Words: Sydney Pizza
Zap World! We are here checking in from La Tranche-Sur-Mer, in France during a beautiful October weekend with weather in the mid-70s for an epic three-day contest hosted by the Maunakea Skim Club! This contest will round out the Euro Skim Tour for the 2025 season, as it is the last of three stops (preceded by Portugal in July and Spain in September). This is truly a special moment for our Zap family as we are meeting up with riders from all over the world, to watch two of our team riders be crowned Euro Champions for 2025.
Team riders Yahir Valencia, Sydney Pizza, Elian Juarez, Emanuel “Mega” Embaixador, Kika Freiere, and Romario de Sousa have been having a blast over in France, catching up, finding fun waves, and eating delicious food!
The contest started on Friday afternoon at around 4:30pm after a 2pm call. The tide was supposed to start filling in and get better as the evening went on. With a total number of competitors around 60 there was a little bit of figuring to do as to how to fit everyone in while there was a wave during high tide. Here in France the tide swings are detrimentally big and can go from a 2”-3” swell to as flat as a salt pond in the matter of hours. There were about 32 competitors in the Open division, 14 in Masters, 10 in the Women’s division, and a good number of competitors in the 18 & Under and 14 & Under.
They decided to run simultaneous contest sights due to the sheer size of the open division. As those heats were running, they had the 18 & under quarters and semis, 14 & Under semis, and the Women’s quarter and semi-finals going. Sydney and Kika both made it through their two opening rounds and were set to meet in the final on finals day! While Mega was waiting for his turn to come with a higher tide, Elian and Yahir blew through their opening rounds and were then waiting for quarterfinals to start! Finishing just as the sun was setting on Friday the whole team killed it and had advanced into day two, blowing everyone out of the water and really raising the bar on expectations of what is to be seen on finals day!
Moving into Saturday morning, we had an 8am call, roughly when the sun came up, and a crisp 50 degrees, for the quarterfinals of the Open division and the quarter and semi-finals for the Masters division. Mega absolutely dominated, throwing spray for miles and shuv-it re-entries like they were nothing! Yahir and Elian were machines, even in the early and cold hours of the day. Nothing was stopping our Mexican Maniacs from doing what they do best, combos in, on, and out to the wave were crowd pleasers and the judges loved it all! We left off there, now on an eight-hour hold, awaiting the next call at 5pm.
As the next high tide started to roll in, so did the crowds, the day was sunny and beautiful, and if there were birds around, I’m sure they would be chirping! Starting at 5:30pm with the 14 & Under final, then the 18 & Under final, moving into the Women’s final! Sydney and Kika met Xoxe, a Spanish legend, and Adriana an up-and-coming Portuguese powerhouse for an action-packed final. Working with not the best conditions, Syd felt just at home with white was hits and some flatgroud to mix things up. Kika not far behind her throwing great spray and some shuv-its back up the beach. Sydney ended up taking the win with Kika in 3 rd , and now your 2025 European Champion! Congrats ladies, and an extra shoutout to Kika for her accolade! The Master’s final was up next and did not disappoint! Mega, light on his feet as always, showed the whole beach that he belonged in the Open division with shuv its out and back up the beach with good variety of carving 360 backside turns, and some air re-entries! He claimed a very poised second-place finish, leaving everything out on the Beach!
Last and certainly not least, the Open division semi-finals and finals were nail biters, but nothing short of astounding! Yahir and Elian both met with some of the best French and Spanish competition there is, were not phased, and did their usual, falling minimally, and only when the waves could not handle their levels of risk and innovation! Swiftly moving into the finals, it was out two Mexican's up against two of Spain’s best, Javi Sola, and Ale Montanes.
Opening the heat with a bomb both Yahir and Elian charged doing a big spin out and a 720 spin out respectively, like carbon copies, did clean, backside 180s back up the beach! It got the people going without a doubt! Keeping up with that pace, the final was one of the closest we have seen in a while, one bettering the last wave of another and so on and so on, it was beautiful. After all the action was over, Yahir took home gold and secured his win and crown as the 2025 Euro Champion, we are so proud! Not far behind Elian took second, and they shared a beautiful moment together on the podium! Team Zap had a great time and a great showing! Thank you again to everyone who made this possible, we cannot wait to come back!