Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Strange times on a beach

Walking on the beach last night was a strange experience. Hurricane Katia is blowing somewhere off the north coast of Ireland and even down here in Dublin you could feel something up with the world. The sand was racing away from us as if it was water. At one stage we stood still but my eyes told me we were on an escalator racing across the land out to sea. As someone said if you had a board it looked like you could just hope on, go into the darkness and .... well, so the imaginations got a little carried away but it was that kind of night.
Erika Franco

All of that put me in the mind to search out a surfer for today's blog. The ASP 6-Star Cabreiroa Pantin Classic Pro women’s event (really, who creates the titles for these events?) is on this week in Spain. Local surfer Erika Franco is competing on a wild card. All of 17 years of age, she's already been surfing for eight years.

She said in an interview that she used to watch the boys on the beach and then "decided to give it a go. Nobody in my family is a surfer, and to begin with they weren't sure how to react. I like the sport because it makes you feel free; it's a very intense feeling." From what I can find online she hasn't won a major competition yet but has placed respectably on the ASP events she's entered in the last three years. It'll be interesting to see how she does at home in comparison with the top women like Sophia Mulanovich (Peru) or world junior champ from France Alizee Arnaud. 

What's the strangest experience you've had on a beach?

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