Association of Surfing Professionals Europe

Association of Surfing Professionals Europe
Abbreviation ASP Europe
Motto Best Surfers in the Best Waves
Formation 1 January 1989
Type Sports organisation, Professional Surfing
Headquarters Capbreton, France
Region served
Europe
Official language
English
Main organ
ASP Europe Board
Parent organization
Association of Surfing Professionals
Website www.aspeurope.com

The Association of Surfing Professionals Europe (ASP Europe) is the governing body for professional surfers in Europe and is dedicated to showcasing the continent's best talent in a variety of progressive formats. It is one of seven regions of the ASP World Tour.[1]

History

Creation of the ASP

Founded in 1989, the ASP Europe was formed to promote professional surfing in Europe. Its objective is to equally benefit European surfers, sponsors and event promoters alike.

Each year this pro-am circuit include contests between April and November with 1-6 Star events, Pro Junior, Longboard and specialty events. Most of the events are run at famous beaches for their quality waves. The Canary Islands, France, Portugal, Spain, England, Ireland, the Azores Islands.. all organize contests at their best surfing beaches and at the best time of the year.

More than 200 of the best European professional surfers and traveling International athletes enter these events and guarantee to put on a great show.

ASP Membership

Membership to the ASP is only available to individuals.[2]

ASP Europe Sanctioned Tours

ASP Europe Prime & Star events

An ASP Prime event is held at premium venues with a restricted field and offers Prime ASP World Rankings points.[3]

An ASP Star event is a lower level of competition, compared to an ASP Prime event, with their importance indicated by how many stars they are assigned: more stars means generally better competition and prize money.[3]

ASP Junior events

In 2013, 6 Men and 2 Women will represent Europe at the ASP World Junior Championships. Junior events in Europe decide those qualifiers every year. Surfers must be under-21 years old to enter those events.

ASP Longboard events

Same as for the Junior Tour, those events offer the possibility for the Best European longboarders to qualify for the coveted ASP World Longboard Tour events.

Rules

Judging

In contests surfers will be scored on a scale of 0.1 to 10.0, these scores will be broken up into increments of one-tenth. The following scale can be use in order to relate descriptions with the score:

Judging criteria

Judges will base the previous score on how successfully surfers display these following elements in each wave:

Some of these elements may be more or less important base on the surfing conditions and the surfing area. This criterion is also different then in longboarding competition. All of this is focused on creating some type consistency that can be seen throughout the many different events.[4]

The events themselves are previously declared 1-6 star events; among other things this ranking shows what numbers of judges which are required at the event. A 1-3 star events are required to have a six judge panel with four judges on each heat. A 4-6 Star event requires seven judges with five of those judges on each heat. At 5-6 star events and prime events there is only allowed to be 3 judges from any one region. This is then limited to two at any world title events. All events also require an ASP approved head judge who has the ability to make corrections to errors or any other events that may have affected the results.[5]

Rules

There are many rules out in the water which all revolve around the idea of right of way. A surfer has right of way if he or she is closer to the area where the wave is breaking, this is more commonly referred to as having the inside position. If another surfer takes off in front of the surfer which has the inside position then interference will be called and penalties will be enacted. In most circumstances it does not matter who stood up first but who has the inside position.[5]

A surfer can also be found guilty of inference if they catch more than their maximum amount of waves in a heat and that this takes away from the other competitors ability to catch waves. A competitor is also not allowed to interfere with another competitor’s paddling and maneuvering for a wave.[5]

The rules of right-a-way vary slightly with the type of break. Point Breaks will always have a consistent direct of what is inside, that is the person further up the line will have right-away. In a single peak situation where there is both a left and a right two people are able to be on the wave at the same time provided that one goes left and one goes right and that neither crosses the path of the other to go one direction. If this does happen then the surfer who stood up first will get the right-a-way. On a multi peaked wave where the wave eventually comes together both peaks can be surfed until the surfers come together, when they do the surfer who stood up first has right-a-way and the other must maneuver to get off the wave without interrupting the other surfer.[5]

