Hawaii's Kai Barger 'tripping out' after becoming the new world junior surfing champion
Hawaii's Kai Barger survived a long day of surfing and prevailed over Brazil's Jadson Andre in the final of the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships.
After advancing through four heats to win the title in four-foot surf at North Narrabeen, Australia, the 19-year-old proclaimed: "I’m as high as Saturn’s kite, baby!"
Barger added, "Out of all the incredible surfers in this event, like Dusty [Payne] and Granger [Larsen] and Julian [Wilson], I probably had the least amount of confidence, but I guess this goes to show that every dog has his day and today's mine."
Barger is as fluid with cliches as he is on near-perfect Narrabeen left-handers. Andre opened the heat with two strong scores, but Barger rallied with a score of 6.67, followed by an 8.67 out of a possible 10, earned on the merits of a series of forehand blasts.
His best-two-waves score of 15.34 proved insurmountable.
"To be honest, I can’t remember much of the final with all the cameras and everything," Barger said. "It’s a blur. I had so much fun. I’m tripping out right now. I never thought this would happen to me."
Barger earns a spot alongside past junior champions Joel Parkinson, Jordy Smith, Adriano de Souza and fellow Hawaiians Kekoa Bacalso and and three-time ASP World Champion Andy Irons.
As a reward, Barger will receive preferred seeding into all ASP World Qualifying Series events in 2009 -- a huge advantage as he aspires to qualify for the elite ASP World Tour.
San Clemente's Tanner Gudauskas, Southern California's only hope as the day began, lost to Andre in a semifinal.
-- Pete Thomas
Photo: Kai Barger celebrates his victory at the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships in Australia. Credit: ASP Robertson / Covered Images
