Orlando, Florida (January 11, 1997)
Californian Rob Machado and Florida's Lisa Andersen emerged as King and Queen of the Chlorine after winning their respective divisions of the ASP sanctioned Surf Expo Surf Challenge at Typhoon Lagoon in Orlando, Florida.
Machado, 24, won $20,000 by defeating fellow Californian Shane Beschen in the men's final, while Andersen, 28, made a clean sweep of the mechanical three foot conditions to take the first ever women's final from Australian Serena Brooke. Andersen won $6,000. Beschen won $10,000 and Brook won $4,000. The remainder of the competitors earned $2,000 each for their participation.
Under powerful flood lights, surrounded arena style by over 300 selected spectators, and in clear aqua waters of Disney World's Typhoon Lagoon, lightweight Machado and four time world champion Andersen won their finals with little opposition. Little competition was encountered in a best-of-seven-waves exchange in the finals, both Machado and Andersen won their heats 4-0.
"This is more prize money than you can win in most world championship events on the tour," Machado said. "It's a totally different approach through. You know every wave's going to be the same and you can kind of have a game plan of how you're going to ride the wave. You've just got to try and push yourself to see how radical you can get.
"Not only is the wave not very powerful but the water's fresh so it's not as buoyant as salt water. The surfboard you thought was your all time favorite is suddenly a sinker, so you've really got to be light on your feet. I guess being 140 pounds I have a little advantage over the others," Machado said.
Judging is not done by assigning point scores. The judges hold up the color of the surfers jersey they think had the best of the exchange. "It would be a fun event to have on tour," Machado said. "It gives a full arena effect, kind of like at Huntington where you have the pier and everyone's screaming down at you. This one's even worse because the people are like six feet away from you. It's a great vibe though."
A moment of silence was observed at the start of the women's final and the first wave went by unridden in honor of Hawaii's late pioneer female surfer Rell Sunn, who succumbed to cancer on January 2, 1998. "We really wanted to do something in honor of Rell," Andersen said. "Serena and I thought it would be nice to do that before we surfed our final. It was a really special moment for a special lady.
I had fun surfing the event. It's a bonus to be able to compete in an event like this and walk away with a pocket full of money. We all had a good time"
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