NSSA Nationals 2008 - Day 4

Conditions: Does it really matter when you rip as hard as these kids? OK, settle down. It was a consistent 2 to occasionally 3 feet, limping in from the southwest
Events Held: Open Mens Round 3; High School Team Surf Off; Open Mini Grom Quarters; Open Mens Round 4; Open Womens Quarters; Open
Nature’s Call: We suggest not answering it. Riley Metcalf will tip tie your sorry arse in the porta potty … again.
Prediction: Granger Larsen and Courtney Conlogue to replace Barack and Hillary in the race for the White House.

Walking up the trail to Lowers this morning, an epiphany of sorts occurred somewhere between seeing Granger Larsen’s 2nd and 6th calculated dissection of a silk glass right hander rolling along the cobbles. It went something like this: Why should the loyal fans of the 2008 NSSA Nationals have to suffer through the notes of some beached surf journalist just to get the highlights of Day 4? Instead, why not yank king Granger Larsen off of his impending Governor’s Cup throne for ten minutes and analyze the day’s action through his eyes. Go head Grang, break it down for us.

GRANGER: Surfing Lowers is always interesting. It’s a machine. Today the waves were really fun, definitely better than they were for these same rounds last year. The key was to just wait patiently because you knew a good wave would show up. The other key was to make the best of that wave. For me, it was all about staying relaxed and starting off your heat with a good wave.

Kiron Jabour and Nat Young are the guys to beat in Open Mens. After seeing those guys surf today, it’s official – they’re huge threats.

NOTE: 15-year-old Nat Young has an incredibly mature presence in the water, from his proper vertical snaps to his execution and follow-through of critical carves. He’s named after “The Animal”, for God’s sake. 17-year-old Kiron is just as polished, yet he has the size to match Granger, which could very well be a deciding factor. No, he is not named after a famous Aussy surf pioneer, but whatever, his name is rad anyways.

Andrew Doheny and Keanu Asing are dominating the Juniors. These two were ripping the hardest in the Open Juniors. I’d keep an eye on them for sure.

10-year-old mini grom Imai Devault is a fellow Maui boy and he is absolutely on fire. I was just tripping watching him surf.

Imai does reverses and still isn’t allowed sweets after 6. Crazy!

Courtney Conlogue and Malia Manuel are ladies on another level. Courtney was just solid all day and I’m expecting to see them in the finals tomorrow. Place your money on one of those two.

With the astonishing loss of Coco Ho in the Open Women’s Quarter final, all eyes have settled on Courtney and Malia who are on a serious winning streak. Time to ante up.

The funniest thing that happened today was Riley Metcalf tip-tying some dude in a porta potty. So hilarious – the guy was freaking out. You’ve gotta watch out for him.

Didn’t this happen yesterday too? Sketchy.

The Nike tent was the place to be today. It’s so cool there; they have TV’s and the live web cast of the event right there so you can hear all of the commentating. Plus, they have video games, waffles in the morning and the best view in the house (straight on view of the Lowers peak). Volcom held it down too ‘cause they had foosball and food and stuff like that.

The heat of the day was the Open Mens Quarter Final #2. Kiron Jabour, Conner Coffin, Dane Zaun and Brent Reilly went ballistic. The waves got pretty consistent and a few perfect sets rolled in that were overhead and the boys just sleighed.

Dane [Zaun] got the best wave of the day in that same heat. Kiron went right and Dane went left. The wave just wedged into a perfect A-frame and ran across the reef. Dane just blasted the thing and popped the sickest reverse to finish it off. Brother (Kolohe Andino) got one in the heat after that that was pretty insane too.

Dane’s mental attack earned him a 9.5, which tied with young’un Imai Devault as the second highest single wave score of the day

…Some kid named Granger Larsen got the highest of the day – a 9.75 in his Round 3 heat. We’re sooo over him.

Reader Comments 

Posted Sat Jun28, 2008, 9:03 PM — By Samson

Nat Young is a week surfer. Judging Criteria ASP critical manuevers & power. Higher scores for riders commiting to combination power manuevers. Nat Young surf like a robot. His manuevers was consistently the same on every wave section with no combination manuevers & no power. If any of these riders were sponsored by Nike 6.0 they would of won the contest. Kolohe Andino should won the explorer mens.

Posted Sun Jun29, 2008, 12:55 PM — By elvis

I'm a Santa Cruz local, and this kid has been on the radar for a long time coming...his competetive intensity is huge...as he said yesterday, "it was go big or go home...first or fourth, I didnt want second or third..."...not to mention he graduated high school a year early with a 4.0...he could have competed another year in the NSAA...go Natty!

Posted Sun Jun29, 2008, 5:44 PM — By Rad

Samson, you spelled "weak" wrong. way to kill your credibility on the fifth word. Nat and Granger both killed it. The final was sick, no need to bash either of 'em, brah.

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