TODOS SANTOS, Mexico - Over the weekend Josh Kerr won his first World Tour event win at the World Surf League (WSL) Big Wave Tour event, the Todos Santos Challenge. Kerr, who also competes on the WSL Elite Championship Tour and is currently ranked number 11 coming into the 2016 season showed up to this event and shocked everyone with his commitment and talent in the large surf.
"To get a win here is so special," Kerr said afterward. "I literally haven't won a contest for probably about five years, so I don't even know what this feeling of winning is going through my body right now. I'm kind of tripping."
The final came down to the Long brothers, Rusty and Greg, Carlos Brule, Damien Hobgood, and Nic Lamb. As the underdog from the start, Kerr was definitely looking to be having the most fun in the line-up, going for every wave and sitting low enough to hold solid control of his board amongst the turbulence. He had a smile on his face after every wave despite the force thrust upon him from each ride.
He said in the water after the final siren "I'm ecstatic, I'd rather win doing this than some airs on 2-foot beachies. My body is absolute toast and I can barely paddle, I'm tripping. It's such an amazing field of surfers and I respect all of them. I drew a lot of inspiration from the guys charging jaws yesterday, those guys are just gnarly."
Kerr continued, "I've been so focused on winning a world tour event and I still haven't won a CT yet so it's just so special to win this. I don't even know what this feeling is going through my body right now." Kerr continued, "I was counting my lucky stars I could come town, I was given a one-time leave pass from the US Department of Immigration because I'm going through my Green Card Process right now. I just wanted to make the most of it and have fun."
Kerr was riding a custom 10 foot gun shaped by the man, Mr. Rusty Preisendorfer himself. Josh thanked Rusty Priesendorfer for shaping the 10”0 that was under his feet, Josh and Rusty have been working closely over the last few years refining Kerr’s big wave equipment and today all the days in the shaping bat paid off.
To see more photos and highlights from the event and to read about Kerr’s win, check out the full write up on World Surf League website HERE.
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