Southern surfers strike back to keep their hopes alive
After being struck in the opening day the surfers from South made an impressive recovery against their Eastern counterparts to make the final day of the Red Bull Ride My Wave an interesting one at Arugam Bay yesterday.
However, the Southern surfers still trail by 17.6 points, which can be a margin easily accomplished if they continue with the perfect form they displayed yesterday.
After being severely battered on Friday – by a thick margin of 55.1 points – the Southern surfers struck back to claim the honours of the second day by 37.5 points. However as the first round, held in March this year, the Eastern surfers hold the fort with a bunch of talented wave riders in their group. The final day, today is expected to produce some scintillating performances from both sides as the pressure would be heavily on the Southern surfers who anticipate delivering sweet revenge upon the Eastern surfers.
Yesterday the team from the South accumulated 104.8 while the East bunch finished with a 
tally of 67.3 points. But the opening day belonged to the home boys, the Eastern surfers, who finished well ahead at 96.9 points against the Southern surfers who fought bitterly to claim 41.8 points.
The last time when the two sides met at the same surfing points back in March, surfers from the East dominated their waters to emerge winners with a tally of 164.8 points. The Southern surfers finished way behind, at 142.3 points. The Red Bull Ride My Wave surfing competition will come to an end at the main surfing point in Arugam Bay.The competition set off on Friday at Okanda before moving towards Elephant Rock, yesterday’s venue. The ongoing segment of Red Bull Ride My Wave, which is its second round, is conducted in 20-minute heats with participants only allowed to surf 12 waves at the given time. The best two attempts will be counted to their final score. Four surfers are allowed at a heat with the top two advancing to the next round.
The winning team will have the honour being named as Sri Lanka’s premier surf team and they will travel to the Maldives and surf its much-visited waves.
Pix by Amila Gamage
