Photos: Leafblower

The Mulletfish Hossegor event has been unlucky in the past with it being cancelled consecutive years in a row but now after a few events that were not possible to run due to no waves at all, we have the luck on our side and we have had great waves for the last two years with this year being better than the last with it also the first event of the 09/10 VQS Totally Crustaceous European Tour.

Usually the event can be run during one day of weekend with the other for back up if the conditions are not favorable. This year there was a clash of dates with another event in Lacanau so we decided to spread it out so that you could surf in both events if you wanted. In the end we finished the girls and junior divisions on Saturday and then we finished the Groms and Opens on the Sunday.

Saturday the conditions seemed to be quite good with a few options to surf at Culs Nus and with this in mind and with some sun, there were a lot of people who turned up to check the event out and to jump in water as well.

PV Laborde was the strongest and ended up on top in first position in the Juniors in front of Tomas Maallem who settled for second followed by Marc Audo in third and with Jules Thomet in fourth place. In the girl division Caroline Sarran showed her experience and chose the best waves to take the win from Anne Cecile Le Tallec who was strong through out the event with some powerful moves to clinch second position in front of Maud Lescar in third trailed by Joana Giansanti rounding out the girls final in fourth position.

Sunday the waves were bigger but not without the morning sickness early on and I was watching the groms deal with the bigger conditions with some not quite enjoying it at all and definitely not with their friends yelling at them from the shore, this didn’t help their cause at all. The waves improved through out the day and with the tide going down there were barrels left and right from north to south.

The Grom’s final was a goofy affair with Andy Criere winning the struggle to claim the gold record and bragging rights in front of Emilien Lojou who fought all the way to the end in second place, with Guillaume Cassaigne in third and Hugo Anzallac fourth.

Rumor has it that some grom’s wanted more games as they heard from their friends that went down on the Saturday. The morning after the BBQ at the team house and a few drinks and a few to many sausages and hangover in tow is when the best ideas become reality such as the bobbing for apple’s in a tub full of saltwater and then add other ingredients such as dry dog food and then some flower it made me want to gag? The kids were still fighting to fit their heads into the mix to win the prize. The site was moved further south on Sunday with the tent on top of a sand hill so to speak which end up being the beginning of slip and slide followed with some more flowers bombs was also a hit.

The Open’s in hindsight had the best conditions through the finals with barrels galore. Jean Sébastien had his fair share in the quarters I think, and one of them being rewarded as a 10 on a beautiful glassy set wave which landed him the Electric Volt thrower award. A bag of goodies with headphones and glasses was rewarded for his time in the green room.

The Open final was still blessed with waves but in the End Mr. Rudy Marechal bagged it with some long lefts and a nice right to be the one left on top with the first place on his shoulders. Jean Seb was fighting but didn’t find the same rhythm as the quarter and finished in second position in front of Yan Martin who surfed strong all the way to the final but fell a few times and had to settle with third position and last to round the final was Italy’s Angelo Bonomelli who also deserved his spot in the final but didn’t have clean waves that let him throw his frame around and took fourth position with a smile on his face.

For more action, check out the VQS Mullet Fish video here.

Thanks to Electric , Nixon , Gorilla Grip, Head Hunter, Hoff for the Sex Wax, La maison de l’Espadrille, Hossegor Sandwich, Hossegor Council, Hossegor surf club and all the Volcom Staff, Petit Charles, Antoine Benetrix, Vico, and Vinchou.

Results:

Girls :

1. SARRAN Caroline
2. LE TALLEC Anne-Cécile
3. LESCAR Maud
4. GIANSANTI Joana

Juniors :

1. LABORDE PV
2. OUAD EL MAALEM Thomas
3. AUDO Marc
4. THOMET Jules

Groms :

1. CRIERE Andy
2. LOJOU Emilien
3. CASSAIGNE Guillaume
4. ANZALLAC Hugo

Open :

1. MARECHAL Rudy
2. ESTIENNE Jean-Sébastien
3. MARTIN Yan
4. BONOMELLI Angelo