Jake Jensen (left, red Fanatic board) and Casper Steinfath (right, yellow Naish board) produced the photo-of-the-weekend by taking off on this bomb set. This was on the last lap of the final when Jake and Casper were sitting 2nd and 3rd in the race. Whoever finished ahead out of these two would go on to claim third overall in the end-of-season rankings. Both guys ate it on this wave, though Jake recovered fastest to cross the line ahead of Casper. This was one of the set waves behind Kai Lenny’s epic bomb (below).

Kai Lenny and “that” wave… This was the first wave in a bomb set that came through just as the leaders were rounding the final turning buoy and about to head back to the finish line. Kai was leading the race, which he had to snatch to take the overall 2013 Series title from Connor Baxter. Kai went down, hard, on this wave, then took another couple on the head, but still recovered in time to cross first (because, as you can see in the previous shot, almost all the other guys ate it during this set as well). MORE >>> Kai Lenny And “That” Wave…

Olivia Piana picked up one of the waves of the day to win one of the three rounds in the women’s sprints. The French girl made the drop and held the wave all the way to the line (the two shots below are from the same sequence…)

Olivia Piana sequence 2/3

Olivia Piana sequence 3/3. Look at the determination on that face!

Left-Right: Noa Ginella (on the yellow Naish), Jake Jensen (red Fanatic), Zane Schweitzer (silver Starboard) and Josh Riccio (green Rogue). These the knockout sprint format meant only two or three guys would go through from each round, so when there were four guys surfing the one wave back towards the finish line… well, someone had to lose.

Noa/Jake/Zane/Josh sequence shot 2/6

Noa/Jake/Zane/Josh sequence shot 3/6

Noa/Jake/Zane/Josh sequence shot 4/6

Noa/Jake/Zane/Josh sequence shot 5/6

Noa/Jake/Zane/Josh sequence shot 6/6

This is an interesting photo… it shows one of the young rising stars of France, Arthur Arutkin (on the red Fanatic) and Kai Lenny hammering it to the line in the men’s sprint race final. Kai had led the whole way through the final until “that” wave gave the rest of the field a chance to catch up. Nobody took that chance though, as everybody else ate it trying to surf the set-of-the-day… Everyone except Arthur that is. The Frenchman survived the carnage better than anyone to surf up to Kai Lenny, with the two then going side-by-side to the line. Kai eventually outsprinted Arthur, by half a nose, to win the sprint race and the 2013 title.

The overall event winner from the weekend, Jake Jensen, displaying one of his trademark super-fast-sprint-starts. That’s Kai Lenny behind him…

Kai Lenny wins the sprints, and, 30 seconds later, the 2013 World Series title

Kai Lenny celebrates his victory as another one of the performers-of-the-weekend, Paul Jackson, recovers alongside

The crowd at Turtle Bay watch one of the earlier rounds of the sprint race event. That’s Vini Martins from Brazil on the green Art In Surf board, Connor Baxter in the leaders’ yellow jersey, Eric Terrien on his white BIC race board and then the eventual runner-up in the sprints, Arthur Arutkin of France, on the red Fanatic

Connor Baxter. Dominant all season long. Wearer of the leaders’ yellow jersey since event #1 in Chile way back in March. Fastest paddler on earth. Almost never loses, and when he does, is almost ALWAYS on the podium. Except on the weekend, where, in a cruel twist of final-second fate, Kai Lenny overtook him on the leaderboard and stole Connor’s 2013 World Series title.

Jake Jensen again getting a flyer off the start. That looks like Noa Ginella keeping pace alongside him, with Zane Schweitzer half a board length behind.

The sea can be a cruel mistress. One moment she’s flat, like this, and paddling around a sprint course on a 12’6 race board is easy. The next moment, she throws up a bomb set and all of the glorious carnage you’ve just seen above starts to unfold… But hey, that’s why we love SUP racing right?