Quadriplegics, Amputees and good vibes surf championship

Now’s the time for a pleasant dose of stoke! The first ever Adaptive Surfing Championships took place yesterday at La Jolla Shores beach in San Diego. With athletes competing such as Mike Coots, who lost his leg to a Tiger Shark at 18 and now surf’s with a prosthetic and quadriplegic surfer Jesse Billuaer from the Life Rolls on Foundation the event was sure to be all good vibes and can-do attitude! Shaun Tomson and Rob Machado lended a helping hand in support of the first competition of its kind.

The event was split into four separate categories; prone, upright, assist and stand. Bruno Hansen of Denmark won prone, Brazil’s Fellipe Lima won upright, America’s Jesse Billauer won assist and Oz’s Mono Stewart took the cake for the stand division.

ISA Prez and all around cool cat Fernando Aguerre spoke after the closing ceremony. “This is an ISA World Championship that will be talked about for years to come,” said Fernando. “Adaptive Surfing history has been made in La Jolla. I would like to congratulate the four athletes that received Gold Medals, but also at all 69 competitors who took part in this historic competition. All of the athletes will return home as ambassadors of Adaptive Surfing. This is only the start of something much bigger and wider reaching that we will see grow and develop in the years to come.”

Upright champ Fillipe Lima and some casual trimming. Photo: ISA/Lockwood

Aussie Mark ‘Mono’ Stewart gets carried up the beach after his gold medal finish in the stand event. That nickname’s too good! Photo: ISA/Reynolds

Assist Gold Medalist, Jesse Billauer embraces the Silver Medalist, Davi Teixeira after the Final. Photo: ISA/Reynolds

The Prone podium from left to right: Gold Medalist Bruno Hansen, Silver Medalist Christiaan Bailey, Bronze Medalist Alvaro Bayona and Copper Medalist Ryan Baker. Photo: ISA/Reynolds