PETIT CHARGEURS

Surf With The Pros (Vers. Fr)

Fifty French children didn't know quite what hit them when the world's best surfers descended on their clubhouse this afternoon.

On the pros arrival, lucky grommets from the Hossegor Surf Club went batshit crazy and charged the beach like the fight scene from Braveheart, joining their heroes in attacking the oily 1m peaks breaking across the famed sandbar of Les Estagnots.

French surfing kingpin Miky Picon helped stage the event in order to blow the local kids' minds and to proudly show his tour comrades the talent spewing forth from his local beach.

Miky, who himself moved here from Morocco at age 11, explained that these days Hossegor includes a mix of people from different backgrounds whose families have gravitated towards the area solely because of the waves.

"Everyone surfs here now, either second generation locals or in many cases their families have moved here for the surf and the ocean culture of the town."

A prime example being Jonas Balhan, an Austrian kid from nearby Seignosse, whose dad works in Portugal.

When 11-year-old Balhan paddled in for an autograph he received the highest accolade from none other than 2001 World Champ, CJ Hobgood, who stated matter of factly, "Kid, you got style, you were absolutely flowing out there."

World #16 Mick Campbell shook his head, "These groms are pulling air reverses like we do re-entries, it's second nature for them: the standard in Europe is going to get pretty crazy when you've got 10-year-olds surfing like this now."

Eleven-year-old local Victor Trehet laughed: "We try to surf our best in front of them.

"We have all been dreaming for many weeks, and today it is exactly like a dream to catch a wave with these guys."

After a couple of hours exchanging waves, the kids hosted their heroes at their clubhouse just over the dunes for a hit-out on the ping pong table.