Big Surf for ECSC Regionals in New Jersey
May 15, 2006
On The Edge
Big Surf For Regionals
By Peter Pan
Area surfers made an admirable showing at the 2006 East Coast Surfing Championships Northeast Surf-Offs, held over a 3 day period, this past weekend. This was the first time in the history of the 22-year history of the competition, that it was held in Belmar, New Jersey.
While the Mid-Atlantic Surf-Offs, held on the previous weekend, was plagued by almost flat conditions, the surf at Belmar could have been considered almost treacherous. A large, offshore storm system produced a chaotic, 6-8 foot swell with unusually strong rip tides and currents.
These conditions made it very difficult for competitors to paddle out pat the thick, hard breaking, inside shore pound. The rough surf had some competitors thinking twice before going out in their heats. There were numerous last minute withdrawals and no-shows on the beach.
South New England team rider, Katie Ryan described how she managed to advance to the Women’s Final. “It was really hard to get out, and once you did get out, you got sucked out of the line-up by the strong rip. Our team coach told me to just get out as far as I could, and spin around and ride the reforms.” That turned out to be good advice for not only Katie, but several other district riders, as she finished 2nd in her heat and advanced.
There were quite a few competitors who managed to battle their way out into the line-up, but then were sucked out in the rip, and either caught one or no waves in their heats. Some paid the price of getting out, when big sets caught them in the impact zone, as they paddled out.
Considering the adverse conditions, South New England surfers had a great showing. In the youth events, it was another explosive performance by Eric Anderson, as he picked off the biggest peaks, to defend his Junior Longboard title, and win the crown. Luke Ryan styled his way into a second place in the Menehune Longboard Final, with some smooth front side surfing.
Area females put in a solid overall performance in just about every category. In her first ever big competition, Miranda Kielpinski put her power moves to work, as she tore up the Junior Women’s Final, taking 2nd place. She also advanced to the Women’s Longboard Final, finishing in 6th place.
Katie Ryan surfed to a 6th place finish in the Women’s Final, and Kitty Pechet notched a 2nd in the Grand Legends and 5th in the Senior Women’s Longboard event.
In the men’s contest, Matt Richards took a well deserved 4th in the Master’s Final, with Brendan McCray right behind in 5th place. Both surfers had to rip through two rounds of tough surfing, to earn those berths. McCray also tore up the Master’s Longboard division, and one outstanding barrel ride took him to a 4th place finish in the final.
Marc Angelillo had an outstanding day, taking on the backside monsters with style and grace. Marc earned his 3rd place spot in the Grandmaster’s Final, and continued his winning ways in the Legends Longboard Final, taking 6th place.
Lee Anderson rode with reckless abandon in the Legends Final, picking off two massive right peaks and ripping them to the beach, to edge out fellow team rider Peter Pan. Pan took second in the final, as South New England completed the sweep of the top two spots.
Both riders continued to handle the big surf with style, as they advanced to the Legends Longboard final under tough conditions. Lee found one great nose riding section, to edge into 3rd place, while Pan caught some big close-outs, ending up in the 5th spot.
There was some great surfing from other area riders, who did not advance to the final rounds. Ronaldo Lima found himself on the short end, in both the men’s and open events. Lima was bumped out of the top three advancing spots, despite tearing up the right barrels.
In the youth events, Wade and Cole Madden, along with Kyle Algera and Tee Smith got through to the semi finals before bowing out. Nora Vasconcellos got caught in the shore pound during the Girls semifinals, and prevented her from getting the necessary waves to advance.
Olaf Vali and Eric Webber got through their quarterfinals, but could not find the necessary waves to advance out of the semifinals in the Men’s and Senior Men’s events. Our body boarders had a tough time in the quarterfinals, as they opted to go for rights that were pushing in off the south jetty. Unfortunately, the waves shut down in that corner, and left them scrambling for the necessary two waves to advance. Jesse Rodriquez, Pat Redmond, and Andrew Sestito all suffered the same fate, as they were bounced out of the contest, looking for that elusive peak.
The next rated area ESA contest is scheduled for Nantasket Beach, in Hull, Massachusetts. This contest is on call for May 26th, after 6 PM on the ESA hotline of 401-727-2605. This will be the 3rd rated contest of the 2006 season.
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