Foto: Jan Bijl
The 46 participating countries were ready for action. Team NL under guidance of coach Ruurd Mosterd arrived in Europe’s surf capital a few days before today’s opening ceremony.
Carrying the Dutch flag, Remi Peterson headed the orange team while the parade snaked through the cobblestone streets. Mirna Boelsma had the honour of pouring the sand of Scheveningen beach into the container where the sand from beaches all over the world mingled. A gathering of peace, equality and fair sportsmanship, fuelled by a love of surfing and the ocean – this is the World Surfing Games 2017.
As usual, Eveline Hooft couldn’t wait to get into the water after the long drive from Holland. She was also the one to kick off the event for the NL Surf Team, in her first heat against three strong competitors. Her powerful style and eagerness to perform show a real dedication to the art of competitive surfing. With the onshore wind and receding tide, the waves at Grande Plage were shifty and difficult to read. Despite three good turns, the Israeli girl ended up besting Eveline just slightly. In her comeback round however, Eveline had her riposte ready and showed them what the Dutch are good at: not give up. It paid off; she takes the first place with ease and goes through to round two tomorrow.
Mirna showed us some of her best contest surfing thus far. She came out against Israel, Italy and Costa Rica and threw beautiful big sprays onto their backs, ending up in first place. A small crumbling wave to start, followed by a few good back-up points allowed her to confidently build on her score. Moving through the water with confidence and grace, Mirna’s surfing just keeps on getting better and better. We look forward to see what else she is going to show us here.
To be continued…
Josephine Leertouwer
