PIC hosts Point Break Open Sept. 18 and 19

Pacific Islands Club Saipan will be holding the 2015 Point Break Open with riders from Korea, Japan, U.S., Russia, and the Philippines joining the tournament set for Sept. 18 and 19 at the hotel’s flowrider facility in San Antonio.

The two-day tournament offers 12 divisions, including two new ones.

“Once again, we will feature the Grommets (11 years of age and younger) and Kids (12 to 17 years old) bodyboard divisions. Riders from Korea and Japan have typically dominated this event, but last year’s champion, Vova Propenko from Russia, will be back to defend his title,” event director Glenn Policare said.
Other participants can enter the men and women’s Open, Masters (35 years or older), Expert bodyboard, and Novice divisions.

“For years the crowd has had the chance to come down to the event and watch some of the best riders in the Pacific. This year, even if you have never ridden the flowrider before, we have a division for you. Our resident experts will be on hand to give you riding tips and pointers to get through the rounds,” Policare added.

For the more competitive men’s and women’s Open divisions and the Expert bodyboard and flowboard categories, riders must join the first day of the tournament to determine their seeding in the last day of the competition.

“We started this format a few years ago and it seems to be working great,” Policare said. “We want to make sure that the bracket is set for everyone on Saturday, so we have the riders in the Open and Expert divisions establish their seeding.”

“This format also gives us a preview of what we have to look forward to on Saturday,” judge Dale Roberts said. “It is amazing to see how much this sport has progressed over the years.”

The Open and Expert riders will be given two 45-second rides to showcase their skills. The rider with the highest scores (combined two rides) will get the No. 1 seeding. The higher-seeded riders will be paired against the lower-seeded ones in the elimination round the following day.

“Seeding is everything,” judge Robert Jordan said. “If you don’t have a good run Friday night, you could find yourself riding against a past champion in one of the early rounds. I suggest you bring your A game early.”

Next Friday’s rides for seeding will begin at 5pm, while Saturday’s competition will start at 10am. Practice rides have kicked off yesterday and will continue this week and from Sept. 15 to 17 from 6pm to 8pm.

Meanwhile, the riders to watch in next week’s competition are men’s flowboard division returning champion Keoni Ichihara and contenders Dan Westphal, Chris Mojar, and Ray Babauta. In the women’s division, all eyes will be on Kaouru Nishimura, who won last year’s competition and qualified to the 2014 Asia Flow Series Finals held in Bangkok, Thailand.

Nishimura and company will battle for trophies and $10,000 worth of cash and other prizes from the following sponsors of the event: IT&E, Bridge Capital, LLC, PIC Saipan, Pacific Trading Co., Jeju Airlines, Coral Ocean Point Golf Resort, Triple J Five Star Wholesale Foods, Swirls, Loco Boutique, Waveloch, Japan Flowrider Association, and Boarderline.

For more information, contact Policare at glenn.policare@picsaipan.com or 237-5148.