By Steve Fitzpatrick
Photos by Sara Diaz-Velarde

    As a qualifying event to choose the team that will represent Puerto Rico in the upcoming ISA World Masters Championships in Santa Catalina, Panamá, the island’s best surfers over the age of 35 converged at the famed Aviones surf spot in the Piñones section of Carolina.

    This past Saturday, June 26th, Puerto Rico’s best over 35 surfers met on the beaches of Piñones for a friendly contest to decide who would make the trip to Santa Catalina, Panamá at the end of August to compete on the national team in the ISA World Masters Championships.

    Run by the new directive of the Federación de Surfing de Puerto Rico (FSPR), the event went off without a hitch and was blessed with very contestable surf conditions for this time of year with easterly wind swell creating waves of 3 – 5 feet at the renowned peak known as Aviones.

    “This was a great event for our federation,” said Juan Palerm, FSPR President, “and I think we have a team that can make a serious run at the World Championships in Panamá.  With surfers like two-time ISA Masters Champion, Juan Ashton, bringing the always important experience to our team, we also count on surfers in each category of competition who know how to charge waves like the ones we hope to find at Santa Catalina.”

    According to ISA regulations each team will be composed of two competitors in the Masters, Grand Masters, and Kahuna categories, and one competitor in the Grand Kahuna category.

    Surf Caribe salutes the FSPR for their tireless work in promoting surfing at every age level here in Puerto Rico and wishes the Masters team the best of luck in Panamá.  Stay tuned to Surf Caribe for more coverage of the ISA event as it happens in August and September.

Results

Masters 
Juan Ashton
Gustavo Betancourt

Grand Masters
Juan Ashton
Dicky Villanueva

Kahuna
Hector González
Alberto Licha

Grand Kahuna
Javier Gorbea