Why The 6th
Annual Reef/ Sweetwater Pro-Am Surf Fest Is One Of The Most Sizzling Summer Contests In Or
Out Of The Water By Matt Pruett
I’ve never been a big fan of summer.
Let’s rewind to find out why:
Seeing as I was a booger-picking imbecile just like everyone
else before puberty hit, let’s start at age 12-16: flat spells, tourists,
summer camps. Lame.
Age 17-24: flat spells, tourists, summer traffic,
working double shifts at some shitty job to pay my college tuition. Big ball of
suck.
Age 25-34: full-time ESM Editor, stationed in Melbourne Beach, FL. Though ‘tis the high
season for the surf biz, when it comes to waves, the Southeast might as well be
Hell’s Seventh Circle. It’s friggin’ hot enough to be.
Age 35: freelance journo on the Outer Banks. After nine years removed, I forgot
how annoying this place can get in the summer, the worst tourist clichés
imaginable stinking up the island like a human algal bloom.
But I must confess, there are worse places to be than in Wrightsville Beach,
NC, the weekend of July 16th-18th. Celebrating its sixth birthday at C-Street
(aka Oceanic Street) with a $20,000 purse, the Reef/ Sweetwater Pro-Am Surf
Fest has established itself as the premier party of the summer on the Right
Coast, a beach rager of Weird Science proportions (minus the mutants, nuclear warheads, and Franken-dates, of
course). Boasting five amateur divisions, a Guppies exhibition, and a Red Bull Tow-At
Expression Session, along with the business end of the comp, the surfing
component here speaks for itself. Internationally acclaimed Reef riders Mike
Losness, Jay Thompson, Paul Fisher, Dylan Goodale, Tonino Benson, and Nick
Rozsa wouldn’t be making the journey to teammate Ben Bourgeois’ hometown if
this weren’t one of the most legit contests on the East Coast.
Then again, maybe they would. Anyone who’s spent time in Wrightsville Beach
when the sun’s blazing, the girls are giggling, and the surfing birds are
chirping knows the action doesn’t stop with the final horn. If anything, that’s
when the real heat begins.
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?