In a one-on-one competition priority can be declared by the Head Judge. Once the person with priority has paddled for a wave priority is then turned over to the next person until that person does the same. The person with second priority can paddles for waves as long as it does not interfere with the other person and will only lose their priority if they catch a wave.[5]

A surfer who has already taken off or obtained possession of a wave maintains this position until the end of their ride. If another surfer takes off on the inside of this surfer then this person does not obtain priority and is considered to be snaking. If this surfer does not hurt the other surfers ride then both people can be scored based. If the judges de/atermine that the snaking did interfere then the person will be penalized. Interference penalties are called by the judges and must have a majority to be declared an actual penalty. Interferences are shown as triangles on the score cards in various different ways depending on when or where in the heat they were made. If three or more waves are being scored then one wave will be dropped off the score card. If only the top two waves are being scored then 50% of the second best scored wave will be taken off. If a surfer has more than one then 50% of the best waves score will be taken off also. The surfer who has been interfered with will be allowed an additional wave to their maximum as long as it is within the time limit. If a surfer interferes more than twice in a heat then they must leave the competition area.[5]

ASP Europe Champions

Jeremy Flores of France, 2013 ASP Europe Men's Champion
Johanne Defay of France, 2013 ASP Europe Women's Champion (and Junior)
Leonardo Fioravanti of Italy, 2013 ASP Europe Men's Junior Champion
Year ASP Europe Senior Men's Series ASP Europe Senior Women's Series
2013  Jeremy Flores (FRA)  Johanne Defay (FRA)
2012  Marlon Lipke (DEU)  Pauline Ado (FRA)
2011  Romain Cloitre (FRA)  Justine Dupont (FRA)
2010  Marc Lacomare (FRA)  Pauline Ado (FRA)
2009  Joan Duru (FRA)  Lee-Ann Curren (FRA)
2008  Tim Boal (FRA)  Justine Dupont (FRA)
2007 Aritz Aranburu (EUK)  Lee-Ann Curren (FRA)
2006  Michel Bourez (PYF)
2005  Patrick Beven (FRA)  Caroline Sarran (FRA)
2004  Justin Mujica (PRT)  Caroline Sarran (FRA)
2003  Patrick Beven (FRA)
2002  Eric Rebiere (FRA)
2001 Eneko Acero (EUK)
2000  Eric Rebiere (FRA)  Patricia Rossi (PYF)
Year ASP Europe Junior Men's Series ASP Europe Junior Women's Series
2013  Leonardo Fioravanti (surfer) (ITA)  Johanne Defay (FRA)
2012  Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR)  Cannelle Bulard (FRA)
2011  Medi Veminardi (REU)  Johanne Defay (FRA)
2010  Charly Martin (GLP)  Pauline Ado (FRA)
2009  Marc Lacomare (FRA)  Johanne Defay (FRA)
2008  Maxime Huscenot (FRA)  Alizé Arnaud (FRA)
2007  Romain Cloitre (FRA)  Pauline Ado (FRA)
2006  Joan Duru (FRA)
2005  Jeremy Flores (FRA)  Pauline Ado (FRA)
2004  Marlon Lipke (DEU)
2000  Patrick Beven (FRA)
Year ASP Europe Longboard Men's ASP Europe Longboard Women's
2013 No Event No Event
2012  Antoine Delpero (FRA)  Alice Lemoigne (FRA)
2011  Ben Skinner (GBR)  Emilie Libier (FRA)
2010  Antoine Delpero (FRA) Estitxu Estremo (EUK)
2009  Ben Skinner (GBR)  Candice O'Donnell (GBR)
2008  Michel Demont (PYF)  Claire Karabatsos (FRA)
2007  Michel Demont (PYF)  Claire Karabatsos (FRA)
2006  Claire Karabatsos (FRA)
2005  Claire Karabatsos (FRA)
2004  Claire Karabatsos (FRA)
2003  Claire Karabatsos (FRA)

See also

References

  1. Association of Surfing Professionals, Frequently Asked Questions, What is the ASP?. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  2. (accessed 28 April 2011)
  3. 3.0 3.1 ASP Rule Book 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  4. "Judging Criteria". ASP World Tour. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 ASP Rule Book 2012

External links

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