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Harley
Ingelby (Australia/NSW/Coffs Harbour) today posted one of his biggest ever wins
by taking out the Lanuza International Longboard in the Philippines in an all
Australian final. 
Ingelby,
the current world professional number three rated surfer surfed superbly all event
and maintained his excellent form into the final where he posted two excellent
rides, a 9.17 and an 8.13 giving him an outstanding final tally of 18.10 out of
a possible 20 to easily win today’s final. 
“What a way to finish such an incredible week in the
Philippines! We’re all totally stoked on this place, the waves have been
so fun, only small but it’s such an amazing river mouth set up that it peels
perfectly and offers massive scoring potential” said Ingelby after his win
today. 
“I’m honored to win the Lanuza International Longboard
and I’ll be back next year for certain and I can tell you all of us will
be back, we love the place and the people and the waves!” Ingelby
secured his win today with his outstanding 9.1 ride mid way through the final
when he unleashed a long hang ten nose ride combined with his trademark smooth
and complete roundhouse cut back. 
Gold Coast surfer Jackson Close (Currumbin) finished second
today, also posting two excellent 8 point rides in the final. Satisfied
with his result Close said - “I can’t complain, I had a good final and
found some good waves but Harley was the man today – He’s very hard
to beat in long peeling waves like this”. 
Sunshine Coast Queensland surfers Grant Thomas (Maroochydore)
and current World Champion Josh Constable (Noosa) finished 3rd and 4th respectively
in a high scoring final that saw all four surfers post excellent scores.
World Champion Constable said after the final – “We’ve
all enjoyed it here and we’re very impressed with the wave set up. I’d
love to surf it bigger and hopefully that’s in store for us next year!”
Apart from the final a feature of the day was the Lanuza Bay
Bamboo Boards expression session which ran between the semi finals and the final.
These high tech. bamboo boards are an amazing product being
produced right here at Lanuza Bay. Former Australian shaper Richard Mathews is
the creator and has set up production here and the incredible quality boards being
produced were put to the test by four of the world’s best. Jai
Lee, Ian Bell, Dane Pioli and Jacob Struth ripped on these boards, performing
all the typical moves from their quarter finals and some more! Ian Bell pulled
a successful air on one wave, Lee was outstandingly stylish on the nose, Pioli
was typically powerful and Stuth delighted the crowds with a headstand.
The boys showed their seal of approval by jointly raising
the boards above their heads as they returned to the beach and Bell was later
announced winner of the expression session! Congressman
“Butch” Pichay, chairman of The Philippine Surfing Federation, announced
his intention to at least double the prize money for next year’s event following
the outstanding success at this year’s event which was greeted with wild
applause from the large crowd and especially from the competitors. While
the waves throughout this year’s event were small, the quality of this intriguing
river mouth sandbank still dished up long clean peeling performance waves which
were unanimously regarded as excellent small waves by all the world professionals
here. Even more encouraging for future years is the
fact that the North Pacific Ocean is unusually quiet at present as has been highlighted
in the Hawaiian Pro events which are running concurrently and those events have
had some of the smallest contest surf in Hawaiian North Shore history to date.
So this event has delivered and another classic river mouth
surf location which is firmly on the global map! Final
Results: 1st Harley Ingelby (Coffs Harbour/Australia) 2nd
Jackson Close (Gold Coast/Australia) 3rd Grant Thomas (Sunshine
Coast/Australia) 4th Josh Constable (Sunshine Coast/Australia) Equal
5th – Michael Bellamy (Coffs Harbour/Australia), Dane Pioli (Wollongong/Australia) Equal
7th – Jai Lee (Noosa/Australia), Ian Bell (North Haven/Australia), Luke Landrigan
(La Union/Philippines) | 
