Photos courtesy of Volcom

Well yall we just finished off the last of the moonshine at VQS European Championships here in Anglet, France that was held over the weekend in our small hillbilly village in Marinella beach utilizing both days in challenging weather with plenty of wind and rain. All the hillbillies had to take cover in the tents sitting on their hay bails chewing backy waiting for the chance for the sun to shine.

Contestants came from all over « Europe » to compete, the trip was not easy for everyone, with hours spent in the cars, trains or planes. With people coming from Andalusia, Norway, Galicia, England, Reunion Island, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Brittany, Denmark and Portugal.

The conditions were solid to say the least with the Bootleggers (Opens) starting the competition on the Saturday morning followed by the Night Crawlers (Juniors) and we managed to get a few rounds down despite the difficulty on being able to punch through the frequent closeout sets. It was decided by head judge Didier Piter too difficult to continue with the other categories so we decided to re-start on the Sunday with what looked like more favourable conditions for the showdown.

So to keep all the hillbillies at ease we organized a shindig at La Poste Saturday night with hotdogs, corn and beverages to keep everybody happy. If that wasn’t your piece of corn then you could check out the band Xubung that rocked out on top of the skate ramp while it was being sessioned.

While waking up in the sand next to my bottle for a pillow I noticed the conditions had cleaned up a little and also had dropped in size compared for the day before. To save time the decision was made to run two podiums with the Mountain Mommas (Girls) running simultaneously on the northern podium and the Porch Babies (Groms) on the southern one.

The Mountain Mommas made the most of the left running into the dig with some long waves and some nice lines being drawn. In the end it was Anne Peres (FR) who prevailed in first position and clenching the airplane ticket to compete against the other Mountain Mommas in the US for the World Championships. Marie Mitsuko Bouchaton (FR) finished in second place in front Joana Giansanti (FR) in third and Virginia Giansanti (CNY) in fourth place.

The Porch Babies (Groms) had a nice peak to shred and it was Paul César Distinguin (FR) who was the strongest pushing his tail through into to first ahead of Andy Criere (FR) that chased him in second with Vigo’s own Lalo Diez (ES) in third followed by little Charly Thermeau in fourth.

The Night Crawlers were in amazing form considering they looked like they had a lot of fun at the shin dig the night before in what was the hair show not the air show with Lewis Saint John (BAR) doing enough to keep his lead and hang on to the ticket to the States in first spot with Medi Veminardi (RUN) fighting till the end in second with little PV Laborde (FR) in third and wishing the contest was held in Seingosse and Pierre Rollet (FR) taking fourth spot at home.

Last but by no means least was the Bootleggers (Opens) final with Adrian Toyon (RUN) even beating Lewis Saint John in the hillbilly hair show and was solid through out the event and claimed his ticket to the States in first position in front of Miguel Mouzinho (POR) in second, who was happier than he was after his fourteen hour train ride from Lisbon to here in France to compete. Hugo Palmarini (RUN) was strong enough to hold third position from local homeboy Romain Laulhé (FR) who rounded out the final in fourth place.

Thank you’s: Everyone that came, Anglet city council, Anglet surf club, staff and judges, lifeguards, Bastienne, Tom from Surf Europe for filming under the rain, Pacome from Electric, companies that helped us with prizes Electric, Red Bull , FCS, Vans, Nixon ,Skullcandy, Hoff and Surf Europe.

Thanks as well to the Bidassoa surf club and Hendaye city council for giving us the option to run some heats there. Stay tuned for the World VQS champs in 2 weeks Newport Beach, CA, live web cast on www.volcom.com

RESULTS:

Open:

1. Adrian Toyon / RUN
2. Miguel Mouzinho / POR
3. Hugo Palmarini / RUN
4. Romain Laulhé / FR

Junior:

1. Lewis Saint John / BAR
2. Medi Veminardi / RUN
3. PV Laborde / FR
4. Pierre Rollet / FR

Groms:

1. Paul César Distinguin / FR
2. Andy Criere / FR
3. Lalo Díez / ES
4. Charly Thermeau / FR

Girls:

1. Anne Peres / FR
2. Marie-Mitsuko Bochaton / FR
3. Joana Giansanti / FR
4. Virginia Giesen / CNY

ELECTRIC VOLT THROWER AWARD -100€
Adrien Toyon / RUN

Watch footage of the event here: