Josie Graves rules waves

PUERTO RICAN SURFER Josie Graves is the top man of the day when he won the 2007 Reef classic.

Greaves consistently got out to a good start in his heats, getting two good ride under his belt early to take and maintain an winning lead in his heat.


ALL THE HOPES that rested on the shoulders of local surfer Mark Holder faded yesterday when he bowed out at the end of Day 2 of the Reef Classic at Soup Bowl, Bathsheba, St Joseph.

Surfing in what was expected to be the toughest and most exciting heat of the day because it contained three former champions, all four surfers suffered when Mother Nature refused to cooperate and left them lying flat in the water for most of the 20-minute heat.

With mere minutes left on the clock Holder, who won the event in 1991, caught his third wave needing at least six points to take second position. However, it wasn't enough and he had to watch New Jersey surfer Dean Randazzo, who won the event in 1999, take that position and relegate him to fourth place.

British surfer Sam Lamroy, who won the Reef Classic in 2004, and who fared better at the hands of Mother Nature, advanced to first place, while Josie Graves, from the Canary Islands, was second.

International event

Holder's exit means that the Men's Open Final will be an international event as the other local surfers Chris Clarke, Barry Banfield and Stefan Corbin who ended up surfing against each other in Heat I of Round III, as well as Lewis St John and Bruce Mackie all failed to advance.

Corbin, the national open as well as junior champion, initially beat a strong field of two United States surfers and a Trinidadian surfer, to advance out of Round II.

However, Barry Banfield ended up third and fourth, respectively, in a heat won by Chilean surfer Manuel Selman and United States surfer Ross Stephens.

Shocking exits also came from the No. 1 seed Sebastian Alarco on the Latin American & amp; Caribbean (ALAS) tour, who bowed out in the first heat of the day, and top ranked Trinidadian surfer Alan Davis.

by HEATHER-LYNN EVANSON