Sweetwater Leaves It Up To The Grom At Oakley Surf Shop Challenge Mid-Atlantic Regional Qualifier; “Uncle” Andrew Gesler Drives Heritage Win Home In Northeast By Matt Pruett and Nick McGregor
TURF: Oakley
Surf Shop Challenge Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Regional Qualifiers; Casino
Pier, Seaside Heights, NJ, and Kitty Hawk Bath House, Kitty Hawk, NC; April 20th
and 22nd, 2010
ENERGY: One good thing
about toughing out a gnarly winter is all those freezing offshores make for tits
sandbars. While the surf forecast predicted knee-high or worse in both New
Jersey and North Carolina, consistent thigh- to waist-high dumpers in the
Garden State and chest-high sets on the Outer Banks complemented idyllic springtime
weather in both locations.
Down Tarheel way, 10
to 15 mph southeast winds made longtime Whalebone family statesman Barry Price
exclaim, “Look how that wedging right keeps peaking off that rip! Man, the
sandbars in town are so good right now.”
FIRST TIME AT FIGHT CLUB: You
wouldn’t know it from the slim spectator turnout, but both events were actually
fine forums in which to showcase the best surfers from Maine to New Jersey in
the Northeast and three states (Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina)
in the Mid-Atlantic, all pitting their blades and footwork against one another
in hopes of helping their team secure a slot in the $10,000 Oakley Surf Shop
Challenge National Championships later this summer in Huntington Beach, CA.
The contest series’
newly instituted Mid-Atlantic Regional made many surfers happy. “We really
didn’t want to have to drive up to cold-ass New Jersey this year,” chimed
Virginia Beach-based Coastal Edge teamrider Lucas Rogers, who helped his team
grab runner-up honors in their first year competing in last year’s somewhat
ill-attended Garden State Challenge. “Holding it down here is so much better
because we don’t have to drive as far and it feels like just another session
with the boys.”
“We couldn’t be
happier about how this first Mid-Atlantic event that’s been added to the series
worked out,” said Competition Director Darren Brilhart. “Having a two-day
waiting period was key. We scouted the whole area the day before with some
local advice, and found this was the best sandbar, though we knew we had to get
going at 8:00 a.m. and finish before the tide got too high. We added computer
scoring and brought out an ASP International judge to make for a more
professional event. But the main goal is the same: to bring credibility to the
surf shops, while giving the teamriders — who already get a lot of free
stuff and attention — an opportunity to compete alongside the employees who
put in such hard work in the stores. It’s great to have the shop guys reap some
of the glamour for a change.”
SLIDE: “It’s
all on you grom!”
But
there was no pressure as Sweetwater dispatched their last surfer, Mason Barnes,
into the Mid-Atlantic final. Ten squads from Virginia Beach to South Carolina composed
of surf shop teamriders and store employees — Sweetwater, Whalebone-OB,
Village People, 17th Street, Wave Riding Vehicles-OB, Whalebone-VB,
The Pit, Coastal Edge, Wave Riding Vehicles-VB, and Outer Banks Boarding
Company — competed in one round of two tag-team-relay-style heats, the
five teams with the highest point tallies (one score per competitor plus double
for the whammy surfer’s claimed wave, only three rides allowed per surfer)
advancing to the 70-minute final. And with Outer Banks Boarding Company ringer
Noah Snyder (the only regularfoot whammy surfer in the comp) blowing it on a
bomb (read below), Village’s Cam Richards being too patient and subsequently getting dogged
by the rising tide, and Wave Riding Vehicles-VB’s recently rostered Floridian
Jeremy Johnston claiming a ho-hum 5.33 early in the heat, Coastal Edge looked
to take the win, as Lucas Rogers backed up an earlier round 8.8 backside
air-reverse with a squared-off backside clinic punctuated with a reverse for an
8.5.
Luckily for Mason, Sweetwater’s
whammy surfer, Michael Powell, tagged a right to the sand on his third wave for
an 8.67. Powell, who’s preparing to graduate from UNC Wilmington and begin an
internship with Northwestern Mutual in hopes of getting his life insurance
license, left the grom only requiring 2.76 points to grab the victory. Mason posted
4.04, 3.6, and 5.93. More than enough.
In the Northeast Qualifier,
the tight Heritage Surf Shop squad of Andrew Gesler, Jamie Moran, Zack
Humphreys, and Ian Bloch repeated their Garden State victory from last year,
beating the Kelly brothers-led 7th Street Surf Shop 29.31 to 21.59 in the
final. “We have a consistent formula for running under the [OSSC] format that’s
only been fine-tuned after each passing year,” Gesler said. “We’re ready to
take it out west again — not to mention there’s a fire under our asses
because of not competing as a full team last year due to conflicting
schedules.”
