As the week is winding down and heats are getting tougher, we are seeing the world's best competative groms rise and fall. Its now coming down to the wire and good wave selection is key.

Today, USA's 16 and under surfers Conner Coffin and Kolohe Andino both performed in the same heat. The two were surfing against Keanu Asing of Hawaii and Jesse Mendes of Brazil. As the final buzzard rang, Kolohe took first as Conner came in an upsetting and controversial fourth place finish. Conner came back swinging later to post one of the highest scoring waves of the day and win his repercharge heat.

Garrett Parkes, Australia's 2007 16 and under gold medalist was eliminated today as he buckled his board on a wave during his repercharge heat. After swapping boards, he was back out in the line-up scrapping hard to catch a second wave with only a few seconds remaining on the clock.

Points-wise Hawaii is currently sitting on top, as France is in second, and South Africa is trailing right behind them in third. Team USA is just shy of a spot on the podium by only three points. With finals coming up on Sunday, competitors will be pushing their level of surfing even further to get a crack at this year's gold medal.

Tomorrow coordinators will be running the ISA Aloha cup. This event consists of last year's top eight countries. Each team will have 5 surfers; 3 boys, 1 girl, and 1 boy power surfer. The infrastructure for this event is a tag team surf relay. With fifty minutes on the clock, each surfer will be given 10 minutes to bag a few points for their team. The team with the quickest time and highest score wins.

Stay tuned, tomorrow is gonna be another exciting day!

JimJims

After a full day of heats, I paddled out to the point to catch a couple waves last night. It was the peak of the swell, the conditions were good, and the point was nearly vacant. Among the few bodies in the water, USA team surfers Nat Young and Chase Williams were slicing and dicing La FAE's left apart.

Eager to get back in the water, I made it out this morning for a dawn patrol session at Playas; a little beach community south of La FAE. The waves were about head high and it was firing with only three other guys in the lineup.

Back at the contest zone, both reperchargers and qualifying athletes were in full effect today as the point and beach break cleaned up a little with waves in the 4-6 foot zone.

The crowd on the beach was going off once again as local hero Jonathan Zambrano fought hard to place first in his heat. Its been quite an experience here this week to witness the pride and honor the Ecuadorians have towards their athletes.

Later on into the night, the president of the Ecuadorian Surf Federation, Manolo Lozana hosted a dinner party at his father's house on the beach. It was quite the treat to take a break and celebrate at the halfway mark.

Until tomorrow!

JimJims

Today, waves reached an average height of six to eight feet. The point was insane and heats were heavy as reperchargers and advancing athletes were slugging it out hard to make it to the next round.

I spent the majority of the day with surfers, coaches, and managers wrapping out about strategy, their experience in Ecuador, and life back home in their country. Germany seemed to have the most unique set up as athletes often make the trek to neighboring countries of Spain and France to log a little time in with Mother Ocean. Some groms in the girls division hail from the Canary islands; one of which is the youngest competitor at age 10. Paul Gunther of Munich doesn't even bother traveling, instead he charges hard on the river in his backyard. He's even got a blog on it at www.paulgunther.de.

As for the Venezuelans, they are still duking it out in repercharge heats. They say it is a little hard to compete with other countries due to the lack of sizable swell back home. Most athletes from this Caribbean nation spend their flat days diving and spearing fish for fun in clear warm waters.

Chile's Guillermo Satt was sent to the repercharges today and will be digging hard to make it to the finals. This groms got a ton of talent. When he was only 14 years old, he placed top 10 in the Chilean national circuit. To be able to make it this far is a challenge in itself for any athlete. However, like most groms in this event, he's just amped to surf on an international platform without having to wear his 4/3.

Luke Williams and Icah Wilmot are in charge of the Jamaican team this year. They have a couple kids left trying to make it through the repercharges.

More to come tomorrow as the swell should make it a little more shredable for all divisions.

Only a few more days till finals!

JimJims