Words: Pete Burgess
Pictures: Warren Brown

Having been fortunate enough to enjoy Daytona’s Freeride event for the first time earlier in the year, and remembering the concerns about being able to fly out due to bad weather, then surely there would be no problem with a short hop to France in April would there? Well thanks to Volcanic Ash from Iceland and the fact that Ant Burgess had left his passport in his jeans when they went through the washer a week before we were due to fly out, we were again on tenterhooks as to whether we would be able to get out of the UK yet again.

So  a quick drying and ironing job on said passport saw Ant hotfoot up to Manchester Airport to get it checked out – All good to go there. So it was only down to if Easyjet‘s Luton schedule would be running on the day before the event. Again we were in luck, and as we had done last year we met a fellow jetskier from Marlow Tim Hila (who is fast becoming a veteran of numerous foreign sortes to spectate at freestyle and freeride) and took the short 1hr 20minute flight to Bordeaux.

Montalivet is a small seaside town on the Atlantic coast about an hour’s drive to the North West of the airport. The drive is probably the quietest and rural I’ve ever made to get to any jetski event. With almost empty roads, and with each village you pass through being the same, it does make you wonder if there is an event is being held at all!. Even when you arrive there, it’s very much deserted, with the only real action being the actual event itself (which saw Montalivet’s only nightclub play host to “Pamela” (no guessing who she was imitating) who proceeded to display all her assets during her Saturday night show ) . All this in a place where even the local Spar shop shuts in the afternoon and not even the Aldi opens on a Sunday!Despite encountering some local stereotypical French attitudes (I’m sure the campsite manager was a relative of Basil Fawlty by the way he reacted as we were digging one of the Brits Fiat Vito out of a three foot deep hole in the sand outside their caravan) and some outrageously expensive lager prices (There IS no such thing as “reassuringly expensive” I might add), the event organisers were once again warm and welcoming. The fact that you had to sign in by 3pm latest on the Friday in order to compete was completely ignored as the crew went about their business of actually erecting the marquee and setting up the event itself whilst shaking our hands and greeting us as fellow jetskiers.

The event at Montalivet doubles as the first round of the IFWA World Tour, and also kicks off the French National competition. We were attending for the second year, with an overall British entry of four riders this time. Old hand Graham Reid, Tan Hussain, Steve Foote and Ant. Together with Paul Hewitt and Tim Hila who came to spectate and Warren Brown and partner Lyndsay complete with an array of cameras to record the event. James, Mark and Gary from Portsmouth also made the road-trip with their skis – not to compete but just to enjoy the event and ski for fun.

This year’s event was on a smaller scale than 2009, reflecting both the current economic climate in terms of sponsorship for the event itself, and the fact the world tour again consists of just three rounds. Nevertheless, “Jet Jump”  as it is called, boosted by the fact there was a second French event there the following weekend, saw an entry of 26 standup riders. 14 from France, four from the UK, two from Germany and one each from other countries as far flung as Australia, USA and Brazil.

Notable by his absence was last year’s World no 1 Ross Champion – unable to compete due to a current injury, which left this year’s championship with a clear favourite in the shape of French rider Pierre Maixent, competing in his home country. Ironically it was Maixent himself who was unable to compete last year due to injury!
Whilst there were some minor rule changes for this year’s championship, the format remains broadly the same. With a Prequalifying, Qualifying and Last Chance round held on day one giving most riders several potential opportunities to progress to the final 16 straight knockout competition held on day two.

Alongside this, there is a Sitdown competition, but in effect the world Championship is purely for the Standup category. However this did not stop some awesome competition and assorted tricks being performed on a variety of vintage Yamaha Wave Blasters, Seadoo HXs and the newer model Kawasaki X2s.

Compared to last year the wave conditions could only be described as timid, with Friday’s being akin to a British lake – unfortunately with temperatures to match as well!
We were able to finally sign for the competition at around 5pm so promptly headed to the local Aldi for supplies with Tan taking charge of directions. After a few wrong turns we found eventually found it – right behind the petrol station I’d stopped at  minutes earlier.( Point to note - if you decide to visit Montalivet, Aldi’s  beer and wine is amazingly cheap there and the selection is massive). So safe in the knowledge we could compete, we duly sampled our purchases before making our way as “Team GB” to a local pizzeria where their prices (and our resultant bill) made us feel like we’d made a major dent in the French national debt!! Another point to note – eating out here is not cheap. At 12 euros for a pizza and six euros for a pint we quickly decided that clubbing together on camp is the best (and cheapest) refreshment and sustenance option.

