Red Bull rider Tim Boal reflects on the US Open of Surfing
Tim Boal : photo courtesy Red Bull
Team News
Tim Boal shares his thoughts after a big day out
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 28 July, 2008 : - - 'Well it's been a big day, I knew I had to surf four heats and I did that, so it's cool. The boys went out last night, but I just went to a vegetarian cafe and laid low and was pretty quiet and had a chilled night. I didn't feel tired through the day, even though in the end I surfed four heats.'
'I probably felt the nerves in the semi more. I actually fell a lot and in the end scraped through with a six point ride with about five seconds to go. That last wave, well I had a 1000 things going through my mind, I mean I was thinking too much, which for me is bad thing and I didn't even know what I was going to do on the last turn. Even then I still didn't think I had the score, but I got it. I think I had a few boos from the crowd in the stands, as I took out Brett Simpson, the local guy.
I then had a couple of hours before the final - I just sat and chilled with my mates Michel Bourez and Patrick Beven and the Red Bull Rising surfers, and even then I didn't feel to stressed. I just watched the surf and bits of the juniors and the longboards with Kingy. There was so many waves coming through, and we just decided to pick the same spot and be patient, as it was a 30 minute final and I only needed two waves.
Tim Boal : photo Rowland/ASP Covered Images
But it just didn't happen - no waves came through, often for ten minutes at a time, and then when I caught a good one I fell on the last move. I think I needed a 7.1 and I would have scored that. You know that probably cost me the final. In the end I needed a 6.27 and I waited and waited and finally took off with a minute to go.
In the end it was pretty surreal, the computer went down and no one knew the score. I was at the water's edge with heat over totally surrounded by people and media, and so was Nathaniel, and it was pretty weird, such a strange situation, just not knowing was hard. It took forever and eventually I was told that I didn't get score.
I was pretty bummed, that was my first six star final, but it's a huge result and I'm not finished. I think I'm up to 18th in the rankings. The other thing I remember is a American journalist coming up and asking if I lived in Paris, which was so funny. Like yeah, of course I do, the waves are amazing there. Right now, though I'm flying to Japan tomorrow and then back to to home, so I'm so stoked. It's been such a good week. I'm amping again."
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