Cormican Stakes His Claim on New Smyrna Inlet's First Pro Event in 15 Years By Nick McGregor
“You would never see anything like this in Huntington Beach.” –Smith Optics Surf Promotions Manager JP Collett
TURF:LandShark Spring Surfari Pro; New Smyrna Inlet, New Smyrna Beach, FL;
April 1st-5th, 2009
ENERGY: Known to the surfing masses as “Smyrna Inlet,” the south side of Ponce Inlet proper is easily the most consistent wave in Florida. That indisputable fact was made dreadfully clear to anyone not posted up at the LandShark Spring Surfari Pro, which celebrated the Smyrna Surfari Club’s 30-year anniversary. While the rest of Florida suffered through abysmal springtime ankle slappers, this event enjoyed four straight days of fully contestable, waist to occasional chest-high peaks breaking through all tides. And for anyone not fully versed in the insanity of Sunshine State climate swings, the full spectrum of Florida weather showed its face: hot and muggy on Wednesday and Thursday; hairy lightning storms and torrential downpours followed by dry, cranking southwest winds and a bump in the swell on Friday; a cool northeast breeze with morning temps in the 50s and glassy peaks on Saturday; and back to hot and muggy on Sunday. Also showing up to vie for the $20,000 prize purse were 91 of the East Coast’s best surfers — not a bad total for a first-time event run during a nationwide recession with minimal swell forecasted and a little more than a month of lead time.
FIRST TIME AT FIGHT CLUB:Conventional wisdom at the contest site assumed that the 1989 Aloe Up Cup, won by John Shimooka, was the last pro event in New Smyrna Beach. But research into the ASP archives revealed that Juan Ashton won the 1-star Samuel Adams Smyrna Pro in 1994. So no, it hasn’t been two decades since a professional prize purse made an appearance on NSB beaches — but 15 years still qualifies as a hell of a long time. Unless you were cruising the beach in your Camaro IROC-Z back in ‘94, this was probably your first time at Fight Club, too.
Other notable debuts included Nick “The One-Man Party” Guilarte instigating the first hip-hop dance-off to take place on top of a full-size RV; the Volusia County Beach Patrol granting LandShark a coveted permit to legally serve beer on the sand; and the first sighting of Smith Optics rep Jay Dodson’s Jacksonville Jaguars-themed mini-Winnebago. But the heaviest unveiling came when Inlet kingpin Aaron Cormican’s father Dale paddled out for the first time in five years after undergoing multiple brain surgeries, turning the final day’s “Legends of the Inlet” division into an emotional homecoming for the Cormican clan. “Being in the water when my dad paddled out and caught his first wave was better than winning the contest,” Gorkin said. “We haven’t had a moment like that since I was a kid.”
SLIDE: While the far more publicized Sebastian Inlet barely belched out knee-high dribblers, “the other Inlet” finally earned the credit it deserves by offering up the only contestable surf in the state for Days One and Two. And by Friday, while surf-desperate East Coasters chased windswell on the Gulf or hyped themselves up over two-foot buoy readings, even a 25-knot offshore wind couldn’t keep NSB from churning out a fully rippable field of peaks. The stiff breeze limited the number of early airs, helping in-form rail surfers like Matt Kechele, Bryan Hewitson, Shea Lopez, Jeremy Johnston, Ryan Briggs, and Jody Davis advance on the weight of some serious snaps — JJ’s filthy layback at the end of the day especially stood out, earning a 9.17 to claim the highest single wave score up to that point.
After pro action wrapped up on Friday, the Inlet Charley’s Expression Session kept the talent in the water — and the cash right at home, as JJ won $200 for “Best Move” while 13-year-old hotshot Noah Schweizer won $300 for “Best Wave.” On Saturday, Quarterfinal #1 served as a showcase for the vicious backside attack of Hewy, who rode a funky, fat, round-nosed, boxed-rail Rusty quad to superb effect. Quarterfinal #2 saw Gorkin hit his stride, matching JJ’s event-high 9.17 with two nasty layback/ tailslide combinations before nailing a massive, four-foot air-reverse to “stroke it” claim. Other surfers advancing to the semis included globetrotting 20-year-old phenoms Blake Jones and Eric Geiselman, Jacksonville stylemasters Asher Nolan and Ryan Briggs, and of course, the local duo of Nils Schweizer and JJ, the latter flying under the radar for much of his quarterfinal before exploding on a long right with eight straight-up backside snaps.
