Good Karma Keeps Chip Miller Surf Fest Going Strong By Jon Coen; Photos by Rich McMullin
TURF: 8th
Annual Chip Miller Surf Fest; 7th St., Ocean City, NJ; July 28th, 2011
ENERGY: The Chip Miller Surf Fest has had some great blessings in the past: sweet
summer lines, a host of international surf celebrities, and record-breaking
weekday beach crowds. Perhaps it’s karmic energy from the contest’s much-loved
namesake, who passed in 2004 of a rare disease called amyloidosis. This year
only saw one-foot dribblers with the occasional 18-inch set, but following a scorching,
hot-as-balls week on the East Coast, Ocean City was happy to have an 80-degree
day and a cloud cover. The rest would work itself out.
FIRST TIME AT FIGHT CLUB: It wasn’t the first spin on the merry-go-round for
Sicklerville’s Mikey Vanaman, but this was the 10-year-old’s “breakout event.”
The little guy won the Grom division and also surfed up a division. As the
lightest of the Boys, he doubled everyone’s wave count and won a final with much
older surfers. Time (and a few pounds) will tell if this kid is the next Matt
Keenan or just a small-wave wizard.
The other first-timers were
the dozens of golfers who showed up at Greate Bay Golf & Country Club for
the related scrambles golf outing. While Lance Miller was out at the beach
running heats and making sure everything went smoothly, co-event director Nick
Bricker was busy with a bunch of brothas in funny pants whacking around on the
greens. The winning team was Jared Sweiderk, Mike Aylwin, Gary Buondonno, and
Weasel. Sam Hammer’s crew took third on the links.
SLIDE:If weak waves are called burgers, these were White
Castles. When there’s a kid skimboarding 10 feet away from a competitor riding
a wave, and the skimboarder is going faster, it’s dismal.
Still, there’s
something to be said for coming to play in all conditions. It’s tough for a
seasoned guy like Mike Ciaramella to stay focused in such waves. In the early
rounds, he and his friends were grabbing each other’s errant boards and tossing
them toward the beach in the name of fun, but he brought it together when it
counted. Ciaramella took the Boys and
Longboard divisions in 2007, the Juniors in 2008, then both Juniors and Men’s in
2009. Last year’s lightning storm was the only thing that could break his
streak. This year, he came back and somehow got his fins free to win another Men’s and Junior Men’s title.
Anyone who could get
his or her surfboard a few feet north or south up the beach was going to
advance. A forced floater or the rare turn was a heat winner.
Ocean City/Puerto Rico
half-timer Collin Gibbs harvested the wave of the day that he slashed up on a
Wynn single-fin to take the Masters division. South Jersey’s new queen of the
surf, Cassidy McClain, aced the Women’s Division. Speaking of females, where
else in New Jersey do you see teen girls riding Dumpster Divers on small days?
The Stevens family of St.
Augustine, FL, timed their trip to New Jersey to visit family with the Chip
Miller event. Sunny Stevens aced the Longboard division. He also surfed the
Parent/Child heat with his boys Chase, 13, and Blake, 9. They took 2nd place,
but you can’t really blame them, considering they faced Rob Kelly and his mom,
Donna, who turned 39 again this year. Donna rode waves to the beach and added
in some dance moves while Rob slayed ripples.
THE PAIN: Or
more specifically, overcoming it. This was a year of comebacks at the Chip
Miller, including OC wunderkid, Kevin Richards, who is recovering from
ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Look ‘em up under “gnarly ailments.” The
29-year-old Richards made his way through the Longboard division, only to have
his ostomy bag (a pouch that collects waste from his
surgically-altered digestive system) fill up
right before the final.
“I was looking for somewhere
to empty it, but there wasn’t much I could do,” Richards said. “But I went out
to California earlier this summer and rode some of Dean’s Randazzo Surfboards.
I’m surfing better than I was before. That’s how I measure my recovery.”
It was also the return to
the ocean for former NSSA Northeast Conference Director Joe Keenan. Keenan was
out of the water for 11 months following major knee surgery. His first session back
was his Masters heat. “I mustered a 5th, which means I beat someone,” Keenan
reported. “That’s good enough for me right now.”
THE MAN: Let’s
give this one to the Ocean City community in general. Sure, Ciaramella and
Vanaman blew up, but despite crap surf, everyone came up big. Between the surfing,
the golf, and the raging after party, the day netted $17,000. Amyloidosis
should watch its ass.
YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB:“He looks good. He lost
about 30 pounds. He’s my number one guy now. I was a little concerned.” –Ocean
City Surf Team Coach Mark Miedama, talking about his 2011 season ace, Zach
Greaser, who hit 195 pounds last winter
“She won’t take off her
medal.” –Rob Kelly on his mother Donna’s winning pride at the after party
“I think we’re good on the
wax, Ben. You don’t need any more.” –Kati Neustadter to her 10-year-old son Ben,
who made the Boys final in the first contest he ever entered
“On a day like today, if you
can get two turns, you’re going to get a 7 or an 8.” –Junior
Men’s and Men’s champ Mike Ciaramella on making the most of the day’s
conditions
Final Results of the 8th
ANNUAL Chip Miller Surf Fest
Groms 1.
Mikey Vanaman 2.
Steven Zarkroft 3.
Kyle Julien
Boys 1.
Mikey Vanaman 2.
Andrew Rooney 3.
Sean Taylor
JUNIOR
MENS 1.
Mike Ciaramella 2.
Pat Schmidt 3.
Alex Brooks
MENS 1.
Mike Ciaramella 2.
Alex Brooks 3.
Sean Santiago
Masters 1.
Collin Gibbs 2.
Jacques Beningo 3.
Ron Collins
Womens 1.
Cassidy McClain 2.
Grace Becker 3.
Courtney Lenny
Longboard 1.
Sunny Stevens 2.
Ted Lyons 3.
Carmen Garcia
Parent/Child 1.
Rob Kelly, Donna Kelly 2.
Sunny Stevens, Blake Stevens, Chase Stevens
: ADVERTISMENT :
: ADVERTISMENT :
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DUBIOUS RECORD The WRV
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Money Per Square Foot Of Wave Than Any Surf Contest In History
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By Matt Pruett and Nick McGregor;
Photos by Matt Lusk
