ENERGY: At the
time of this posting, the weeklong ENE groundswell that gave this area’s
surfers head-high and bigger waves (equaling three to four sessions a day for
the most dedicated, gambling divorce and unemployment scenarios) was still
flushing the Outer Banks with clean tubes. But the swell peaked for the Rip
Curl GromSearch’s Mid-Atlantic stop — one of only four regional
championship events — with the winners of each qualifier advancing to
this fall’s National Final at the Rip Curl Pro Search Somewhere in Puerto Rico.
The winners of the premier Boys and Girls 16/Under divisions in PR then earn
all-expenses paid trips to the Rip Curl Pro Surf & Music Festival at Bells
Beach, Australia, next April to compete in the Rip Curl GromSearch
International Finals.
But that’s getting way ahead of ourselves. Entering this comp earned your
favorite grom a suh-weet bagful of goodies. Winning a division earned him or
her a $50 bill. Best of all, between last week’s ultra-killable Colin swell and
now this pulse, August has been going totally Dahmer around these parts. Probably
the best back-to-school gift any of these groms could hope for.
FIRST TIME AT FIGHT CLUB: Quentin
Turko may or may not have entered this event before. If he had, it would be
kind of hard to forget his name, which sounds a little like a Lebanese assassin’s.
But the local under-pup will certainly be remembered now, as he ran away with
the Boys 12/Under title after pinching Crystal Coast favorite/ amateur
sensation Stevie Pittman in a strangely slow final. One backside hook put
Quentin over the top, literally and figuratively. Make no mistake — this
was a major upset. Pittman is ludicrously gifted for his age, and if this
writer had to place bets on the next sure-thing Tarheel to shake things up in
the pro ranks, the money would be on this kid.
SLIDE: Cam Richards. Cam Richards. And… you guessed it, Cam Richards won
the Boys 16/Under, the Boys 14/Under, and the H2O Overdrive Best Maneuver for a
four-foot frontside “stock” air, whatever that means to you. The kid only
caught four waves in the Boys 14/Under final, and he could’ve won with any of
the scores (7.5, 8.5, 7.0, 8.0). Riding a logo-less surfboard and flinging the
coolest accent, Bajan entrant Daniel Edghill laid some impressive hacks, but
Cam was untouchable. Likewise for the premier Boys 16/Under final. Ocean Isle Beach,
NC, upstart Knox Harris looked fast and mean on his backhand before throwing a
quick-twitch frontside blow-tail on a bowly left, but a dropping tide gave him
one chop monster too many, and Knox landed in 4th. Decorated PacSun U.S.A. Surf
Team member Trevor Thornton made the trek East with Rip Curl U.S.A. Team Manager
Nick Greeninger, and though the 15-year-old’s backhand verts were easily the
most mature maneuvers thrown down all day, a lack of familiarity with such a temperamental
Eastern playing field halted him at 3rd. “I lost first heat at the Huntington
contest right when I got sponsored by Rip Curl,” Thornton lamented, “and that
didn’t look too good. So I came here Friday, and the surf’s been good every
day. But that final was tough.”
It wasn’t so tough for Wrightsville Beach, NC, comp vet/ Hawaii half-timer
Dylan Kowalski, who made zero mistakes here. He was all over the lineup —
going left, going right, slicing and dicing and floating and gloating. The
problem is he didn’t really do anything that would invite disaster, and Dylan’s
comparatively safe approach only granted him runner-up honors.
Though all four surfers posted usable scores within the first minute, this was
basically a contest for 2nd from the start. Cam Richards borrowed a page from idol
Evan Geiselman’s book: hook a mid-range score off the bat, then grab a set for
a stylish roundhouse, speed check, inhale, no-grab air-reverse off the section,
exhale. Done. After that, he was free to try shuvits and rodeo flips, doggy
door backside tubes, flash alley-oops and dorky claims. Basically, Cam Richards
is beyond this contest. “That’s kind of what I’m trying to do,” Cam said. “I’m
psyched for Evan for winning the U.S. Open, and I just kind of want to be like
him. Hopefully I can get that good someday. I just got back from Indonesia and I’m
doing a lot of traveling this summer to improve on all my weaknesses. I want to
make this my year.”
THE PAIN: Defending Boys 16/Under champ Julian Payne had the local support.
He had the new sponsor (Rip Curl). He even had the technique. But Julian went
down in the semis of that division along with homeboy and Search teammate
Morgan Taylor Leavel. But final results aside, Julian and Morgan are by far the
most ambitious high school shredders on the Outer Banks, and we’re consistently
seeing their names on heat sheets everywhere. Believe it or not, that’s a big
part of what it takes to get any good at this.
THE MAN: Scooter Raynor, a North Carolina surfing icon
and reputable boardbuilder, hasn’t surfed in five years. On permanent
disability for a savage case of secondary pulmonary hypertension, Scooter’s
dire situation got worse when his family lost everything after a fire burned
down their brand-new home as the insurance companies took a convenient powder.
But speaking with Scooter, you would never know that his life has been turned
upside down and inside out over the past few years. His three boys —
14-year-old Jake, 12-year-old Jesse, and 10-year-old Bo — all made the
semifinals here, and all mimicked Scooter’s classic smile throughout the week.
They’re all standouts in the ESA-Southern North Carolina District, one of the
top three most competitive amateur districts on the coast, but even cooler is
that Scooter actually restrained them from competition until two years ago, so
that they may grow up with a more profound conception of the sport’s history
and culture. “Hey, as tough as these past few years have been with my sickness
and the fire, at least my kids are happy and healthy,” Scooter laughed. “They’re
surfing a lot better, too, and thanks to the coconut telegraph and our
brotherhood of friends, we’ve got ‘em sponsored to the gills… probably before
they should’ve been. We got Ken Hunt at Billabong helping Bo, the littlest one.
And we got Johnny McDanel at Xcel, Nigel Haynes at FCS, and Dean and Chris at
Aussie Island hooking up Jake and Jesse. Between those roots, they pay about
half the boys’ entry fees. That helps, because these contests are expensive.
But ours is a surfing family. We try to teach them about other things in life, the
importance of reading and things like that, but whenever my wife Melanie’s not
working and everything’s squared away at home, we’re surfing. Of course, I
can’t join them out there, but I still live it through my kids.”
YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB: “I wanted to do a floater on that wave… [laughs]. But I played it safe and tried that [backside
air-reverse] instead.” –Rip Curl GromSearch double-champ and
H2O Best Maneuver winner Cam Richards
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
