BAIT
Waiting For Disaster At The
ESA Easterns
By Matt Pruett
A week ago, Richard Snead’s
body washed up in Kill Devil Hills. The autopsy specialist delivered frankly,
“There is no question that a shark attack caused his death.” Monday was the last day
for public comment disputing offshore oil drilling. And the Save Hatteras
crusade to keep Outer Banks beaches accessible wages on.
This place seems to be getting more and more
hostile for surfers every day.
But you wouldn’t know it watching the 42nd Annual
ESA Eastern Surfing Championships. Up through yesterday’s Adult finals, the
drama level has been rather low. Maybe the buzz from last week’s
performance-heavy WRV/ Hurley Outer Banks Pro is just starting to wear off. Or
perhaps the fact that three major swells (Bill, Danny, and a big coastal low)
showed the Banks their O-face in a single month has everyone shell-shocked. But
it’s pretty much business as usual at the oldest and most important amateur
surfing exhibit on the East Coast, and everyone’s waiting for the worst —
a Portuguese Man o’ War invasion, The Perfect Storm, Piping Plover party
crashers, etc… If the world is indeed going to hell in a handbasket, so be it.
In fact, let’s stick our chins out all defiant-like to take the biggest punch
the Atlantic has to offer, proud to be consumed like any other bait.
“Well, the tide’s super high for the Men’s
final, so there’s that,” a competitor goofily replied when asked what on earth
he had to be so bummed about. Last year’s Men’s champ from Jacksonville Beach,
FL, David Holloway, handily defended his title with the healthiest backside
torque since late-‘90s J. Lo, while North Florida cohort Mallory Turner did the
same to retain her Women’s crown. New Yorker Jeff Anthony put some extra garlic
on his hearty frontside reos to overpower New Jersey neighbor David Mansor’s
lil’ tube dip and Tarheel Jesse McCrery’s big roundhouse-to-shore-dump in
Masters. Three former Easterns champions — Jason Motes, ESA Allstar Team
Coach Pat Emery, and Rodrigo Miranda — invited Daniel Sacchi to their
Senior Men’s party, promising the heat of the day, with Emery tagging off on
what was undoubtedly the best ride of the adult finals, and Miranda looking
faster and looser than a college freshman on a Stafford loan. But Emery and
Miranda were much too patient, basically handing the title to a relentless
Jason Motes. “I’m not sure I got the backup score I needed,” lamented Emery,
who might have to use this faux pas as a focus topic at the next Allstar Team
practice. Strangely, the Grandmasters was even more exciting than the previous
final, but that might have been due to the dropping tide. ESA-North Florida
District Director Mitch Kaufmann beat a left into submission, but the ESA-Outer
Banks District’s only finalist, Jesse Fernandez, answered back to take his
first of two titles, Grandmasters and Legends Longboard. “Where are all my
local district guys?” Fernandez asked, as a bugle played “Taps” somewhere in
the distance.
A totally decent thunderstorm threatened a
rainout prior to the Legends final, where Bill Willem excelled, while Kris
Kringle-imposter Paul Eaton ho-ho-hodadded his way to 1st in Grand Legends. And
speaking of legends (and we don’t throw that term around loosely), Mindy
Ballou-Fitzpatrick crushed the Ladies final like a pack of Chesterfields,
avenging her ’07 loss to Ana Barend, while also enlisting fellow Tarheel Jo
Pickett to keep Barend down in Ladies Longboard. Ty Miller won Men’s Longboard
with his surfboard intact, unlike Palmetto Stater Kai Dilling, whose
snapped-in-half single-fin forced him to pick up the pace and run up the beach
to grab his backup single-fin (and the longest left of the day) en route to the
Masters Longboard crown. And ESM Co-owner/ Chief Photographer Tom Dugan
was nowhere to be found come time for the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame
final, allowing Rhode Island staple Peter Pan to paddle out a whole 15 feet
from shore and take the title all by his lonesome.
In other words, the Adult cut for this
year’s Easterns was a remarkably bummer-less affair, with just enough drama to
keep everyone on their toes. A little creepy wind, at least one gnarly
thunderstorm, and a broken board or two… Yeah, that sounds like Easterns all
right. As ESA Executive Director Debbie Hodges joked, “It’s Easterns. No one
gets out unscathed.”
Which is pretty much the only attitude to
have. Whether it’s an oil spill, an ornery hurricane, or big fish taking back
their sea — we’re all just bait for whatever comes next. And so be it.
FINAL ADULT RESULTS OF THE ESA EASTERN
SURFING CHAMPIONSHIPS
LEGENDS 1. Bill Willem, ESA-CNJ
2. David Sledge, ESA-CNC
3. Bobby Holland, ESA-VA
4. Tom Leonik, ESA-SNJ
GRAND LEGENDS 1. Paul Eaton, ESA-CFL
2. Bryant Hungerford, ESA-DMV
3. Tom McClaren, ESA-SNJ
4. Kitty Pechet, ESA-SNE
5. Chummer McCranels, ESA-PBFL
MENS 1. David Holloway, ESA-NFL
2. Juan Carlos Gerena, ESA-PRC
3. Jeffrey Barden, ESA-TCFL
4. Bryce Humphrey, ESA-VA
DISTRICT ABBREVIATIONS CFL-CENTRAL
FLORIDA
CNC-CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA CNJ-CENTRAL NEW JERSEY
DMV-DELMARVA FCFL-FIRST COAST
FLORIDA GA-GEORGIA GRLK-GREAT
LAKES
NSC-NORTHERN SOUTH CAROLINA
NCFL-NORTH CENTRAL FLORIDA
NFL-NORTH
FLORIDA
NSC-NORTHERN SOUTH CAROLINA
NY-NEW YORK
OBNC-OUTER
BANKS NORTH CAROLINA
PBFL-PALM BEACH FLORIDA
PRC-PUERTO RICO
SNC-SOUTHERN NORTH CAROLINA
SNJ-SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY
SNE-SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND
SSC-SOUTHERN SOUTH CAROLINA
SAFL-ST. AUGUSTINE FLORIDA
TCFL-TREASURE COAST
FLORIDA
VA-VIRGINIA
WFL- WEST
FLORIDA
THE OLD IN-OUT
The 2009 WRV Outer Banks Pro Presented By Hurley Is Moving Ahead Like Clockwork
Along The Graveyard Of The Atlantic... Let's Hope Hurricane Season Doesn’t Dish
Out A Bit Of The Old Ultraviolence
BILL OF SALE Surf Expo Comes To Town Early With Lower-Than-Usual
Attendance Rumors And Category 4 Hurricane Bill Zooming In. Will You Blow Town To
Bro Down Or Sit Tight And Get Right?
