MARIGOT--St. Martin pro surfer Maud Le Car has won the 2019 Caraïbos Lacanau Women’s Pro Surf title at the event held on the Atlantic, some 50 kilometres from Bordeaux in the Médoc region, on Sunday.
The Caraïbos Lacanau Pro Surf competition, created in 1979, holds the record for being the oldest event on the world professional surf circuit. The competition concluded in wind-swept conditions and four-to-six-foot waves.
In the women’s final, Le Car and Gabriela Bryan from Hawaii drifted apart in the line-up at first, until the St. Martin surfer dropped a solid 7.17 score for two backhand turns, prompting her opponent to join her on the lefts breaking right in front of the judges tower closer to the shore.
Ten minutes into the final, the surfer from Hawaii answered with a similar wave but with slightly softer turns and she received only a 6.17 score. Both surfers struggled to back up their main score for a while but Maud Le Car with a 4.03 kept Bryan at a safe distance.
Bryan threw the dice on a closing section of a set wave but failed to improve her score line and lost precious time battling white water for the following five minutes. Le Car used her priority on the four-minute mark to block Bryan and slightly extended her lead, making her opponent chase a 5.78 with very little time left on the clock.
Bryan paddled out for a next wave but failed to start, handing Maud Le Car an unexpected first priority in the dying moments of the heat, leaving Bryan alone in the lineup for an excruciating last minute in the final. The swell failed to materialize for the surfer from Hawaii and Le Car claimed her first QS1,500 win.
“I don’t have the words to describe the way I’m feeling right now,” said Maud after the win. “I’ve had a rough two years and this win is truly liberating. I’m going to keep all this positive energy and everything I learned this week and try to keep the ball rolling into the rest of the year.”
The surfer hailing from St. Martin in the Caribbean has previously won two QS1,000 events in her career, but has been struggling in the last two seasons. The win in Lacanau will help her regain confidence and build momentum for the back half of the season.
Bryan reached her first QS1,500 final ever and continued to prove she deserves her spot on the Qualifying Series despite still being a junior. She will also slightly improve her overall ranking on the QS with the 1,125 points collected in Lacanau.
“I had fun this whole event and I’m super happy,” she said. “I just couldn’t find a good enough backup in the final and Maud surfed really well.”
