HERITAGE TAKES THE THRONE AWAY FROM WRV (Click Here for More Photos)
Holding a surf contest anywhere on the East Coast can oftentimes be a gamble but the past couple years the Quiksilver Surf Shop Challenge presented by SURFER Magazine has struck it rich at Casino Pier. This year was no exception.
The first event of this years QSSC Series was staged April 4th in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. At daybreak ten teams gathered on the boardwalk staring out at bleak and gray conditions where a strong SE wind and threatening skies dampened any hopes of kicking off the shop series on a high note. A couple hours later the swell began to fill in and the winds shifted offshore much to the astonishment of all the contestants and contest staff.
Last years NE division champions WRV came out strong with an early round victory scoring a mere one point ahead of a hungry 7th Street Surf Shop posse of Kevin Richards, Michael Ciaramella and the Kelly brothers, Chris and Rob. WRV’s cleanup rider Jeff Myers sealed the deal for the mid-Atlantic team posting a solid 8.5 score on wave consisting of a well executed backside carve connected to a racy inside floater.
Next round consisted of a series of blunders. First off was Unsound Surf Shop who had only one rider, Matt Keenan, in attendance. Their other three teammates were running late and were allegedly highway surfing their way down from Long Beach, Long Island. Keenan, the proverbial contest machine, racked up a couple of solid scores then was allowed to paddle back out if he surfed switchfoot in order to fill in for a 2nd team guy. Surprisingly it wasn’t a traffic jam that caused the Unsound tardiness but instead a change in roster that had them scrambling last minute to find another teammate. Their solution was to pull their grom sensation Balaram Stack out of school and floor it south to Jersey. With just a few minutes left in the heat the kid playing hooky showed up, paddled out and managed to whack out two waves, leaving Ryan Carlson in the water when time expired. Funny thing was three other teams also failed to bring their final rider inside the box which cost each team a valuable five point deduction. Ouch!!! Bunger Surf Shop was the only team in this round that got all four riders completed advancing them into the final.
Even with the sharp penalty a high scoring Team Heritage advanced as well thanks largely to Andrew Gesler who double whammied a perfect scoring 10. Commentators Chad Wells and Jon Kleintop were pleading all morning for someone to paddle over to the pits that were grinding off the sand bar at the end of the pier. Jamie Moran was the first to heed their advice sliding in and out of a pit that earned him an 8.8. Soon after his fellow teammate took the same position in the lineup and pulled into a long and deep barrel on his backhand that earned him the highest scoring wave of the event. “I thought I was too far back but the thing just stayed opened for me” commented a stoked out Andrew Gesler.
A big surprise this year was the absence of Team Brave New World who last year finished a close second behind WRV. BNW ring leader and local standout Sam Hammer managed to claw into a few throaty barrels while free surfing during the short break between rounds surely making everyone feel relieved that he didn’t have a presence in the competition.
Rob Kelly of 7th Street was the first to claim a double whammy in the final with a 7.0 ride. Heritage’s Gesler then claimed a 7.7 on top of his 6.0. With all intentions of a repeat a determined Noah Snyder of Team WRV found a stand up barrel that earned him a 9.0 which he of course double whammied. Frank “The Tank” Walsh finished up his streaking with a 5.5 score on a rare left hoping to put the fire out on a focused WRV squadron. With just minutes left on the clock one surfer sat outside. This surfer would determine the outcome to this years Northeast event. The pressure was on. Jeff Myers, who earlier that morning brought the Team WRV to the finals, was wigging. His first two waves were highlighted by a “roll up the windows” backwards falling wipe-out. Was it the pressure or just bad wave selection that caused the dilema. Then, on his final wave, Myers found a jewel of a right with a pit that he pulled into on his backhand. His exit wasn’t dry but there was an exit. Judges scored him a 6.5. Would that be enough for WRV to repeat? The answer was NO as Team Heritage took the final with a 52.8 total over WRV’s 50.5.
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