2 December 2008, La Union-Philippines: 12 year old La Union local Jay-R Esquivel used his local knowledge and aggressive forehand attack to put together strong combinations of hacks, turns, floaters and aerials and best Siargao’s Philmar Alipayo in a closely contested final to claim the championship title at the 2nd annual Billabong Grommet Competition presented by Stoked Inc. held over the weekend at the beach breaks of San Juan in the province of La Union.

For his championship win, Esquivel received a brand new Anacapa surfboard from Aloha Boardsports, a leash and deck pad from Dakine, sunglasses from Von Zipper, shoes from Kustom, wax from Sticky Bumps, a shirt and boardshorts from Billabong, in addition to the illustrious championship title.

Starting his surfing career at the tender age of 8, young Esquivel has already traveled and competed in surf competitions throughout the Philippines since he was 10 years old. When asked how he felt about his win he replied, “I’m so happy to win here at my home break, in front of my friends and family. And to win a new surfboard, that’s the best thing ever! Thank you so much to Stoked Inc and all the great sponsors for having such a great event.”

Runner up 16 year old Alipayo hails from Siargao Island, an area rich with good surf breaks, and also put on an impressive display of surfing in the 25 minute final, but just came up short on points when the horn sounded. Coming in equal third were last year’s winner Peter Alipayo and Danny Coldura, both also from Siargao.

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A total of 46 kids from 6 provinces in the Philippines (La Union, Daet, Catanduanes, Samar, Lanuza, Surigao, and Baler), ranging in age from 7 to 16 years of age, arrived in full force at the beach on Saturday morning November 29th to compete for prizes and the prestige of becoming the Philippines top grommet surfer. (The term “grommet” is used in the surfing world to refer to young surfers, usually those 16 years of age and under.)

Competition was fierce and the conditions were often very challenging for the brave young surfers, as the South China Sea was dishing out some rough 3-4 foot waves that pounded onto the sandy bottomed beach of San Juan.

Good wave selection as well as technical ability was required to get good scores, as often only one or two maneuvers per wave were possible. Big bottom and top turns and completed floaters were what the judges were looking for, and after almost 8 hours, three rounds of competition were completed by 5 pm.

Sunday morning saw cleaner conditions with waves averaging 2-3 foot with the occasional bigger 4-foot cleanup set. The competitors were getting lots of waves, often getting their limit of 10 waves per heat even before the 20 minute time period had elapsed, so it was non-stop action for both the surfers and the spectators gathered on the beach.

The action was especially intense for the semifinals rounds, where in semifinal one last years champion Peter Alipayo was eliminated by cousin Philmar, whose massive turns and completed maneuvers got him the heat win. Next, Danny Coldura went up against eventual winner pint-sized Jay-R Esquivel, but found his much smaller competitor launching big floaters with abandon, miraculously sticking like glue to his board in what looked like impossible maneuvers, and landing with an authority that racked up the big scores to capture the heat win.

Head Judge Marco Villareal was impressed with the talent and ability of these young surfers and how they were progressing. “Just in the past year I have seen remarkable progress in these kids. With better equipment and the ability to travel to compete, thanks to the support of sponsors such as Stoked Inc and Billabong, the standard is rising rapidly,” he said. And what was the key to Esquivel’s win? “Jay-R was very patient as well as confident, knowing how to choose the right waves and which maneuvers to make. Local knowledge helped of course, but his patience was really the key.”

In addition to the surfing competition action each day, the crew from Green Zinc Clean Shores, a Philippine-based environmental initiative, combed the beach and kept it spotlessly clean, getting the surfers involved and setting a good example for environmental protection.

It was a great two days of competition, and at the awards presentation Stoked Inc President JV Borromeo was all smiles while handing out the trophies to the young finalists, saying “You guys surfed so great out there today, it was really fun for us on the beach to watch you ripping it up. I’m already fully-committed and looking forward to next year’s championship event when we’ll get to do this again! Keep the stoke and keep on surfing.”

Competition Director and Billabong San Juan Surf School’s Luke Landrigan was all praises for the young surfers as well. “ The level of surfing has risen exponentially compared to our first competition last year which made the judging tough but definitely satisfying,” he says. “I can already imagine how amazing it will be next year.”

In attendance, too, was 19 year old Billabong-sponsored Indonesian junior champion, Raditya Rondi who flew in all the way from Bali to witness the event. As everyone, he was impressed with the skill level of the young Filipino surfers, and participated in judging the competition from the quarter-final heats all the way to the exciting final showdown.

All of the contestants received Billabong goodies including wallets, caps, t-shirts, posters, lanyards, and stickers from Billabong South East Asia, as well as t-shirts from sponsor Green Zinc.

The Billabong Grommet Competition was presented by Stoked Inc, hosted by the Billabong San Juan Surf School and the San Juan Surf Resort, and supported by sponsors Global Surf Industries, Anacapa, Aloha Boardsports, Dakine, Sticky Bumps, Fluid Surf, Von Zipper, Kustom, SurfTime Magazine, Partas Bus Lines, Lola Nanny’s, Sea Nymph Resort, Green Zinc Clean Shores, the Government of La Union, and the Government of Surigao Del Norte.