Lebanon Water Festival at Beirut

The Lebanon Water Festival, in partnership with Surf Lebanon,  finished another successful surfing competition with  over 20 participants catching waves and  performing their best rides throughout the day. As the day reached  closer to sunset, the sizes of the waves increased to over two meters at some points and the breaks became longer, which allowed the surfers to have a longer ride.

The competiton reached beyond Lebanese surfers. One surfer, Dallas Michael came from Australia to surf in Jiyeh. Karim Flouti, from Spain, has surfed in these waters before and "it was the  first time in a while he saw such waves." Also,  women were represented in the competition. Rania Al Halabi and  Lena Allam, who recently trained in Maldives  showed how surfing is appealing  beyond the male demographic.

As the sun set, it was time for the semi-finals and finals. Since the wind calmed down, the wave size increased.  For the semi-finals, there were three heats with two surfers competiting against one another.

Semi-Final (score out of 20)

Heat 1:

Mohamad El Haj: 10.25

Alfred bader: 12.5

Heat 2:

Dallas Michael: 13.5

Danny Fadoul: 11

Heat 3:

Ali Elamine: 7

Karim Flouti: 12

Final:

Dallas Michael: 14.75

Karim Flouti: 13.5

Alfred Bader: 13

1st Place Women's category:

Lena Allam: 13

While giving out awards and before all the surfers headed back into the water for the evening to catch more waves, Ali Elamine said,  "The waves kept coming and  it was great. Thanks to those who traveled from abroad to  experience what Lebanon has to offer in terms of surfing."