14th Annual East Coast Wahine Championships Downshift To Focus On The Little Ones By Anne Beasley Weber; Photos by Ken Blevins
TURF: 14th Annual East Coast
Wahine Championships; Wrightsville Beach, NC; August 15th, 2010.
ENERGY: This year’s event was
all about the under-18 set. With 110 competitors — only a handful of those were
old enough to vote, and 35 of them were aged nine and under — the 14th
Annual East Coast Wahine Championships was a girls’ grom fest to the max! A
testy east wind and contestable waist high-waves with some bigger sets made for
an overall good mood in the water. The high tide made for fun drops and carving
sections, but low tide saw some whopping closeouts on the sandbar. All the
girls were stoked, but we were nervous that the little girls were going to get
squashed on the sandbar.
FIRST
TIME AT FIGHT CLUB: Emory McClary of Georgetown, SC,
reminded us all of the first time we saw Keenan Lineback surf the ECWC. Emory
rode a tiny little Perfection Surfboards model and was flying across the face
of the waves. She easily won her preliminary heats and took home the Grommette
Shortboard Title for girls aged 10-12. “Emory shows real potential,” according
to Open Shortboard competitor Liz Hauser. “She was sitting on the outside
waiting for sets while the other girls were riding whitewater. She was taking
off on some good waves and hitting the lip on her tiny little surfboard.”
SLIDE: If it hadn’t been for
Lisa Andree and Jack Viorel, this year’s event may have never happened. I was
ready to raise the white flag and surrender the ECWC forever. As the event
owner for the past 13 years, I’ve watched the economic downturn provide less
and less sponsorship, and I didn’t think we could pull it off financially. Not
to mention I’m stuck living in Seattle, WA, for job security and was pregnant
with my second little wahine, who was due just days before the event would take
place. (Naomi
Rose Weber was born on August 7th!)
Lisa Andree is my local liaison and
organizer. She put the word out about the event’s demise, and in stepped Jack
Viorel, owner of Southern North Carolina’s Indo Jax Surf School. A sponsor for
several years and a proud dad of his own little wahine, Jack said he’d take on the
director position. With a lot of Lisa’s help and a small crew of volunteers,
including Zach Hauser, who runs a business called Twin Fin Surf Promotions that
handled all the event entries, schedule, and heat draws online (which made my
job of managing the website so much easier), we were able to get the event off
the ground. “The
East Coast Wahine Championships is a great local event for promoting females in
the sport of surfing,” Viorel said. “I have a daughter and know many other dads
with daughters who love this event. I wanted to do my part to keep it going.”
So we put on our thinking
caps, and decided a one-day event catering to the younger crowd would be the
most affordable and least overwhelming for a new director. There were some murmurs of disappointment
from the older gals, so we added an Open Shortboard division. And next year we
hope to bring the ECWC back to the usual two-day event with all divisions and
ages included.
THE
PAIN: Barbara “Stink Bug” Corey got DQ'd in her heat
because she took off on a wave after the final horn. As our oldest competitor
who’s recently recovering from hip replacement surgery, there was a plea to
allow her to advance because, after all, her hearing is completely shot! And Mary
Ann Mangiacapre, competition director for the ESA and ESA-SNC District Director,
has been our beach marshal for years. She ran 2010’s contest with a huge
bandage around her leg, as she fell through the scaffolding while working the Reef/
Sweetwater Pro-Am a month or so back.
THE
WOMAN: Leilani Pickett was in top form after spending much
of the summer in Nicaragua. Currently residing in New York, where she’s
attending the College of Staten Island, Leilani was back on her home turf
surfing her homebreak, and even ousted her own mom (runner-up Jo Pickett) for
the Open Shortboard title. “Leilani was flying right over those bigger
closeouts,” said longtime event organizer Paula Bushardt. “She easily paddled
into waves and whacked the lip multiple times. She was out to win. Her grace
and style are impeccable — she won Open Longboard last year and continues
her winning streak with this year’s title.”
Liz
Hauser flew in from Puerto Rico the day before the event and finished a
respectable 3rd in Open Shortboard. After six months spent surfing reefbreaks,
she admitted beachbreak defeat. “The finals were at dead low tide and shutting
down pretty fast,” Hauser said. “I was having a hard time figuring out the
right spots. It was weird, because I haven’t surfed a beachbreak in so long.”
YOU
DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB: “Oh my god, Kevin Walker saved our butts!
He’s the owner of Carolina Marine Salvage and Atlantic Diving and he just
donated enough money to pay our beach marshal and judges, totally last minute
and unexpected!” –Lisa Andree, goddess of all things wahine-related and new owner
of Bettina LoRain, a 1971 VW bus
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
