Incredible! Plage de la Madrague, Anglet, France, slowed down its usual rhythm last weekend for Los Totally Crustaceous Surf Fiesta! The European VQS Championships that gathered surfers from all around the old continent, who qualified in 2010 and 2011 during the Volcom Qualifying series. Anda le pues! The sun was shining, the waves were pumping, Mariachis singing, and the cow skulls were baking below the cacti. Luckily sombreros and hammocks were providing the sufficient overheating safety.

Around a 110 surfers crossed the border to enter the long time expected competition and get a shot at the zillion prizes, 4000€ prize money and one of the four one-week trips to compete to the famous World VQS Champs in Newport beach, California (50,000$ prize money). A huevo! And to excite the competitors appetite and spice up the salsa, Electric gave an extra 500€ to the best maneuver of the contest! Needless to say that the tails have been thrown, airs blasted and tubes hunt. Caribbean surfer, William Aliotti felt right at home and robbed the cash, landing a stylish frontside air reverse and winning the 500€ Electric Volt Thrower prize. Free enchiladas and chili con carne fed every compadres hunger and some refreshments were served all weekend long to beat the thirst. As usual there were four categories and the first to be crowned were the chamacos (groms 14 and under) that showed us some man moves on Domingo (Sunday) when the waves reached man size. This year, the revenge of the “Peninsula” surfers was clear, with 2 surfers on top of the podium and 2 Frenchies taking 3rd and 4th place. In the end, Natxo Gonzalez (not Nacho) from Sopelana claimed victory and the 2010-2011 European VQS Champion title in this division. On top of his sick trophy and sweet 500€ prize money, he walked home with a brand new Chili surfboard, a custom Wild electric guitar, a hammock, a million more prizes from our generous partners Electric, Ocean&Earth, FCS and Vans in addition to a trip to California!!!!!!!! No mames wuey! All finalists needed assistance to carry their prizes and couldn’t believe what just happened.

In the Chavos (Juniors, 15-17) division, the battle was fierce and Ramzy Boukiam from Morocco took the win in front of William A., Ian Fontaine and Miles Hargreaves. He also won the trip to the World champs, plus 750€ prize money, another custom Wild Electric guitar and of course a ton of extra prizes that would need 2 donkeys to carry it all.

In the Senoritas (Girls) final, another epic battle took place. Alizée Arnaud surfed really good all event but couldn’t find the exit of one barrel and took 2nd place, while Johanne Panzini from Reunion Island took the win with some solid turns in a very disputed final. Lucia Martino taking the 3rd place and Ariane Ochoa Torres taking 4th place. Johanne also won a trip to compete in the World VQS Champs next week, 750€ prize money, a guitar and million more things.

The weekend ended with the supershow of the Vatos category (Pro-Am). The waves were still firing and every good ride received automatically an answer from an opponent. Local Romain Laulhé recovering from an injury surfed a bit more south, didn’t get the bombs and took 4th place (and 250€); Jose Maria Cabrera from Lanzarote recovering from an injury too, threw his usual massive sprays and took 3rd place (and 250€); Dimitri Ouvre from reunion Island was outstanding all contest long but only took 2nd place (and 500€) because an on fire Pierre Valentin Laborde wouldn’t let anyone get his trophy. PV was literally destroying every piece of wave he could find on his way, combining for example an alley-oop with a cut back re-entry reverse with a couple more turns on a single wave… He got crowned European VQS champion, got a sweet 1000€ check, a trip to California, and needed three more versions of himself to carry his other prizes home. The weekend was epic and MexicAnglet will be missed by all, but a new European VQS season will kick off next month so go enter one of these to the beach near you, it is FREE and a lot of fun. Check volcomeurope.com for full schedule. We thank all the friends in the industry that helped us with tons of prizes: ELECTRIC, VANS, OCEAN & EARTH, FCS and SEVENTYONE PERCENT Thanks also to Bastienne and the Anglet Surf Club, to the Anglet City council, Ludo for the video, Mike Pirredu and Laurent Haristoy for the photos, and everyone from the staff for the good job.

For more action, don’t miss the Totally Twisted Crustaceans Champs of Metal (WORLD VQS CHAMPS) LIVE WEBCAST on volcom.com from Friday May 13 til Sunday May 15.