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MONKEY OFF HIS BACK
Sam Hammer wins Smith Optics Garden State Grudge Match -- finally
Sam Hammer had a monkey on his back. It wasn't one of those stuffed animal monkeys that Hammer might win in Seaside Heights for his girlfriend, either. After three Smith Optics Garden State Grudge Matches at his home break of Casino Pier, it was a full sized, live gorilla.
Take everything about New Jersey and pack it into one event: extreme weather, trash talking, unpredictable swells, determined surfers, and ugly, thick barrels, and you get the Grudge Match. Directors Rob Cloupe and Rob Zselecsky, of Smith Optics only fuel the bitter disputes between competitors.
While the rest of the world might observe this from a distance as a regional novelty event, competitors know the whole Jersey surf scene is watching. This is friend vs. friend, amateur vs. pro, mentor vs. protege, and just straight up redemption. This is an event that builds on its own mystique, as surfers seek retribution for past losses.
On Sunday, Hammer finally pulled the monkey off his back. Coming through one impossible barrel after another, he left the meddlesome primate hanging by a noose from Casino Pier. The Smith Optics Garden State Grudge Match was the best contest since...well, since last year's Grudge Match, and the 2005 belt went to Hammer.
The lackluster weeks of surf finally came to an end, as the first low-pressure south swell of the fall brewed up shoulder to overhead lines. The threatening north winds lied down, as rights heaved off the Pier for thirty heats. How often does that happen anywhere?
"For it to go off like this, on the north side, all day," said Hammer, "Cloupe and Z must be sitting on some kind of lucky charm."
The monkeys of Hammer's past, former Grudge Match champs Dean Randazzo (2002), Matt Keenan (2003), and Hammer's longtime homie Frank Walsh (2004) all left Seaside Heights empty handed. 2005 proved to be the year of the upset.
Meet the new challengers:
While most Grudge Match surfers are paid to surf and travel the world, Jamie Moran spent the last four years attending Drexel University. How many ams, who posted a 3.9 GPA in college, can post a 9.9 in a pro event? Moran humbly ceded to Frank Walsh in 2004, but found enough tube time to erase Walsh in the second round this year.
When Jersey's most successful surfer in history, Dean Randazzo, was first competing on the WCT, Zach Humphreys was seven years old. At age 16, Margate's Humphreys found himself in the Grudge Match ring with the former heavyweight champ. He outsurfed the Jersey Devil, stylishly fitting into right barrels, to advance. He then came within a half point of Randy Townsend in the semis. As he returned to the beach, the adolescent received an ovation from judges and contest directors.
The comeback story of the year goes to Randy Townsend. Townsend had yet to see the quarterfinals of a Grudge Match. In 2004, he had his tires slashed in a first round goofyfoot showdown with Justin Citta and Matt Keenan, and would have to surf the Grudge Qualifier, a far less prestigious event. Townsend used the demoralizing loss as motivation. He waxed the competition to take the qualifier and then marched straight to the finals, beating Mike Guarino, Keenan, and Humphreys with mind boggling backside tubes. He even put forth a respectable showing against Hammer.
Ben McBrien has seen some semifinals. But no one surfs like Ben, and judges don't know how to score him. He wears all black, does shuvits, and has taken his campaign for more progressive criteria to the air. He logged some of the highest scores of the contest, showing he can throw spray as well as olley-oops. He keeps the Grudge Match interesting.
You wouldn't call Hammer an underdog. Most of the surf world is familiar with his exploits in Puerto, Panama, Hawaii, Nova Scotia and Jersey. However, sealing the deal on a Grudge Match was the gorilla, weighing him down.
Hammer came out to prove something. He charged into nightmare barrels. He beat Townsend in the finals. He shot the Pier. He boosted textbook frontside airs. He carved 'CT-caliber gouges. And eventually, he got tackled by h
is friends in celebration, on the beach.
"It's really great to win at my home beach. It's not humiliating to lose, just disappointing. I finally just went out there and said, 'This is mine to lose.' This finally quenched my thirst."
Good-bye monkey.
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Jon Coen
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