Pros, Amateurs, Legendary Icons Share Water At 27th Annual WaveMasters Contest By Allison Arteaga; Photos by Logan Bowles
TURF: 27th
Annual WaveMasters Pro/Am Surf Contest; Jacksonville Beach Pier, Jacksonville
Beach, FL; May 1st-2nd, 2010
ENERGY: If
Robert August shows up to hang out at your surf contest, you know you’re doing
something right.
August was reportedly
visiting a friend near Jacksonville on May 1st-2nd, and when he heard that the 27th
Annual WaveMasters Pro/Am Surf Contest was being held that weekend, he headed straight
to Jax Beach Pier. So did thousands of spectators and about 250 competitors, and
the fun, upbeat energy that floated around on the beach was exactly what they’ve
all come to expect from this event over the past three decades.
“It had a really great
positive vibe,” said Contest Director Mitch Kaufmann. “We had some of the best
surfers from all over Florida turn up, and, even for the people who were just
there to support their friends and family, it was like a giant two-day beach
party.” The weekend’s weather was also “beyond perfect,” Kaufmann said, and although
the mushy, one- to two-foot waves were less than ideal, the competitors made
the most of it.
FIRST TIME AT FIGHT CLUB: Thanks to the WaveMasters contest’s easygoing attitude,
you can find just about every type of surfing division there, from Men’s Pro to
Legends Longboard to Tandem. But this year, the contest further expanded its
offerings by adding two more events, a Pro Longboard division and a Vintage
Longboard contest.
Cabo’s Island Pizza owner
Mike Ferrara lent his collection of old-school sticks to competitors in Vintage
Longboard, and a generation of Jacksonville surfers salivated as the boards
they grew up on got salty once again. “A lot of the older Jax Beach
guys were out there watching us, and they were stoked on those vintage boards,
because that’s what they rode back in the day,” said Justin Quintal, who won
the division along with Pro Longboard. “They gave us a lot of props, and it was
cool to be surfing on the boards they were using at our age.”
SLIDE: This year’s new divisions lured longboarding hotshot
Justin Quintal to WaveMasters for the first time in several years, and he
picked up his two wins with relative ease. For those keeping count, that’s the
fifth straight contest that Quintal has crushed over the past few weeks, and
it’s another $250 in prize money headed straight for his bank account.
But Quintal said he was more
focused on having fun than winning, and was thrilled to surf against all of his
old buddies during the finals of the Longboard Pro. “We all grew up surfing
against each other in the amateurs, so I was really stoked to be out there with
them again,” he said. “We all just shared the waves and had a good time surfing
together.”
Keto Burns, up-and-coming
shortboard phenom from St. Augustine, has also been blowing up lately in ESA
and NSSA competition, and he pocketed the biggest check of the weekend, a cool
$500 for winning the Men’s Pro division.
Jax Beach local Kayla Durden
was stoked to claim top honors in the Girls division, and she was even more
ecstatic when she earned herself $200 by taking out Cierra Cunningham, Mallory
Turner, and Kayla Beckmann in the finals of the Women’s Pro.
“It was really tough,”
Durden said. “I was just hoping to make it to the finals, so to win was way
more than I expected.”
Brent Lamprecht also won
$100 for taking 1st-place in the Grippers Wax Pro, and finished second to PJ
Satterwhite in the Open division, while Jake McGuire took wins in the Junior
Men’s and Boy’s divisions and Mallory Turner claimed the Junior Women’s and
Women’s Longboard titles.
Kaleb Kirshenbaum took 1st
in Micro-Mini and came in behind Logan Raulerson in the Menehune contest, and
Wesley Stewart won Junior Longboard, while Tiffany Layton took the Women’s
title and Daryl Martineau snagged 1st-place in Senior Men’s.
The winners’ circle also
included Open Longboard champion Ty Miller, Senior Longboard 1st-place finisher
Tony Hall, and Masters’ division victor Kyle Turrentine.
It was also a very good
weekend for Contest Director Mitch Kaufmann, who won the Grand Masters division
and stepped up his game during the finals of the Legends Longboard division to
beat childhood heroes Robert August and Clay Bennett.
“Just being out in the water
with them was good enough for me,” Kaufmann said. “But actually winning gives
you a lot more confidence in your surfing abilities.”
THE PAIN: As
the highest-profile surfer to not to make it to the winner’s circle, it might
seem at first glance that Robert August would be the right candidate for this
category. But by all accounts, he’s a supremely chill and happy dude, who was
really just out there to hang with the locals and have some fun. So instead of trying to find someone to
nominate for “The Pain,” let’s just give Robert August props for being a great
role model and getting everyone stoked.
THE MAN: This
one’s reserved for the people who have worked hard to put on a great contest
for the past 27 years. So, to all the members of the WaveMasters Society, all
the sponsors, and all the contest organizers: you da man.
YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB: “Robert August was there for pretty much the entire
event just hanging out with everyone. He’s a really easygoing guy, and even
though he’s a legend, he doesn’t have a big head or anything. It was cool to
see him just walking around, smiling and enjoying the day. I was so stoked that
he was there.” –Pro Longboard and Vintage Longboard winner
Justin Quintal
“Any time you can get that
many good surfers together, it raises the level of surfing all around, and
that’s our goal.” –Contest Director Mitch Kaufmann
“There
were a lot of good vibes going around, and you could really tell that everyone
was having a good time.” –Women’s Pro and Girls division winner Kayla
Durden.
FINAL RESULTS OF THE 27TH ANNUAL WAVEMASTERS PRO/AM
SURF CONTEST:
MENS PRO 1. Keto Burns, $500
2. PJ Satterwhite, $250
3. Brent Lamprecht, $150
4. Jason Motes, $100
WOMEN PRO 1. Kayla Durden, $200
2. Cierra Cunningham, $150 3. Mallory Turner,
$100
4. Kayla Beckmann,
$50
PRO LONGBOARD 1. Justin Quintal,
$150
2. Joe Pulido,
$100
3. Jason Motes,
$50
4. Dylan Andrews,
$50
GRIPPERS WAX PRO 1. Brent Lamprecht,
$100
2. PJ Satterwhite
3. Kevin Cox
4.Jake McGuire
VINTAGE LONGBOARD 1. Justin Quintal, $100
2. Joe Pulido
3. Asher King
4. Dylan Andrews
TANDEM 1. Asher King &
Layney Cunningham
2. Jason &
Courtney Motes
3. Jessie &
Maddie Gregory
4. Jerry & Rachel
Delgado
5. Sophie Falzone
& Allissa Franklin
6. Mitch Kaufmann &
Kayla Durden
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Photos by Matt Lusk
