Rastovich to be crowned 2014 Champion in Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy

After defeating Taylor Know of USA renowned Professional free-surfer Dave ‘Rasta’ Rastovich in the Grand Final of the Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy on Kuda Huraa Maldives is set to be crowned the 2014 champion.

Rastovich is believed to have said ‘If I knew contests could be this much fun, I probably would have been a contest guy, but I don’t think there is any other event that is like this one.’
Rasta is known to travel around the world searching for ultimate surf and dedicating his time to environmental causes surrounding the issues of marine mammal conservation and preservation.
Rasta said ‘Just to compete against these amazing surfers all week and for all of us to be hooting each other in the lineup has been an incredible experience.’
He also added ‘But at the same time everyone is wanting to surf at their highest level; it’s a really cool experience, because normally it’s one or the other but this event is not like that – it’s a great format in a perfect location.’
Knox said ‘We were both just starting to warm up and I was thinking another couple of sets were going to come and that we both get two more waves, but it didn’t happen.’
Adding ‘Rasta has been in such good wave rhythm all week; it seems like every time he jumps off the boat he gets a nine. We were just both chatting out there and saying how lucky we are to be here, so it’s all good.’
Knox won both the Thruster and the Twin-Fin rounds, as well as finished fifth in the Single-Fin division, which were enough for him to accrue the points to qualify for the Grand Final.
Hussein ‘Iboo’ Areef won the highly contested Domestic Champions Trophy for the third consecutive year.
Showcasing the nations depth of talent he defeated Ismail ‘Kuda Issay’ Miglal, Amid ‘Ammaday’ Agil and Mohamed ‘Billu’ Irushad.
All six former world champions after watching the local final and expressed their admiration Contest Director Ross Phillips, stating ‘The standard of surfing today in the Domestic Champions Trophy was world class. It was a tough final and Iboo was a deserving winner.’
He said ‘The Maldivian Surfing Association is forging ahead in leaps and bounds. It’s fantastic to watch surfing progress at both a performance and organisational level in the Maldives.’
The Grand Final was honored by the Tourism Minister of Maldives, Mr Ahmed Adheeb Abdul Ghafoor, Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Mohamed Maleeh Jamal, who also attended the finals onboard the Four Seasons Explorer and gave away the surfers with their awards.
After the success of the fourth consecutive annual event Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy will return again in 2015.
RESULTS: Surfing Champions Grand Final
Surfing Champions Trophy
1st Dave Rastovich (AUS) (8.60 + 9.10) 17.70pts
2nd Taylor Knox (USA) (8.17 + 4.00) 12.17pts
Domestic Champions Trophy
1st Hussain Areef ‘Iboo’ 16.00pts
2nd Ismail Miglal ‘Kuda Issay’ 15.83pts
3rd Amid Agil ‘Ammaday’ 13.84pts
4th Mohamed Irushad ‘Billu’ 11.93pts