| Open # 1 Lighthouse January 21st 2006 |
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| INILEK WILMOT NABS FIRST
07 JSA OPEN SURFING EVENT Inilek Wilmot pulled out all the stops at the Lighthouse Surfing Beach on Saturday March 3rd when he won the first event in the Jamaica Surfing Association�s 2007 National Open Series held in powerful overhead waves. Nineteen surfers registered to compete in the men�s open division including one US citizen who was visiting the island. With a 25 knot onshore wind whipping the sea, the surfers would have their work cut out for them. Four first round heats cut the field in half for the two 6-man semi-final heats which further cut the field to the top 6 performers of the day to square off for the 1000 points on offer for first place. All the top names were there. The Wilmot brothers Ishack Inilek and Icah, Luke Williams, who had won all his heats enroute to the final. National Junior Champ Ackeam Phillips and National Junior Team member Eneson Lightbourn. The surfer with the best 2 scoring waves in twenty minutes (maximum of 10) would be the victor. The surfers paddled out in the challenging conditions and the battle was on. A total of 23 waves were ridden in the 20 minute heat. Ishack had no luck and could not find his flow and though he rode 4 waves the best 2 were only good enough for sixth. Luke had been on a roll winning all his previous heats and started strongly with 2 solid waves but on his third wave he was judged to have interfered on Icah and thus his 2nd best wave was cut in half relegating him to 5th. Eneson, a member of the National Junior team performed credibly and showed much improvement. He rode 5 waves and his best 2 gave him 4th. Junior champ Ackeam was patient and selected a couple of the bigger set waves that gave him something to work with rode 3 waves and his best 2 secured 3rd for him. Icah who is recovering from a broken femur was pushing himself. Not quite back on form he still was able to get two early high scoring waves. He got 4 waves but his first 2 were strong enough for 2nd. Inilek was the man of the moment. Defending his 2006 title he shone over the field with excellent wave selection he scored the highest waves of the heat and though he only managed to get 3 waves, the first when combined with his third pushed him ahead of the field giving him the primary slot and the 1000 points on offer in the 5 event series. Next up was the Ladies Final which saw Elim Beckford, Imani Wilmot and Danielle Ohayon facing off for the points. Due to the windy conditions, their heat was relocated to the Copa Surfing Beach in Bull Bay. The ladies paddled out in overhead waves and slogged it out for 20 minutes. Danielle had trouble finding the waves and missed a few chances and her best 2 waves were only good enough for 3rd. Imani, the defending National Champion got a few waves but her selection was weak and did not catch the waves with good scoring potential and finished 2nd. Elim had a good day in the water with the better waves seeming to just come to her. She caught a beauty and after executing a beautiful bottom turn she did a snap turn off the top and finished with a cutback. That along with her second best wave was all she needed to catapult her to the lead where she finished and collected the 1000 points on offer. |
| Place
Open men
points
1 Inilek Wilmot 1000 2 Icah Wilmot 860 3 Ackeam Phillips 730 4 Eneson Lightbourn 670 5 Luke Williams 610 6 Ishack Wilmot 583 =7 Tony Williams (USA) 555 =7 Joel Lawrence 555 =9 Eugene Miller 500 =9 Michael Panton 500 =11 Shane Simmonds 475 =11 Jason Pusey 475 =13 Gawain Galimore 450 =13 Omar Jacks 450 =13 Junior Hibbert 450 =16 Richard Curtis 413 =16 Ronley Lewis 413 Place Open women points 1 Elim Beckford 1000 2 Imani Wilmot 860 3 Danielle Ohayon 730 |