Surfer Jay-R Esquivel is first Pinoy to qualify for WSL Longboard Tour

La Union surfer rules supreme at Bali event
Jun 9, 2023
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PHOTO: Courtesy of World Surf League

KUTA BEACH, Bali - Rogelio "Jay-R" Esquivel of La Union claimed his second LQS victory earlier this week, winning the PADROL Longboard Classic, which is a World Surf League (WSL) Longboard Qualifying Series (LQS) event.

This makes him the first Filipino to qualify for the 2023 WSL World Longboard Tour (WLT).

Kuta Beach provided great conditions for most of competition day, with waves in the two-to-three foot range, as well as some challenging low tide conditions during the Finals. The men’s final win was icing on the cake for Esquivel, who had already taken the top spot in the rankings and his ticket to the WLT, courtesy of Japan's Taka Inoue being knocked out by French competitor Roland Lefeuvre in the semifinals.

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    Spectacular finish for Jay-R Esquivel

    Esquivel got off to a good start, posting his first significant score of 7.17 for a Hang 5 to Hang 10 combination and finishing with a nice floater. He was threatened along the way as Lefeuvre put up a 6.50 for some good nose riding on a righthander to take the lead briefly.

    Eventually, Esquivel found an open lefthander and went straight to the nose to hold a long Hang 10 and finish cleanly, his excellent 8.00 score wave enough to secure the win. “I’m so happy to win this event and get on the WLT, as there are so many surfers here like Roland and Augusto, and others from Japan, Indonesia, Korea, and of course the Philippines, that are so good,” said Esquivel.

    “Thank you so much to all the people that have supported me, so I can make this dream come true. In this final it was really hard, as the tide was super low, and the water was knee-deep, so I decided to wait and choose the waves I thought would get me longer rides where I could finish with maybe a floater or something. Luckily I got a couple of chances, and could win the final.” As this is the first time that a competitor from the Philippines will ride on the World Longboard Tour, there will no doubt be other Asian representatives in the future, following Japan and the Philippines.

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    Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Malaysia all have growing longboard communities and were represented in the event. “We are beyond happy with the results and how the event turned out,” said ASC’s Tipi Jabrik. “We had great conditions, a field of amazing talent, supportive sponsors and a great team putting in a lot of hard work to make it all happen. Thanks to Padrol, Bintang, Mamaka, and BGS, for their support, to the Halfway Kuta Boardriders for organizing the venue, and of course to our ASC team and the WSL. ” PADROL’s Kei Arimoto was over the moon, saying “This has been such a great event for us at Padrol and for all the surfers and surf fans, thanks so much for all that made it possible. We are so happy to see all these surfers from around Asia coming together, like a big family, it has been amazing. Congratulations to Natsumi and Jay-R and all the surfers for their great performances at this event. We are looking forward to continuing our support and hope to do it again next year."

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    PHOTO: Courtesy of World Surf League
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