Busan surfing draws big crowd

Guy Bartlett completes an aerial 360 maneuver during the Busan Mayor’s International Surfing Competition at Haeundae Beach, Busan, Saturday. The Australian pro rider won the men’s division title. / Korea Times

Australian

pro rider Bartlett

wins men’s title

By John Redmond

This year’s Busan Mayor’s International Surfing Competition came to a close at Haeundae Beach, Sunday, after drawing larger than expected numbers from nations across the globe.

Attracted by a cash prize of 1 million won in the men’s international division and 700,000 won in the women’s international division, the Korea Surfing Association event was attended by people from as far away as South Africa and Canada and as near as Japan.

The three-day competition featured an international SUP (stand up paddle board) race. SUP surfing is an ancient form of Hawaiian surfing where the rider paddles into the wave while standing up.

The winners in the surfing competition were Guy Bartlett in the men’s division and Hiro in the women’s. The SUP men’s winner was Mel Vin and the women’s was won by Cheryl Kim.

Pro rider Bartlett from Australia gave some well attended surfing clinics the day before the competition started, proving to locals that smaller waves aren’t necessarily less fun or easier to ride.

The completion itself proved to be a cocktail of very traditional old school surfing, reminiscent of what one would have seen in the original “Endless Summer” (1966) movie, ― where long boards were the standard ― and modern short board aerial maneuvers.

Of particular note was how the Koreans had mastered the long board style incorporating 50 year old techniques such as hanging 10 (riding the nose of the board with both feet) and hanging five (stretching the forward foot over the nose of the board).

For more information on the Korea Surfing Association log on to www.ksasurfing.org, the Facebook page on https://www.facebook.com/KoreaSurfingAssociation or Surfing Korea on