OLD SCHOOL 47th Annual
East Coast Surfing Championships Presented By Coastal Edge Something To Be
Proud Of... Whether You’re From VB Or Not By Matt Pruett
So I was having lunch with a couple of my Floridian pals the other day when the
subject of the East Coast Surfing Championships (ECSC) came up. One of them
being a rather obscure semi-pro surfer (i.e. not really a pro surfer, but you
don’t have the heart to burst his bubble), he was debating whether or not he
should attend. Naturally, all the generic anecdotes surfaced about Virginia
Beach, VA, being so lame and crappy with its abundance of squids and cops and
thugs and a lack of quality surf.
For the record, I’m originally from VB. Of course, it’s the part of VB the
Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce would rather you not know about. As the most
populous city in the state (and the 41st largest city in America), there are a
lot of seedy lil’ nooks and crannies that are a suburban world away from the high-rise
hotels, mom-and-pop motels, bustling bars, happening restaurants, and tacky novelty
shops that skirt the Oceanfront, and my old neighborhood of Bayside Arms isn’t
exactly on the brochures. Okay, I’ll admit, like a lot of year-round Outer
Banks residents, after I eventually moved to North Carolina, I tried really
hard to erase my dubious Vah Beach heritage by spending enough winters living on
those frozen barrier island sands. I can amuse myself with any metaphysical
meanderings I like, but the truth is, I’ll always be a VB kid.
After sitting quietly through a solid 30 minutes of VB roasting from this
D-list Sunshine State surf star, I snapped and went all old school surf
gangsta’ on that ass, educating him that Virginia Beach is, in fact, a
veritable surfing Pentagon, with just as much world-class athletic talent, account-heavy
sales reps, trustworthy team managers, history-fortified surf shops, and bona
fide legends — from Pete Smith to Wes Laine — than almost anywhere
else on the coast, and their premier waveriding event just happens to be North
America’s oldest surfing contest and the second oldest continuously run surfing
contest in the world! That shut him up for about a minute before he murmured,
“Yeah, maybe. But the waves still sucked every time I’ve gone there.”
“Big surprise there,” I retorted, “seeing as you’ve only gone for two days at a
time, in August. Besides, when we drive an hour and some change, we’re getting
barreled in Hatteras. You drive that same distance, you’re still in Florida.”
Offering $10,000 total prize purses in
both the Professional Men’s division as well as the Vans
Pro Skate Exhibition (Virginia Beach was an original cornerstone in
professional skateboarding’s vert heyday in the ‘80s and continues to draw a
plethora of international pros all year, every year.), the ECSC
will turn 47 on the weekend of August 27th-30th at
2nd-9th Streets. With beach volleyball, skimboarding, the U.S. Beach Flag
Football Championships, the World Sand Soccer Association Tournament, the
Wareing’s Gym Beach Bum Triathlon, the ECSC 5K run, live musical entertainment
from regional bands and national recording artists performing on
a beachfront stage, food and beer vendors galore, and of course, the world-famous
Miss ECSC Swimsuit Pageant, the ECSC is undoubtedly the greatest American beach
festival this side of the U.S. Open of Surfing, and annually selected as a “Top
20 Event of the Southeast” by the Southeast Tourism Society.
In other words, the ECSC is far and
away the party of the summer. The
waves at the First Street Jetty can be surprisingly fun (and if not, the Outer
Banks are only an eighth of a gas tank away), plenty of big dogs will be there
to do their dance, and if that’s not spectacle enough for you, all the sweet,
bikini-wrapped eye candy will have even the semi-brofessional snobs looking at
Virginia Beach in a whole new light.
For more on the 47th Annual ECSC, visit www.surfecsc.com,
and check out heat sheets, schedules, photos, and online news at www.surfusa.org.
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?
