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CODY THOMPSON WINS QUIKSILVER KING OF THE PEAK
North Florida regularfoot defeats Nolan to take 6 skins and top honors at the Inlet
Photos: All photos: Chris Wilson
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November 17, 2008
14193 visits
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Not everyone's in Hawaii right now.
On the weekend of November 15th and 16th, Sebastian Inlet drew a large number of the best surfers in the East. The maximum allotment of 92 competitors showed for this unique Quiksilver skins-format event.
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Saturday saw clean offshore winds with three- to four-foot surf. There's no seeding in this event - it doesn't matter who you are or what you've done or what you've won, your name goes in the hat. Names are drawn randomly, and placed into Skins heats. Every heat has $245 cash given out to each winning claim. Round One sets up 23 heats. Round Two the draw is flipped upside down, and each surfer is given a second chance to get on a roll and claim some cash. It's sort of like guys that lose out on Day One come back on Day Two with a whole new game and a lot more determination. The action: opening the first skin campaign was Wesley Desouza from south Florida who slid in as a late alternate. Wesley rallied for two skins with some lightning-fast, snappy surfing. Matt Keenan was in his element and looking like a threat, until Asher Nolan decided he wanted some of that Sebastian gold. Asher's always a major threat in every event, and he was looking to plant a Jacksonville Jaguars VIP personal parking spot under the Sebastian Inlet bridge. Nolan claimed three skins in a row, while posting the highest scores of the day just to let everyone know he's King. In fact, Asher threw a red flag out on former crown winner Jeremy Johnston with wicked backhand top to bottom hooks in Asher fashion. Kyle Garson, another former King, decided he better stop Asher -- he didn't want to lose his parking spot under the bridge. Kyle went on tailsliding for another Skin. Then Eddie Guilbeau reminded Kyle that he is one of local Kings at aerial surfing. Eddie, coming off a recent ankle injury doing airs, was punting crazy Passion Pops, lofty air reverses, and finally landed one, looking eye-to-eye at the judges and claiming it. Day One saw plenty of cash spread amongst the field, but Asher was the only one that made a really strong statement with his three-skin run. Other flurries of action came with OBX icon, Jeff Myer's, surfing solid for two skins, and Daytona "Mad Dog" Dustin Richardson air reversing smoothly for two skins, also. Finishing out day one, the ESM AIRSHOW saw the condition get ripe oil glass. Eighteen aerial aggronauts went for two rounds of battle. It was judged as a 5-star airshow with a 5 stars topping out the scale. Kelly Slater, the King himself, showed and lent a hand on some critical analysis. This was the best airshow we've ever witnessed go down at the Inlet: Eddie Guilbeau was flying all over the place. On one particular wave that was only about an 8" wedge, he generated enough speed to fly up and out 3 feet with a spin-whip landing his board clean in the flats. Ryan Helm, being the past three-time winner, was lofting his typical athletic punts good for 2 stars. Balaram Stack was staying busy on the lefts, but never got the right sections. Jensen Callaway was solid, boosting clean rotations as did Dustin Richardson. The first round was easy to judge. The final saw everyone boosting and rotating 2 stars which were the norm. Blake Jones decided he needed to kick it up a notch, meaning fly like Superman, throw in a little kick all 3 feet above the lip and land like butter. The beach erupted; 3 stars easily. Blake set himself apart for the win and a nice $500 dollars towards the family barbeque. Second place was a straight up tie between Eddie Guilbeau and Jensen Callaway. Both also pocketed $100. ?? Day Two: danger lurks. With Asher Nolan sitting nearly in the middle of round two, everyone knew they better get real busy before they go up against him. Surf was typical November: chunky monkey, but the swell size bumped up a bit. Blake Jones was ready for action, arriving early during contest set up, and out for a practice surf in the frosty cold morning air. It proved to pay off in heat one with a skin and back into another win for heat three. But big brother was feeling a little left out. Justin Jones answered Asher and went onward for four Skins. Leaving Blake victim was a hungry Paul "Rhino" Reinecke, who went onward for another Skin taking out an in form Eddie Guilbeau, and Billl "Legend" Hartley. It quickly became apparent that there's something in the water these days in Jacksonville -- and it's not just Asher Nolan or Ryan Briggs. It's Cody Thompson, who came out flairing all over the place. Perhaps Cody grabbed onto the unique format, and what its all about one-wave scores. It's all about throwing it all out there on one wave. Whatever it was, Cody looked really focused and began by tearing off Rhino's horn with a buzzsaw lofty air rotation glider. Then in succession Nils Schweizer, Jeremy Johnston fell victim, too. It all came to fusion for the Jacksonville showdown. Cody (wiith 4 skins) on his way to meet Asher Nolan (with 3 skins). For Asher, it's a clutch moment, where if Cody beats him he's out of the winner's circle. For Cody, he knows his buddy Ryan Briggs has also been lurking going loon-balls, and racking up skins (Ryan also holding down 3 skins). Asher, like any savvy pro would, went straight for Cody, who was sitting in his territory wedge right zone that had been working all day. Asher was sitting quite close to Cody figuring with his backhand claw, he could give the right a go and keep Cody off -- maybe throwing off his game. Going tit for tat with no claims, a really clean random four-foot wedge loomed up and Cody struck with a really square wide open backdooresque barrel followed by a great carving swoop. His claimed score comes in at 8.33 (highest score of the event). And he went on to win his next heat, netting him a cool 6 skins and almost $1,500. RESULTS Cody Thompson 6- Skins $1490.00 Justin Jones 4- Skins $980.00 Ryan Briggs 4-Skins $980.00 Asher Nolan 3-skins $735.00 Blake Jones 2-Skins $490.00 Paul Reinecke 2-Skins $490.00 Eric Taylor 2-Skins $490.00 Sebastian Moreno 2-Skins $490.00 Jeff Myers 2-Skins $490.00 Kyle Garson 2-Skins $490.00 Dustin Richarson 2-Skins $490.00 Wesley Desouza 2-Skins $490.00 Mason Sapp 2-Skins $490.00 Tommy Bursian 1-Skin $245.00 Dylan Graves 1-Skin $245.00 Eddie Guilbeau 1- Skin $245.00 Matt Keenan 1-Skins $245.00 Robert Rohmann 1-Skin $245.00 Ryan Helm 1-Skin $245.00 Davey Awbrey 1- Skin $245.00 Rob Kelly 1-Skin $245.00 Jonathan Gossman 1-Skin $245.00 Kenny Kozack 1-Skin $245.00 Jensen Callaway 1-Skin $245.00 ESM AIRSHOW 1st Blake Jones $500 eq.2nd Eddie Guilbeau eq. 2nd Jensen Callaway MORE SURF NEWS SURFLINE HOME PAGE |