Alex Gray and Cheyne Magnusson take home the gold at Red Bull’s Qiantang River Shoot Out in China. Photo: Body Glove
Known as the “Silver Dragon,” the tidal bores of China’s Qiantang River have existed for thousands of years. They’re typically a fall phenomenon and can produce massive walls of water moving at staggering speeds. Tell this to any surfer – a long, uncrowded, nearly-perfect wave in a foreign land – and their eyes light up. Enter the Red Bull Qiantang Surfing Shoot Out, an annual competition held in China.
The competition, which got underway earlier this week, pits four two-man teams against each other in a free-for-all scramble to get the best waves. One team member mans the jetski while the other surfs the wave. Ultimately, it was Team Los Angeles, comprised of Alex Gray and Cheyne Magnusson, who took home the gold for the 2015 competition. For the second year in a row, Team Gold Coast (Dean Morrison and Dean Harrington) took the number two spot.
Solidifying the win was a near-perfect score from Magnusson – a 9.88, the highest in competition history. The fluid cutbacks and open-face power turns allowed Alex and Cheyne to take home the big check worth $10,000. Word on the street is that Alex even got barreled…still waiting on footage from that. But you can check out Cheyne on a mean one below:
Results:
1st Team Los Angeles/Alex Gray and Cheyne Magnussen $10,000.00
2nd Team Gold Coast/Dean Morrison and Dean Harrington $8,000.00
3rd Team Huntington Beach/Ryan and Timmy Turner $5,000.00
4th Team Hangzhou, China/Zhao Yuanhong and YangXue $2,000.00
