"Micro" wins big in China

MunozGlenn "Micro" Hall came away from the Hainan Cup with the biggest -- and only -- win in Chinese surfing history.

If a key component of surf travel is accessing foreign cultures under the guise of scoring a few good waves, then the Hainan Classic has to be considered a success. Over the years wave-riding adventurers have dabbled in China, uncovering a beachbreak here or river bore there, but the country's potential has never been witnessed by a large, global audience, that is until the ASP and ISA joined forces to webcast two back-to-back events from the otherwise quiet island of Hainan.

Irishman Glenn Hall captured the four-star ASP Hainan Classic today in very contestable three- to four-foot lefts, just edging out South Africa's Royden Bryson in a back-and-forth final.

"China's been amazing, I was honestly stoked to come here regardless of the contest, but to come here and have fun, uncrowded waves, was great," told Hall of the experience. "The first couple days were two-foot and fun, then it got to four-foot and pumping, and then it got bigger and it's just been a good week. I'm pumped, it's been the funnest week of surfing, so to have a win and a check to go with it is amazing."

MunozA goofy-footer through and through, Royden Bryson finished second overall, and swears he'll "be back" after seeing the potential of the left point on Hainan Island.

Surf contests are obviously about winning and losing, but the ISA's China Cup (won by Team Australia earlier in the week) and the ASP's Hainan Classic carried much more significance than just awarding a couple of oversized cardboard checks and a jade trophy. This was about, as ISA President Fernando Aguerre noted, "growing the sport." Already well entrenched in the Americas, Australia and Europe, with the exception of Indonesia and Japan, surfing in Asia has yet to truly take off ... and what better place to get a foothold in than China, the most populated county in the world.

"There's little to no beach culture in China," explained Aguerre shortly before departing for the events on Hainan. "They never went through a 'Gidget' boom phase like we did in the West. You saw something similar happened with Japan a number of years ago, and now the sport is thriving there. Nobody went to the beach to go surfing in Japan, but that's not the case anymore, it's very popular there today. China is a country on the rise, for the first time there is a middle-class emerging, and with it comes a disposable income. Our hope was to show them that you can come to the beach and enjoy the ocean."

It must be noted that a large part of Aguerre's agenda as ISA President is to see surfing eventually become an Olympic recognized sport, and a country like China holds considerable sway in that decision making process. And it's also worth pointing out that for a company like Quiksilver, who supported the recent events, there's a windfall of cash to made selling boardshorts and beachwear to this new middle-class ... if they're willing to riot over the release of the iPhone, in five years just think how they'd react if Dane Reynolds' signature boardshorts were in short supply. But all of that is neither here nor there, for the Chinese kid watching his first surf contest or maybe riding his first wave, this could very much be a life-changing, watershed moment, because as so many surfers will tell you, once you're bit by the bug there's no going back.

MunozHall enroute to his win in a tightly contested final.

Maybe it's cliché to say, but the China Cup and Hainan Classic have indeed been historical milestones in the evolution of surfing as a global sport. For starters, Glenn Hall's win is the biggest ASP victory for Ireland, a country whose profile is very much on the rise as big-wave scores and a dedicated local population is elevating its visibility. But in terms of China, "this is just the start of things to come," said Aguerre, ever the politician.

But the most telling indication of what lies ahead came from the surfers. Runner-up Royden Bryson remarked, "I cannot believe the quality of the waves. It's a place I'll definitely visit again in the future." It would appear that the future is now, and surfing is no longer a foreign sport on a foreign shore.