The pressure cooker cranked up to eleven for Semifinal #1, which saw Hewy, Nils, Blake, and Gorkin charging out of the gates; ironically, Nils and Blake had the most trouble with the smallish conditions, as both young guns repeatedly fell mid-cutback and bogged turns. Hewy kept on displacing gallons of water, but no one could match Gorkin’s new event-high 9.73, which featured three man-sized frontside pocket gouges, followed by a buttery no-grab air-reverse. Semifinal #2 was downright anticlimactic, even with JJ and Geiselman in the hunt. Eric G. dropped two airs for 7s and the win, while Asher slithered his coiled-up backside attack to a last-minute 6.7, knocking JJ from his expected spot in the finals.
By 12:30 Saturday, when the last heat hit the water, every single person on the triple-parked beach knew the $6000 1st-place check was Cormican’s for the taking. Geiselman appeared to give up early in the heat, even proning on a few waves that had potential; Asher couldn’t find a solid section and only mustered a 6.67; and the deteriorating conditions finally tripped up Hewy, who surfed like a madman throughout the entire event. And Gorkin? Well, Gorkin chucked a through-the-lip blowtail reverse and a carving 360 to earn a 7.33 right off the bat, and ten minutes later threw up another clean, fully extended air-reverse for an 8.83. Just like that — with 19 minutes remaining in the 30-minute heat — game over, entire field comboed. Hewy was the only surfer to pull within reach, but in the last minute Cormican bettered his second score, wrapping three sliding cutbacks for an 8.33 that added up to the highest heat total of the event, 17.16. Nils and JJ waited at the water’s edge to carry Gorkin all the way up the beach, and the crowd flooded to congratulate the most successful surfer to emerge from New Smyrna’s cauldron of talent. No one doubted whether Gorkin would actually win, but the victory still felt revelatory, as the hometown crowd finally got to applaud its savior on hometown shores. “I felt the pressure from everyone in New Smyrna, but I knew I could win,” Gorkin said. “All I had to do was not beat myself.”
THE PAIN: With such a stacked lineup, the contest’s later rounds were bound to feature some controversial calls. And when former WCT mainstay and current Wilbur-by-the-Sea resident Shea Lopez only got a 5.2 when he needed a 5.4 to advance out of the quarters, he loosed his frustrations by giving the crowd a double-middle-finger salute as he left the water before screaming at Head Judge Dylan Feindt on the beach. Always the professional, Feindt handled the controversy with aplomb.
THE MAN:Aaron Cormican is already the King of New Smyrna Beach; Saturday night saw whatever term he’s currently serving extended for life. The entire town seemed to turn out for a one-big-happy-family dinner at Clancy’s Cantina, where parents, kids, friends, competitors, team managers, sales reps, writers, photographers, pro surfers, and hangers-on of every stripe mixed it up. After that, the crowd multiplied exponentially for the unofficial afterparty at Beachside Tavern, where Dale Cormican wailed a few tunes on his harmonica, enormous amounts of alcohol were consumed, and Gorkin pretty much received a non-stop round of shout-outs and standing ovations. The notion may have only crossed this writer’s mind, but Saturday night felt like the joyous culmination of an underexposed surf community’s long, hard fight for much-deserved recognition. NBK, for sure — Now everyBody Knows.
YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB:
“The LandShark Spring Surfari Pro was such an awesome success. I was thrilled the way everyone came together, from the surfers to the sponsors to the fans to the volunteers. In fact, if it weren’t for the Smyrna Surfari Club volunteers, this contest wouldn’t have happened. We plan on coming back bigger and better next year.” –Event Coordinator Karen Clancy, beaming about the event’s success
“This was the best contest I’ve ever seen, because it influenced an entire local community, instead of appealing to needlepoint areas of surfers like most pro events. You would never see anything like this in Huntington Beach.” –Smith Optics Surf Promotions Manager JP Collett, marveling at the sight of an entire afterparty bursting into applause when Cormican arrived
“We kept waiting on the sets, but I never saw any — Gorkin was catching everything.” –3rd-place finisher Asher Nolan, on Gorkin’s domination of the final
“I teared up for a second in the water, because it was definitely an emotional week. When Nils and JJ carried me up the beach I pointed at everyone, telling them, ‘This is for you.’ I won this for my friends and all the old-school guys who helped me get here.” –The consummate professional athlete Aaron Cormican, on finally getting the chance to taste victory on his home turf
“Being in the water when my dad paddled out and caught his first wave was better than winning the contest.” –Aaron Cormican
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By Matt Pruett and Nick McGregor;
Photos by Matt Lusk
