Gabe Kling Wins the Yumeya Billabong Pro Tahara

Aug 06 2007 / TAHARA, Japan
The 2007 ASP WQS 6 Star Yumeya Billabong Pro Tahara final day was held on the main site, Akabane Long Beach or Ooishi Beach.

The weather today at Tahara was very hot and the surf conditions this morning were a clean 1 to 2 ft with light winds. In the afternoon the onshore wind picked up and the tide moved out so the conditions became very tricky. Fortunately the waves were still good enough for the surfers to execute a few big moves.

The defending event champion Royden Bryson (ZAF) was eliminated in the round of 16 with an interference against fellow South African David Weare(ZAF) so at this point we were preparing to crown a new event champion.

In the end, it was Gabe Kling who took the honours by defeating Ben Bourgeois in the final. Gabe is a youngster from California and he is also a rookie on the elite Foster’s ASP World Tour for 2007. The runner up Ben Bourgeois seemed to be the surfer with the best form of the day, however he did not have much luck in the final.

Another surfer in good form was Troy Brooks (AUS) who was eliminated in the Round of 16 by current WQS ratings leader Tiago Pires (PRT). Both surfers were performing impressive manoeuvres however it was Tiago who got the highest scoring wave in the end. Wave selection was a crucial factor in the testing conditions. The WQS ranking leader showed he is the man to beat and looks quite certain to be surfing the elite tour in 2008.

Two Brazilian WQS surfers, Adriano de Souza and Heitor Alves surfed against each other in a Quarter Final heat. Heitor took the lead and Adriano decided to change his surfboard midway through the heat because he did not feel the board was going well in the difficult conditions. In the end, this decision may have been a bad choice because Heitor won the heat.

Gabe Kling (USA) was also surfing in strong form with lots of speed and sharp turns. Gabe’s wave selection was also very good and helped him to progress to the final.

In the final, the conditions were testy and the key to winning was the selection of the right waves and a bit of luck. Gabe scored 2 straight 6.67 waves in the final and went straight into the lead position. In the end, these two waves were Gabe’s two best scoring waves for the final. Ben could not get a decent score in the beginning however he managed to score a seven point ride in the middle but could not find a second wave. Even though Ben had priority, unfortunately another wave did not come. Ben was still delighted with his runner up result as this was his first ever WQS 6 star event final and the result puts him within striking distance of the elite Foster’s ASP World Tour for 2008.

Congratulation to the finalists and thankyou to everyone who helped to make the Yumeya Billabong Pro Tahara such a fantastic event.