![](\"http:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/uploads\/76ad4d6e-8f89-383d.jpg\" "\\"Jeff")
<\/p>\nJeff & Neymara 2009 IBA World Champions
\nMonday, 07 December 2009 01:07
\nSaturday December 5th 2009 <\/p>\n
Confital Pro<\/p>\n
Tuesday December 1st through to Saturday December 5th<\/p>\n
El Confital,Los Palmas. Gran Canaria.<\/p>\n
Jeff Hubbard & Neymara Carvalho win World titles\u2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What a nail biting finish to another amazing year.
\nThe swell had dropped overnight but Confital was still serving up some perfect right-hander\u2019s for the showdown of the year.<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/uploads\/76ad4d6e-902e-81c7.jpg\" "\\"Neymara")
<\/p>\n
Both Neymara and Jeff had been eliminated prior to the final and the cards would have to fall in a perfect combination if they were to be crowned again.<\/p>\n
First GT, then Hardy, then Winny then it was just the two Hawaiian\u2019s that could become the 2009 IBA world Champion.<\/p>\n
Jeff watched on as Mike Stewart entered the water to create history as a 10-time world champion, one of the greatest achievements in modern sporting history, but he had a formidable opponent to get past in Hugo Pinheiro.<\/p>\n
Hugo had been on a roll and the crowd was pumped for the battle.<\/p>\n
Mike opened up with an amazing wave that barreled almost the entire length of the point before emerging cleanly and rolling off the end.<\/p>\n
A solid 7-point ride from all the judges was the call.
\nFrom this point on Hugo clawed his was back into contention as Stewart used his knowledge of the ocean to wait for a bomb set, but time was the enemy for the seasoned campaigner.Pinheiro took the inside waves and held the lead for almost 12 minutes but with 4 minutes on the clock Mike was forced into a 4 point ride needing a 3.75. He took a slender lead but handed the priority to Hugo with just a few minutes remaining and the rest is history.<\/p>\n
Hugo got a set, the score needed to advance, and in that instance, Jeff was lifted high into the sky as the 2009 IBA World Champion<\/p>\n
\u201c I can\u2019t believe it, I really can\u2019t\u201d said Jeff.<\/p>\n
\u201c I was so down yesterday after being eliminated that I didn\u2019t even know if I should come to the beach and watch\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c But I said to myself, hey just be positive, wish the best for everyone and be here to congratulate however wins\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c That positive thinking must have worked in my favor and the gods smiled upon me for it, it\u2019s a dream come true\u201d said the champ.<\/p>\n
Mike Stewart ran from the water and embraced his Hawaiian mate in an emotional scene. It was pretty cool to watch.<\/p>\n
Ok, so that one was in the bag for Jeff but the focus now turned to Neymara for her race with Eunate and Jessica.<\/p>\n
In the semi\u2019s Jess disposed of Eunate and Isabella defeated Neymara.<\/p>\n
For a moment there was confusion regarding the equation but it soon became clear that Jessica would have to win the event to win the world title.<\/p>\n
The crowd was pumped for the face-off.<\/p>\n
For the second year in a row Brazils Jessica Becker would have to win a final at Confital to win a world title. <\/p>\n
Sadly for Jessica, Isabella Sousa had her own agenda and was unstoppable.<\/p>\n
As the countdown began they started the lift and when the hotter sounded we had our 2009 IBA WWT Champion Neymara Carvalho from Brazil.<\/p>\n
She has now claimed a history making 5th World title making her undoubtedly the greatest female bodyboarder of all time.<\/p>\n
Once the dust settled the focus returned to the Men\u2019s final between Diego Cabrera and Hugo Pinheiro.<\/p>\n
Cabrera is the local guy and the massive crowd that assembled rallied behind him, and he did not disappoint.<\/p>\n
He chose the winning waves and surfed a perfect heat to be crowned the 2009 Confital Pro Champion.<\/p>\n
That night the IBA Staged a Gala Banquet awards dinner to crown the top 16 Men and women as well as the rookies of the year with over 180 people attending.<\/p>\n
The Men\u2019s Rookie of the year was Guillermo Cobo from Canary Islands and the Women\u2019s rookie was French rider Roxanne Bonet.<\/p>\n
2009 was a landmark year for the IBA and for the sport. A strong world tour with some great locations, a Grand Slam concept that is working perfectly and the ideal start and finish to the year in Hawaii & Canary Islands.<\/p>\n
The future is looking bright and there are some big plans to take the IBA to a whole new level that will be revealed soon.<\/p>\n
The 2010 IBA Men tour will get underway at Pipeline in Hawaii from February 16th \u2013 26th so pencil that into your diary and standby for another awesome webcast featuring the worlds best.<\/p>\n
On behalf of the IBA thanks to all of our riders, all of our sponsors and promoters and most importantly, YOU, the fan’s for making this a year that no one will ever forget.<\/p>\n
Merry X’Mas and Happy New Year everyone!!!<\/p>\n
Terry McKenna<\/p>\n
IBA General Manager <\/p>\n
PS: Sorry for the late posting…been in transit back to Oz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jeff & Neymara 2009 IBA World Champions Monday, 07 December 2009 01:07 Saturday December 5th 2009 Confital Pro Tuesday December 1st through to Saturday December 5th El Confital,Los Palmas. Gran Canaria. Jeff Hubbard & Neymara Carvalho win World titles\u2026 What a nail biting finish to another amazing year. The swell had dropped overnight but Confital … Continue reading “Jeff Hubbard & Neymara Carvalho win World titles”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-13807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bodyboarding-news-2005-2015","tag-surfing-news-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13807\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}