Cormican Notches 6th Right Coast Contest Win Of 2009 At Inaugural Pabst Blue Ribbon
Pro In Jacksonville Beach By Tye Wallace/ GHive.com and SurfJaxPier.com; Captions by Nick McGregor
TURF: Pabst Blue Ribbon Pro Presented By GHive.com, SurfJaxPier.com,
& LandShark Café; Jacksonville Beach Pier, Jacksonville Beach, FL;
December
17th-18th, 2009
ENERGY: Thursday saw solid three to five-foot ENE windswell,
but Friday morning started off with howling southeast winds and monsoonal rain
from the storm that eventually moved north and became the Blizzard Of 2009. The
waves had almost doubled in size from Thursday, and there was a strong drift
ripping right through the pier. The contest got called off for the morning, but
it looked like we could have a glimmer of hope for the afternoon. When
lunchtime rolled around and everyone arrived at the scene, there was no doubt
the contest was on — the weather had cleared and the waves started
pumping with solid overhead sets coming through on the outside sandbar. By the
semifinals, the sun was out and the beach and pier were both packed with
spectators, photographers, and news stations all coming out to witness the big
show in solid surf.
FIRST TIME
AT FIGHT CLUB: Well, the PBR Pro was
the first of what will hopefully become an annual event. With the contest
limited to 64 contestants and a $10,000 prize purse up for grabs, the best
surfers on the East Coast were all in attendance.
SLIDE: For a first-year contest, attracting big names like
Bryan Hewitson, Asher Nolan, Adam Wickwire, Aaron Cormican, and Gabe Kling
(fresh off a plane from Hawaii) was a major coup. With $10,000 on the line and
a talent-packed lineup, any one of the early-round heats could have easily been
mistaken for an insane final. All day on Thursday presented tons of early
upsets along with some incredible surfing as competitors battled their way
through into the second day’s money rounds.
On Friday, all the boys were ripping, but Asher,
Hewitson, and Cormican were starting to make their intentions clear as they
dominated heat after heat. Semifinal #1 saw Hewy and Gorkin take down Kling and
Fernandina Beach boy Brady McKenzie, with Hewy digging into huge hacks and
Gorkin busting gravity-defying airs. Semifinal #2 was a brother act with Blake
and Justin Jones going up against Asher and New Smyrna Beach competitive
machine Jeremy Johnston, and may have been the tightest heat of the event. But
Asher and Blake emerged victorious and moved on to the final.
By 5:00 p.m. on Friday, with cold weather and a
decreasing swell on tap for Saturday, the decision was made to roll right into
the final. Asher, Blake, Cormican, and Hewy were set to do battle for the $4000
1st-place check, plus an executive VIP Daytona 500 package presented by Red
Bull and, of course, a cold case of Pabst Blue Ribbon. As the opening buzzer
blew, Asher and Cormican went to work taking off on some overhead bombs right
next to the Pier, while Hewy and Jones formed a Brevard County tag team and
stayed just to the south waiting for the peaks that had been supplying them
with head-high walls throughout the day. Each competitor snagged some amazing waves,
but when the dust settled perennial champion Aaron Cormican walked away with
the 1st-place check.
THE PAIN: With only 64 surfers in the event, Duval County
rippers had plenty of opportunity to stave off the invasion of Central Florida,
North Carolina, and Virginia Beach surfers. Yet aside from Asher Nolan, the
only Jax loc’dogs who made the quarterfinals were Ryan Briggs and Brady
McKenzie, with 12 other hometown heroes — Evan and Cody Thompson, Jeff
Crego, Wayne Satterwhite, Jason Motes, Eric Rheaume, Garret Carmichael, Corey
Sapp, Adam King, Karina Petroni, Kyle McCarthy, and Shane Murray — all
failing to advance out of the Round Of 32.
THE MAN: When you win six major East Coast contests in one
year, you deserve to be The Man. But Aaron Cormican doesn’t brag about his
exploits, or post self-congratulatory winner’s circle photos on Facebook, or
floss his bills in public. If anything, Gorkin quietly shows up, blows up, and
scurries back to New Smyrna Beach with his winnings — which, by the way, total
nearly $20,000 in 2009 alone.
(Editor’s
Note: Big ups also go out to key event sponsors GHive.com and SurfJaxPier.com,
whose proprietors Tye Wallace and Aaron Meisenheimer brought the inaugural PBR
Pro together with significant help from Event Coordinators Jay
Dodson and Mike Sasser, along with other sponsors like LandShark Café, Aqua East Surf Shop, Sunrise
Surf Shop, O’Neill, Smith Optics, Mellow Mushroom, Kechele Surfboards, Cannibal
Surfboards, Vestal Watches, Sector 9, Donovan Heat & Air, Tragic Clothing,
and Paco’s Mexican Grille. Tye and Aaron deserve an extra round of applause for
helping EasternSurf.com cover all the necessary angles.)
YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB: “Surfing wise, we got a little bit of everything — super north drift on Thursday, super south drift on Friday, offshore and sunny for the final. It was hard to get two solid waves, because it was breaking a mile out and it was a mission to paddle back out after each ride. But I’m not gonna complain — there were a good group of competitors, and I got to hang with the whole Jax crew that I used to see when I was a kid. A lot of those guys
I haven’t seen in 10 years. I’m definitely stoked on the win and my 2009 earnings, but it also sucks because Uncle Sam’s gonna want some of that money [laughs]. I just like to surf contests that are fun with my friends — I could care less whether I win or lose.” –PBR Pro Champion/ 2009 East Coast powerhouse Aaron Cormican
FINAL
RESULTS OF THE PABST BLUE RIBBON PRO PRESENTED BY GHIVE.COM, SURFJAXPIER.COM,
& LANDSHARK CAFÉ
1. Aaron Cormican, $4000
2. Asher Nolan, $2000
3. Blake Jones, $1250
4. Bryan Hewitson, $750
5. Gabe Kling, Jeremy Johnston, $500
7. Brady McKenzie, Justin Jones, $225
9. Adam Wickwire, Jensen Callaway,
Ryan Briggs, Kyle
Garson, $150
13. Jon Leaf, Eric Taylor,
Nils Schweizer, Lucas Rogers,
$100
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
