The Cabildo of Lanzarote hosted this Friday the official presentation of the fifth edition of the 'QUEMAO Class ? Memorial David Infante El Fula' which will be held between this month of October and next March (depending on conditions), in the town of La Santa, located in the municipality of Tinajo.
The event is organized by Franito Surf School and the company 'In-Process', with the institutional collaboration of the Tourism area of the Lanzarote Council; Tourism of Lanzarote, the Society for the Promotion of Foreign Affairs of Lanzarote (SPEL); Promotur (Tourism of the Canary Islands) of the Government of the Canary Islands and the City Council of Tinajo.
The event was attended by the Councilor for Commerce, Energy and Industry of the island corporation, Ariagona González; as well as the Director of Tourism of Lanzarote, Héctor Fernández; the Mayor of Tinajo, Jesús Machín; the president of Franito Surf School, Francisco Saenz, and the surfer from Gran Canaria, Luis Díaz.
The Councilor of the Island Council, Ariagona González, stated that "it is a pleasure for the corporation to support an activity linked to surfing, which combines both the sporting aspect with contact with nature, a concept so well established in Lanzarote."
For his part, the organizer, Francisco Sáenz, commented that "although the event does not have a fixed date, it would be ideal if it could be held from the second half of November to December, since those are the months in which the wave is usually at its peak." However, he remarked that "everything depends on the weather forecast, so we will not know the exact date until about a week before."
The Mayor of Tinajo, Jesús Machín, had words of remembrance "for the previous organizers and all the people of the town who have been linked to it, since without their work, we would not be talking about an event of this level today. It is important for Tinajo to have a wave that is a reference both in the island and regional and international levels and we hope that in this edition it will continue to grow in terms of impact," he stressed.
The Director of Tourism of Lanzarote, Héctor Fernández, explained that the collaboration of this area through the 'European, sports destination' brand, "responds to the strategy that has been set, so that the Island is a must-see destination for elite athletes worldwide, in different disciplines, and in this case in surfing, for which we have such good conditions."
Finally, the surfer from Gran Canaria, Luis Díaz, who will be part of the event, did not hesitate to say that the Quemao wave "has nothing to envy from those in other parts of the world." "I have had the opportunity to be in Australia, Indonesia, the United States... and the Quemao wave is very special. As proof, you only have to see the number of international surfers who are on the waiting list, for the opportunity to surf this wave with only four people in the water."
In detail
This fifth edition will feature the participation of 64 athletes (32 surfers and 32 bodyboarders) invited by the organization, among whom are some names of reference both nationally and internationally.
In the surf category, it is worth mentioning the presence of names such as the Canarians Jonathan González (winner last year) and Manuel Lezcano; the Spaniards Aritz Aranburu, Gony Zubizarreta and Andy Criere; the Hawaiians Landon and Makai McNamara, Clay Marzo, Josh Moniz or the Portuguese Alex Botelho and Nick Von Rupp, among others.
Among the bodyboarders, it is necessary to highlight the participation of the Lanzarote natives Lucas Herrero and Paul Lecouey; the Majoreros Ruymán Rey and Aitor Ojeda and the winner of the 2018 edition, the Frenchman (Reunion Island), Amaury Lavernhe. In addition, the Tenerife riders Alexandra Rinder and Teresa Miranda will be present.