THE PAIN: “I guess I
need a 12 now,” joked OBBC whammy surfer Noah Snyder after teammate Chris
McDonald ate it on a crucial wave on takeoff. But on his first wave — the
biggest and best of the day — Noah pearled like a Newport News housewife,
forcing him to swim in and retrieve his gleaming-new board in front of a beach
access full of smack-talking entourages, and effectively putting his team out
of the running. “I have never seen that in my life,” barked a flabbergasted Wes
Laine. “Noah is Mr. Clutch.”
THE MAN: If Coastal Edge buyer Wes Laine quarantines the
guy at a righthand pointbreak for a month, then forces him to do a winter in
Hawaii the way Wes did at that age, Lucas Rogers will be the best surfer in
Virginia Beach. If he isn’t already.
Ditto for South Jersey’s Andrew Gesler, who
proved he rips on anything under his feet. “Uncle” Andrew rode a 5’5” twin-fin
in the Northeast qualifier, notching double-whammy scores of 7.13 and 8.17 that
were all the more surprising given Casino Pier’s middling surf. “Surfboard
quivers are like a bag of golf clubs these days,” Gesler said. “You need the
right club for each situation. [That’s why] I rode a wider board with more
volume that helped me get into those waves.”
YOU DO
NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB: “So WRV gets to pull Jeremy
Johnston out of Florida so he can paddle right out and get a 9.0 for them. Friggin’
lame.” –Whalebone-OB teamrider Sterling King on Wave Riding Vehicles’
suspicious acquisition of New Smyrna Beach, FL, pro Jeremy Johnston (along with
Wrightsville Beach’s Mark Yonkers). The obvious whammy designee, JJ posted an
event-high 9.0 for a blistering series of backhand verts in Heat #2 of Round
One
“Yeah, we tried to stack it. We put Yonkers on
the team just last week and JJ’s been riding our boards for a couple months
now. He’s WRV’s pride and joy down in Florida now.” –Wave Riding Vehicles team
member and Surf Camp honcho Brendan Petticrew
“I think the concentration of shops in New
Jersey play a critical role in the East Coast retail marketplace. And in terms
of surf talent, whatever shop wins this Northeast Qualifier has a good chance
at the national title.” –Oakley Marketing Director Liam Barrett,
speculating on Heritage’s chances at a Oakley Surf Shop Challenge National
Championship
FINAL
RESULTS OF THE OAKLEY SURF SHOP CHALLENGE NORTHEAST REGIONAL QUALIFIER: 1. Heritage [www.heritagesurf.com],
29.31 points (Jamie Moran, Zack Humphreys, Andrew Gesler*, Ian Bloch)
2. 7th Street [www.7thstreetsurfshop.com],
21.59 points (Brian Williams, Rob Kelly*, Chris Kelly, Sean Santiago)
3. Inlet Outlet [www.inletoutlet.com],
20.62 points (Corey Frank, Terence Doll, Pat Schmidt*, Justin Taylor)
4. Bare Wires [www.barewiresurfskate.com],
20.10 points (Clay Pollioni, Tommy Ihnken, Tyler Thompson, PJ Raia*)
FINAL
RESULTS OF THE OAKLEY SURF SHOP CHALLENGE MID-ATLANTIC REGIONAL QUALIFIER:
1. Sweetwater
[www.sweetwatersurfshop.com], 33.37 points (Ross Stevens, Michael Powell*,
Mason Barnes, Owen Moffett)
2. Coastal Edge [www.coastaledge.com], 29.74 points (Wes Laine, Lucas
Rogers*, Bryce Humphreys, Tyler Bohn)
3. Wave Riding
Vehicles-VA [www.waveridingvehicles.com], 25.06 points (Jeremy Johnston*, Mark Yonkers, Brendan Petticrew, Ian Parnell)
4. Outer
Banks Boarding Company [www.outerbanksboarding.com], 15.76 points (Noah
Snyder*, Chris McDonald, Jamie DeWitt-Baittinger,
Morgan Taylor Leavel)
5. Village People [www.villagesurf.com], 13.66 points (Cam Richards*, Cole
Richards, Luke Gordon, Evan Barton)
South Carolina’s Cam Richards Steals 12th Annual
Tommy Tant Memorial Classic Men’s Pro Title From Florida Vets; Cody Thompson, Amy Nicholl,
Noah Schweizer, And Dan Worley Also Win Big
VQS
HITS THE JACKPOT AT CASINO PIER Jellyfish Surf Series Winners Include Local Boys
Hammer, Schmidt, Vanaman, And Siganos, Along With Florida Girl Emily Ruppert
DUBIOUS RECORD The WRV
Outer Banks Pro Presented By Hurley Offers Locals Genuine Perspective & More
Money Per Square Foot Of Wave Than Any Surf Contest In History
Sweetwater Leaves It Up To The Grom At Oakley Surf Shop Challenge Mid-Atlantic Regional Qualifier; “Uncle” Andrew Gesler Drives Heritage Win Home In Northeast
By Matt Pruett and Nick McGregor;
Photos by Matt Lusk
