Hey everyone. I had a crazy experience in my round of 48 heat in
Portugal. I thought I would share a bit of the competition road
life with the people who make it all possible!!!! So check this
out……
Due to waves, the contest was running double banks at a beach break
because the waves were too small for the point break where it is
usually held. I had an odd number heat in the round of 96, so that
meant I was on the south bank. The south bank was about a 10
minute walk down the beach because there was a good sand bar there
and it was closed out in between. So, I had my heat and the
announcer said that on my last wave I went to first and nic
muscroft second,jarrad howse third,hodei collazo fourth. That is
exactly what he anounced. With that in mind, I walked back up to
the main podium to check the heat sheets and see what heat I would
go into. Now, the last four heats of the round of 48 (the next
round I advanced into) didnt have any names for the heats. There
were only the placings from the previuos heats. I looked and it
said first place from heat 19 went in heat 10. Now that I was an
even number heat, it meant I would move to the main podium. Since I
hadnt surfed that bank yet, I went down there with my head phones
and watched it and went for a free surf. I was all ready for my
heat when I heard them announce heat 10 to check in and my name
wasnt in heat 10!!!!! I panicked and ran to the beach marshall and
frasntically asked ¨Hey I am Alex Gray, why didnt you call my name?
The guy looked at me and then at the heat sheets and said that I
was in heat 9, my heat has been in the water for five minutes.
Shit. My mind ran crazy as i ran back to my board and then ran back
to beach marshall. That took about two minutes. Now i had to put my
jersey on and run down to the south bank. As i was running i was so
pissed that the contest director had messed up the heats and I was
in this situation. I got into the water and out in the line up with
15 minutes left. I asked Russ Winter what kind of scores everyone
had, and he said they hadnt announced any yet. So I just started
trying to build on scores and I had a 2 and 3 on closeouts for my
first two waves. The tide was getting higher and Jeremy flores and
Joan Duru were in 1st and second with only fours and fives. To say
the least, the waves were getting more and more inconsistent with
the high tide every minute. Finally I calmed my mind and body and
told myself this was possible. With five minutes left, I got a bomb
right. I took off, did a tailslide, then hopped into a double up
and went straight into an air and finished the wave off with a
rebound. The score: 8.5. Now with only thirty seconds left I was
needing a 3.3 and I took off on a small little double up and milked
it for all it was worth doing as many turns as possible to the
beach. The hooter rang as I walked up the beach. I figured my wave
may have been a little small and I might have just not got the
score. As i looked up,everyone is giving smiles and cheers. The end
result……..a 3.8. I moved into second!!!! Yeeeeeew. As the
situation turns out, the guy announced our results wrong from the
round of 96 and I actually got second instead of first. Which meant
that I was in heat 9 instead of heat 10 in the round of 48. Crazy.
Anything is possible. Everything happens for a reason. Maybe if i
wasnt 10 minutes late for that heat I wouldnt have got the wave
that offered an 8.5 with five minutes left. I dont know, I am just
learning that on the road you have to stay positive,collective,and
calm no matter how strenuous the situation is.
Hope this finds u well.
Much love
Alex