Las Escolleras 2009 <> YON's Trip <> PreContest <> More Bodysurfing <> Back to YON
Sponsor Manta Bodysurf Club's Page on Facebook. This year - 2012 Torneo: April 28 & 29. Poster to the right =>
Organizer Raul Monroy answers questions on the Yahoo Bodysurfing Group list.
On the beach of Ixtapa, at the end is Las Escolleras, which translates as "breakwater". (fonetic: Lahss Ess KOH yer ahss ( ll -> y ). Lat: 17°39'48 N, Long: 101°37'9 W. For the past 3 years, Raul Monroy has organized Torneo Internacional de Bodysurf Las Escolleras, April 25 & 26, 2009 - see poster at bottom of page.
In the bodysurfing contest, 10 heats of 4 each started Saturday morning, going down to 5 heats on Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning there were four quarter final heats, followed by bodyboarding semi-finals, then bodysurfing semi-finals. See the heatsheet.pdf. The finals took place around 2PM on Sunday. By then, the waves had died down quite a bit. Saturday morning there were still some waves coming in.
All pictures are Jerry Caldwell's pictures, unless noted as (jch) for me or (th) for Tim Hankins. See more of Jerry Caldwell's Pictures, Las Escolleras 2009. To the right is Rich, Jerry's son. Full Image
I first learned of this contest on the Bodysurfing Group as did nine other American contestants, several of whom had come perviously. Here are a few pictures of us Americans and Raul. Left and middle on Friday night, right Sunday morning.
Front: Mark Johnson, Tim Hankins, Raul Monroy, Richie Caldwell, Bill Viergever. Back: Mike O'Neill, Jerry Caldwell, Jan Hardenbergh, Bruce Robbins |
 Bruce Robbins speaking "for all of the Gringos" on Friday night before the contest. |
Front: Brandon Baer, Mark Ghattas, Mark Johnson, Richie Caldwell. Back: Jan Hardenbergh, Tim Hankins, Jerry Caldwell, Bill Viergever, Bruce Robbins, Mike O'Neill |
The contest was held at Las Escolleras, which a breakwater protecting the marina in Ixtapa. The mix of islands off shore, currents coming down the beach and the marina channel means there can be some wild currents that will last for 5 minutes or more. Given that a heat is 15 minutes, if one of these currents hits while you are out there, it adds a bit of a challenge.
| Las Escolleras means "breakwater"  Good sized waves coming Thursday morning (jch) |
This spray hitting the breakwater on Thursday was minor compared to Wednesday when the spray would cover the whole end of the breakwater and going higher than the pole. (jch) |
 The swell peaked Wednesday evening and slowly died down thru the contest |
Panorama taken during the Bodysurfing Contest at Las Escolleras. The green flag is up, but the waves were down Sunday afternoon. (jch) (higher-res 10K x 1K)
A few more action shots. Jerry took the most pictures of Rich in the water and lots of his old friend Mark and a few of me since I begged him to. Sort of chronologically, Mark, me & Rich.
 Judges tent early on Saturday |
 Mark Johnson nice take-off in round 1 |
 YON in round 1 |
 Ex Pats |
 Rich Caldwell in round 1 |
 Waves, shade, beer & pizza! |
 Bruce and Rich in the Quarter finals |
 Father And Son |
 Raul and his Mom |
 First Place 2009: Carlos Rios (white), 2nd: Mark Ghattas, 3rd: Raul Monroy, 4th: Richard Caldwell (red) |
 Rich and Mark (USA! USA! :-) |
 Mark Ghattas gets ready (th) |
 The prizes were made by Raul's sister. |
 Carlos, Raul & Rich getting prizes. Mark had to run. |
|
 Sunday Dinner (th) - Mike, Brandon Elaine Robins, Bruce, Bill YON, Mark J, Tim |
 Beautiful hill top bar with full 360 view! (th) |
Torneo Internacional de Bodysurf Las Escolleras, April 25,26 <> hi-res PDF
last update 2009.05.02 jch