Saturday saw us woken by the event’s klaxon signifying the mandatory Riders meeting at 08:00. We quickly found out who was competing when before returning to our rented caravans. The Soleil D’Or Campsite we all used is conveniently situated just across the road from the beach area where the completion is always held, and many of the competitors use it, either hiring a caravan or bring their own camping or mobile homes. The beach itself is massive length of firm golden sand which stretches as far as the eye can see in either direction. There are several quads and event staff on hand who get event riders skis down what was a series of sand dunes, but now has a gravel bounded slip to the shoreline some 20 meters down from the event base, and from where the judges have an excellent view for scoring the competition.

Scoring is based on riders going out two at a time, with the prequalifying round being based on the top riders going forward and in this case the bottom three going home. From then on it is a straight head to head. All rounds up to the quarter finals are six minutes in length with scoring being based on 50% Wave tricks and 50% Surf riding. Quarter finals and Semis are then eight minutes and the final 10 minutes. So the minimum competition time is three times as long as any Freestyle competition to start with, (and you are not allowed to make your own wake either).

Tan, Steve and Ant all had to prequalify, whilst Graham did not – this was due to his ranking in last season’s competition. Fortunately conditions had improved somewhat, it had warmed up to shorts and tee shirt weather for most and there were usable waves, although nothing like to 4-5 Metre conditions encountered in 2009. Despite Steve having to go through a last chance qualifier, all skiers put in good performances. Graham had clearly benefitted from last year’s efforts, same could be said for Tan, and Steve was looking like he was no novice either, despite in being his first year of competition. With Ant finishing top of Prequalification as well confidence was high. No problems were encountered with the salt gremlins and although the break was in very shallow water, there was no damage done to hulls or bodies.

It was also clear that the experienced riders were deploying tactics to get through rather than impress. Highlights of the day were seeing the Sitdown riders showing why they have every right to be there, and performing manoeuvres that are impossible on a standup, and also the unveiling of the new Lightweight.de carbon fibre hull, which in bright orange and with a very distinctive cut away design had everyone talking. I could only describe it as absolutely unique, with adjustable footholds, removable underside, removable tray and Norbert Weber’s renowned attention to quality. So confident was he with the build that he said they would be offering this for sale with a 2 year guarantee (try getting that out of anyone else). My personal view is that he won’t be seeing many returns as the build quality gets full marks from me.

Sunday started like Groundhog day. Klaxon preceding meeting again, but today the real competition started with Ant going out first against the Brazilian Tiago Geitens who was riding Pierre Maixent’s second ski. Ant skied well, and I was convinced (as was everyone else I spoke to) he had gone through. Unfortunately this was not the case. Tan suffered a similar fate again skiing excellently, but once more not getting the nod. It was more clear cut for Steve, whose lack of (current) experience was exploited by his far more experienced component.  Graham in turn saw his chances of progression scuppered thanks to a broken steering cable.

With the British contingent knocked out, the competition momentarily lost some of its appeal for me. However with conditions ranging from ripples to full sets, the increased amount of time allocated to each ride off saw the gloves coming off big style. Whilst Federico  Buffachi  skied well he was no match for Marc Sickerling on the day. Pierre Maixent impressively swept the Brazilian rider who beat Ant aside on his way to a showdown in the final against fellow French rider Max Bareoro who also rode brilliantly all weekend, and was clearly on top of his game too.

The final was therefore an all French affair. With both riders putting everything into both Surf and Wave riding it looked like this was going to be a really difficult call. At times they were zig-zagging so closely it appeared they would crash. At other times they were at full throttle chasing the same wave in order to impress the judges at every opportunity regardless of whether their engines would blow, and despite risking grounding at speed in water depths no more than six inches at times. The experience of these riders was highly evident as they seemed to be able to read what the ocean was going to do, continually managing to get their tricks in time after time and using the differing wave conditions to maximum effect. The deciding point came when Pierre looked like he was having trouble with his ski and was kneeling in the tray apparently fumbling with the hood. He was in fact attaching his pole limiter and flicking out his superflip bars in preparation for something special. Within moments the surf rose as if on his command and he hit the oncoming wave perfectly completing the most difficult trick of the competition -  the Superflip,  a trick where the rider completes a backflip with both feet out of the tray. Max could not match this and with Pierre completing a series of one handed and one footed aerial manoeuvres you could see the win slipping out of his grasp.

With the klaxon sounding and the final red flag showing both riders beached their skis and congratulated one another warmly and with huge smiles despite being clearly knackered. The crowd were equally appreciative, having seen an awesome final between fellow countrymen.

The final result came as no surprise, with Pierre getting first place, Max Baroero second and a delighted Marc Sickerling from Germany upsetting a French 1 2 3 by beating Gil Beurnier.

There now is an incredibly long gap between now and round two, which is in the USA in September. Plenty of time for Team GB to reflect, fix, practice and go and compete again – hopefully with renewed vigour after England win the World Cup in South Africa – well a man can dream can’t he?