NSSA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS FINALS
by Matt Lundgren
SurferMag.com Correspondent

The day is done, the sun and the scaffolding are coming down, and new champions are being lifted high. While the conditions weren’t ideal, when the sets rolled in, there was plenty of action in the water. With the beach full of families, friends, industry types and competition, there was one set of ominous onlookers that every competitor had staring them down: the NSSA National Championship trophies, which stood proudly just below the scaffolding. With the best weather of the week, the beach saw heated battles to the end, heats controlled from the start, absolute dominance, and history made. All in all, not a bad day.

Let’s start things off with an aerial assault. As can be expected by anyone who got a look at the webcam this week, the conditions were not ideal for lift off. The tide was high and the boys were checking out multiple waves for a rampy section before Alex Smith finally broke the surface with a frontside air reverse which garnered him a 7.5. After that, guys started hucking themselves around on anything they could. Koa Smith attempted a couple flips, but couldn’t pull them around, while Balaram Stack stuck a huge, clean frontside, but it wouldn’t be enough. Then Kolohe Andino saw something coming his way. “I was kinda far out for it,” he said, “I almost didn’t catch it. The best part about it was that I landed in the flats and made it. I just saw a section and did a little air.” That little air, or a frontside reverse, landed him a score in the 9’s giving Kolohe the unofficial Air Show title.

The afternoon saw some amazing surfing, but in the Womens final, Lakey Peterson of Santa Barbara made history, and then won a title. On her first wave of the heat, Lakey saw an opportunity and took off.

“I went into the heat not even thinking I was going to win. It was a perfect section, and I knew I was going to make it, so I mean, in the final round you just have to have fun. Go big or go home. So I did it,” and landed herself in the record books for being the first to pull an air at Womens Nationals. But things had only begun to heat up. Starting the heat with a 9, Lakey wasn’t able to get another good wave for some time, during which Nage Melamed took the lead. Malia Manuel and Courtney Conologue threw themselves into the back and forth battle, but in the last two minutes, Peterson put up a 6.5 to regain control of the heat, and in the final seconds, with one last set rolling in, positioned herself for priority, taking both the wave and the heat.

When it came time for the Mens Final, the pattern of the day presented itself. “There were a lot of waves in the heat before,” said Andino, “so I knew there weren’t going to be many in my heat.” Like a bad case of hiccups, the lulls returned; but it wasn’t necessarily bad for all. “My strategy whenever I surf a heat,” said Andino, “is to get a quick start, and I think I got that 8.25 in the first three minutes. After that it seemed like the clock was going so slow.” The clock may have been slow, but the lapse between sets was slower. Andino put up one more big score, and there was nothing more standing in his way from joining his dad on the black and blue banner. Evan Thompson, Alex Smith, and Connor Coffin finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, respectively.

When asked what was next, Andino replied “I got the junior pro tomorrow so, it keeps going.”