Dalora from Guiuan took the 4th spot of the podium and also received the most improve surfer award given to him by the Guiuan Surf Club members.

Norman “Text back” Dalora from Guiuan

It was the boys from Siargao who dominated the Junior shortboard division. The Alipayo’s (Peterpaul, PJ and Philmar) showed their expertise in handling big waves. “Ang hirap, sobrang lakas ng kuryente saka sunod-sunod yun alon. Kailangan ko pa buksan mata ko sa ilalim ng dagat para malaman ko kung nalampasan ko na yun alon( It was tough, the current was to strong and the wave keeps on coming. I need to open my eyes under the water to see if I’m off the white water),”  says Peterpaul Alipayo who took second place on the Junior shortboard division.

Broken surfboards, over stretched leg ropes and  stoked surfers

Due to the massive swell, the finals of the wahine longboard division was done near the shore. Daisy Valdez from La Union made sure that she’ll be coming home with the championship title by impressing the judges with her gracefulness and good control on her longboard.

Perfect hang five for Daisy Valdez

Piso Alcala dominated the men’s shortboard open earning him another title after his recent win during the 8th Siargao International Surfing Cup last September. The shortboard wahine was also an epic competition. Nilbie Blancada from Siargao Island proved that she’s unbeatable, making her a stand out female surfer in the Philippines.

Carla Sebastian from Manila made a monumental buzz in the Philippine surfing scene after she nailed an approximately 15ft wave on her longboard. At first, she was a bit hesitant to join the competition, but when she dropped that massive wave which was captured by Surf to live to surf correspondent Kage Gozun, everyone was stunned.

Visit Surftolivetosurf.tumblr.com to see the amazing photo of Carla Sebastian.

Here’s the highlight video of the 8th Odyssey Waves National Surfing Competition

  Here are the results:

MEN’S LONGBOARD: Champion: Jeff Dela Torre (LU) 1st runner up: Jay-R Esquivel (LU) 2nd runner up: Marven Abat (LU) 3rd runner up: Norman Dalora (Guiuan)