Waveriders Both Soft And Hard Boogie Down And Wiggle Up At The Inaugural DVO/ Catch Surf Outer Banks Shootout By Matt Pruett
TURF:Duck Village Outfitters/ Catch
Surf Outer Banks Shootout; Hayman
Street, Kill Devil Hills, NC; May 14th, 2010
ENERGY: Loud.
Even a quiet, grassroots affair like this couldn’t drown out the racket: contractors’
renourishment apparatus working overtime to undo the encroachment from Nor’Ida.
Deprecating comedy from one-time sponger-turned-standup pro Jeff Myers. The
screaming and whistling from comp directors Ricky Miller and Bob Hovey
signaling the beginning and end of each heat, “Yo, guys in the water, your heat
is OVER!!!” (Their bullhorn malfunctioned prior to the comp’s ignition.) Sure,
the waves were only one to three-foot glass, but it was Florida-sunny,
Bahamas-hot, and the first legitimate springsuit-able day all year long. So
quit your bitching and go surf.
FIRST TIME AT FIGHT CLUB: Duck Village Outfitters’
Bob Hovey and Catch Surf/ Division 71 trustee Ricky Miller conjured up the idea
of holding the first surfing/ bodyboarding event in these parts some time ago.
Naturally, Plastic People, Stealth Fins, Creatures Of Leisure, and Outer Banks
Taco Bar (owned and operated by boogie savant Eric Drexler) helped focus Hovey
and Miller’s vision, hopping on board to sponsor the Shootout’s coming-out
party, which offered Pro Surf, Pro Boogie, Amateur Men’s, and Dropknee divisions
and a slightly mobile three-day waiting period to guarantee the most ideal
competitive scenario. “It’s a WCT-style skins format, top two waves scored,
winner flies directly into the Money Round, while 2nd and 3rd go to man-on-man
death heats,” said Miller, “so the Pro Surf and Boogie winners can potentially
win $250 for their skin tally, plus another $400 and a brand-new Y-Quad board from
Catch Surf. All for surfing fun A-frame peaks with their boys before Memorial
Day brings in all the tourists.”
SLIDE: “Friggin’ dickdraggers. No place in this
sport for these kooks.” That’s what a post-middle-aged longboarder barked beside
me while watching a prone heat at a Cocoa Beach, FL, pro-am a few years back. The
fact that this person is such a revered member of the East Coast Surfing Hall
of Fame only added a foul stench to his toxic remark. I could have kept my
mouth shut. I could have just smiled and nodded and over-respected his legend
status and kissed his ass like every other close-minded, under-enlightened
surfer on the East Coast.
Fuck that.
What I did instead was tell him that considering his age and experience, his
bigoted attempt at humor (if that’s what it was) seemed sophomoric at best. I
told him that where I’m from — the Outer Banks of North Carolina —
bodyboarding surfers and standup surfers actually exist in harmony, offering
mutual respect and encouragement just like at any thumping beachbreak in
Jersey, Delmarva, or New York. Pushing each other deeper and bigger and colder
all year long. Celebrating the fact that bodyboarders risk lifelong
chiropractor bills for the rest of their lives every time they take a hyper-extended
drop on substantially less-buoyant equipment. And doing it all sans the chance
of glory or industry approval. And for one silly comment, the shit only got
deeper for this guy. I told him that falling out of the sky on your belly into
the flats before pulling into a dredging, 38-degree flume in the middle of
February is a far more athletic negotiation than noseriding a piss-warm,
waist-high Cape Canaveral peeler while playing a friggin’ ukulele and wearing a
straw hat along with the full menagerie of surf gimmicks to further accentuate
an otherwise flaccid ride.
Legend Guy didn’t like that one bit. He cussed me out, brushed the sand off his
trunks, and walked away. But I still wasn’t through with him. The next day I
convinced the ESM staff to run a
double-page spread of New Jersey masochist Mike Murphy pulling into a
vertebrae-snapping Bay Head barrel on his sponge.
“When it’s really good and the barrels are solid
here, it’s pretty much fifty-fifty bodyboarders and surfers,” said Shootout
co-director and DVO owner Bob Hovey. “Rick and I have both run contests in the
past, but it’s been a while since there was a solid bodyboarding event on the
East Coast. And with Rick working with Catch Surf and getting behind their
surfing projects, we figured this would be a good opportunity to put the two
together. Plus, the Faction Surfboards guys came out with shaper Mike Huseman.
Mike’s an old pro bodyboarder who took me in when I moved out to California
after high school, and we’ve been bros ever since. He brought out some of his
teamriders from Huntington Beach like Jesse Evans, Duane Toole, and Rick
Williams, and that just raised the stoke level for everyone.”
THE PAIN: Two local badasses —
Jeff Myers and Drew Meredith — were both sent packing by a couple
surprise game-changers — Josh “Grom” Bruce’s grabless air and Barry
Price’s flawless frontside wraps. Meanwhile, in the Boogie Final, Ocean City,
MD, vet Brian Stoehr took out a slew of Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida
pros with Jay Reale-esque passion.
THE MAN: “I hope Lucas got all those airs out of his
system in that last heat,” said opponent Jesse Evans prior to the Pro Surf
final. Unfortunately for Evans, Rogers ignored the Hayman Street port-a-potty
after his semifinal and thus hadn’t excavated any leftover above-the-lip
morsels he had been throwing up all day. So he blew them all out in the final,
basically wiping his ass with the standup competition.
YOU DO
NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB: “That’s right. This is Wally’s hood, son.” –Local
exhibitionist Seth “Walrus” Barrick, who got seeded directly into the Money
Round due to there not being enough entrants to fill another bracket
“You guys are cool, man. The vibe here is so killer compared to parts of
Southern California.” –Huntington Beach, CA, pro Duane
Toole, making friends with the OBNC peanut gallery
“Not getting to go on as
many Mentawais trips as I used to. I have a family now, but I guess I had a
pretty good run.” –Humble Huntington Beach, CA, pro Jesse Evans, downplaying his
once fruitful professional career (Ed. Note: You wouldn’t know it watching
Evans surf here. The guy has more than a few solid years left in him, and he was
easily the best surfer present at the inaugural Outer Banks Shootout.)
“So what’s this ASG show
supposed to be like tonight?” –Duane Toole, querying about the Outer
Banks Brewing Station’s mega-gnar post-comp metal show on Saturday night
“They’re basically everything North Carolina
rock ‘n’ roll is all about.” –Anonymous local grom answering Toole
(and intriguing the HB crew to get loose in the ASG pit on Saturday night)
FINAL RESULTS OF THE 2010 DVO/ CATCH SURF OUTER BANKS SHOOTOUT:
PRO SURFING 1. Lucas Rogers, $400 2. Jesse Evans, $150 3. Josh Bruce, $100 4. Alex
Burdette, Barry Price, Jr., Shawn Martin, $50
PRO BODYBOARD 1. Brian Stoehr, $400
2. Mike Bain, $150
3. Carlos Jenkins, $100
4. Bob Hovey, Anthony Delacapini, Chris Monroe, $50
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
