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The Caribbean Surf Network (C.S.N) was back in Trini, this time for the 2008 Sans Souci Pro, the first stage of The Suzuki Caribbean Challenge Cup; a two-day surfing event held February 23rd-24th. With Carnival behind us, TJJ was excited to showcase some of the other great aspects of "Life in the Caribbean".

We missed Day 1, which mainly consisted of heats and advancement rounds. But our focus was really on Day 2. Why? Well besides the sun, sea and surfing, Carolina Swimwear was also hosting their 2nd Annual Bikini Contest! Yeah Yeah! Shades - check, flip flops - check, food - check, well-stocked cooler - check. San Souci here we come!

After a 2 and a half hour drive from Maraval to San Souci, Toco ... WE REACH! We were about an hour behind our schedule, but fortunately for us, everything was running late in typical Trinidad style. We were brought up to speed, where the biggest shock elimination of the day was TnT's Alan Davis, the 2007 Tour Champion, with two more of his countrymen Jason Apparicio and Sean Moroff being shown the exit door. Fellas ... waz dat one?

Okay bring drinks! Scotch & Red Bull, a cold Stag and well, the camera man ga have a Banana Solo ... we mingled and got all settled in. BUT WAIT... is that TJJ's VJ Eljon aka Mix Juice we see? Eh Eh, she decided to make a last minute turn to Trini from Grenada, where she was vacationing. Life nice! So in true TJJ style, we put she to work ONE TIME! We chatted with Bajan surfers Mark Holder and Ametza Nicholls, soca artist Iwer George aka D Boss and Carolina Swimwear's gracious hosts Ivanna and Gareth. During the interview, Mix Juice jokingly said she would have entered the Bikini Contest if she had only known about the great prizes. Stay tuned for more on this... okay back to surfing...

At this point, the Men's semi-finals was heating up, with Trinidad's Chris Dennis posting one of the highest heat totals of the event; 17.3. With light winds and 3-4 ft swells, the Ladies finals followed. 2007 Tour Champion Barbadian Jade Niccolls fought hard to keep up with the skills of Jamaican Danielle Ohayan and current ladies National Champion of Barbados, Ametza Nicholls (14 years old). Good wave selection and high scoring rides took Ametza Nicholls (Barbados) to the top spot in this final, placing Danielle Ohayan (Jamaica) in second and Jade Niccolls (Barbados) in third position.

Following the Ladies finals, the Juniors took center stage with Jesse Jarvis (Trinidad and Tobago) and Lewis St. John (Barbados) taking an early lead with scores ranging from 6.5 to 8.5. Coming in fourth was Oneal Coa (Trinidad and Tobago) who showed promise in his first Junior Pro event. In third place, Jesse Jarvis, whose surfing had been superb throughout the event, was overtaken by Bruce Mackie (Barbados) in the dying moments of the final. Mackie's final wave was full of top turns on his backside; however, this was not enough to beat the weekend's double champion, Lewis St. John (Barbados).

To the crowd and media's surprise, Barbadian Lewis St. John snatched his first title from a highly anticipated international surfing icon and previous winner Chris Dennis (Trinidad and Tobago), who narrowly defended his second place spot from Thibault Breneol (Guadeloupe). In fourth place was Mark Holder (Barbados) , who must now pay more attention to his younger rivals.

Now that the Surfing Report is over, it was time for the REAL competition - yes, Carolina Swimwear's Ultimate Bikini Contest!! With the sun getting prepared to set (which also is the signal for all of mosquitoes to come out and bite we skin), the excited and anxious San Souci crowd shouted, screamed and whistled as the contest finally got on it's way. The ten beautiful ladies from TnT, Grenada, Peru, Venezuela and Canada all sported sexy swimwear from Carolina Swimwear. And representing Grenada/NY was Mix Juice... YES, Eljon! We don't exactly know how it all went down.... but she was officially Contest #9 in a skimpy two piece bikini - where/when did she change??!! We didn't see any phone booths around? LOL. After a few shots of White Oak straight from the bottle (thanks to some fellas in the crowd) and cussin' TJJ's Daddy Juice constantly, we mus say that she rep'd TJJ full one hundred! And to top tings off, she even missed her flight back to Grenada, which was on the same evening. Another story to tell the grand kids, yes!

After we witnessed the "Soca Junkie" & "Dutty Wine" in the contestants, it was down to the Top 5. Then an impromptu Q&A segment by the MC allowed the judges to decide on their Top 3. Anne W. won 1st place, followed by Jamie-Lee P. and Jessica S. respectively winning $3000, $2000 and $1000 in merchandise from Carolina Swimwear. It was a fun and very sexy contest - but we'll let the photos (pages 4-8) do the talking. Better yet, watch TJJ TV (click here) for the exclusive coverage!!

It was another day of fun in the sun in beautiful Trini... ah wonder if the roast corn people still selling?

Signing out from Toco...
Chooks aka Daddy Juice

Source: www.caribbeansurfnetwork.com

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Related Videos/Galleries
The Suzuki Caribbean Challenge Cup/Carolina Swimwear Bikini Contest 2008 (TJJ TV)
Surf Jam Explosion Trinidad 2007