Florida Surfing Association’s Pier Pressure Crashes Jax Beach Pier By Nick McGregor; Photos Courtesy Paul West
TURF: 2009 Florida Surfing Association Pier Pressure
Presented By Sunrise Surf Shop; Southside Jacksonville Beach Pier, Jacksonville
Beach, FL; October 18th, 2009
ENERGY: The first major cold front of the season dropped
across Florida this past weekend. Saturday dawned with cold temperatures,
strong offshore winds, and only knee-high trace lines, forcing FSA Contest
Director Paul West to push Pier Pressure back to Sunday, when waist to
chest-high northeast lines began pouring in and a side-offshore wind created
semi-glassy conditions.
FIRST TIME
AT FIGHT CLUB: The Pier Pressure
featured a who’s who of North Florida talent, all of whom are familiar to the
FSA and its many Duval County events. But due to that aforementioned cold
front, neoprene made its way into the Florida lineup for the first time this fall.
SLIDE: Because of the rescheduling, Pier Pressure ran into
conflict with an already-planned ESA-North Florida District contest. But West
and ESA-NFL District Director Mitch Kaufmann came to an agreement to run the
events side-by-side, with coordinated heat schedules allowing competitors to participate
in both events.
Jax Beach standouts Cody and Evan Thompson happened
to be in town for the Pier Pressure, and predictably dominated the top of the
Pro Shortboard heat sheet. Local 12-year-old grom Jesse Gregory held off two of
the Cunningham siblings in Menehune, Trevor Bryce won Boys, popular
musician/shredder Dane Jeffries avenged his 4th-place finish in Pro Shortboard
with a win in Open Shortboard, Flagler Beach wahine Haley Watson was the only
out-of-town winner in Open Women’s Shortboard, and top tipper Justin Quintal
dominated the Pro Longboard draw.
Outside of the heat sheets, plenty of action went
down as well, with St. Augustine alaia shaper
Tom Harding bringing a quiver of his wooden creations for everyone to sample,
while Freeflow Lines came down and set up their core strength and balance-enhancing
product, which proved popular with competitors and spectators alike. Throughout
the day, Pier Pressure food sponsors Papa John’s Pizza, Paco’s Mexican Grill, Sonny’s
BBQ, Clif Bar, and Bojangles ensured no one went hungry and everybody stayed
warm, while giveaways from the above companies and Gremmie Gear kept the groms
busy.
THE PAIN: Cody Thompson probably planned on defeating little
bro Evan once the finals came around, but Evan had plans of his own, squeaking
by Cody with a wicked combo of floaters, man-sized hacks, and tucked-in barrel
riding. But hey, a little sibling rivalry never hurt anyone, right?
THE MAN: Big ups to Paul West for running Pier Pressure in the
proper conditions and pulling it off with a minimal amount of conflict, given
the ESA-NFL District contest going down on the same day. There’s a reason why
Paul is considered one of the East Coast’s most accomplished, distinguished,
and celebrated event organizers.
YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB: "The Pier Pressure contest was really fun, as it's always great to do events in your hometown. Although it got really cold, the waves were fun, offshore, and peaky. There were a lot of good guys from our area competing in the contest, like my brother, Ryan Briggs, PJ Satterwhite, and Dane Jeffries, so it was definitely a hard contest. It's always a great feeling to beat my brother Cody in contests, but I know he still surfs better than me and is one of the best freesurfers around. I would also like to thank Paul West for running the event!" –Pier Pressure champion/ graceful winner Evan Thompson
FINAL
RESULTS OF THE 2009 FSA PIER PRESSURE
PRO SHORTBOARD
1. Evan Thompson, $400
2. Cody Thompson
3. PJ Satterwhite
4. Dane Jeffries
PRO LONGBOARD
1. Justin Quintal
2. Dylan Andrews
OPEN SHORTBOARD
1. Dane Jeffries
2. Nathan Evans
3. Jesse Gregory
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
