Tanner McDaniel Wins Arica Cultura

The bodyboarding world was expecting to one day see the young Hawaiian grom Tanner McDaniel takeover the tour, this weekend in Arica, Chile was finally where he reigned supreme.

I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting Tanner McDaniel through mutual surfing friends, he’s a very humble, quiet teen who truly lets the monster out in bodyboarding. He just casually boosts like no one’s business. Then you look at his new nemesis, the slightly older Pierre Louise Costes, who was also once the underaged grom winning tour events. This weekend saw one of the most epic finishes in recent history with Tanner having to boost out TWO perfect rides for a score of 20.00 to edge out the world champ PLC with 19.10 points.

Two weeks ago I was out surfing Newport and see both of these guys out. Everyone, including myself, was in spectacle by their riding. PLC and I had a quick exchange where he told me his next move was onto Chile for the next tour stop.

Now I totally get it, The Wedge is so similar to that of Arica Cultura. They both had to beat out legends like Jared Houston and Ian Campbell to make it through to the finals. Could it have been that The Dirty Ole’ Wedge had something to do with it? The world may never know.

Congrats to Tanner for an epic first pro event win, I project it’s the first of many to come!

Photo credit: APB Tour