TURF: 8th
Annual Foster’s Belmar Pro Presented By Eastern Lines; Belmar, NJ; September 11th-19th,
2010
ENERGY: Jumpin’
Jesus on a pogo stick! The Belmar Pro is held as close to the height of the Atlantic
Hurricane Season as possible, and this year was a freakin’ ringer. It had all
the elements of the Vans Triple Crown — Ocean Avenue backed up like the
Kam Highway, walls of whitewater coming over the berm to soak spectators,
death-or-glory barrels, a similar caliber of tan eye candy, and all in a great
party town like Belmar.
The pro event started in
average slop that grew with a bit of southeast wind on Thursday the 16th. The
passing front cleaned things up for pristine lines on Friday in the three- to
five-foot range. That’s when our friend Igor kicked in, a tropical hunchback
that kept its name for two weeks. Saturday grew in size again, although high-interval
groundswell has never been a perfect match for Jersey beachbreak. Sunday got
huge with six- to eight-foot faces — again, not perfect, but those who
could speed past the crushing lips or find corners would advance.
FIRST TIME AT FIGHT CLUB: Dylan Southworth, of Sayulita, Mexico. Like several
of the competitors who came out for the ASP-sanctioned Fins Pro Junior, Dylan
had never been to the East Coast. And he won the Grade-1 event by beating such East
Coast aces as Fisher Heverly, Nathan Behl, Balaram Stack, and Cole Richards,
along with California wonder-grom Parker Coffin.
In the Fins Pro Junior
final, Southworth glided a huge floater to a frontside hit, found inhuman speed,
and nailed a double-grab air-reverse for a 9.0. Though Stack took 3rd in the
heat, he seemed to be Southworth’s toughest rival. After crushing the best
lefts of the day and needing a 3.68, Stack went for the air-reverse that had
earned him the Unsound Pro title a week earlier. He might have landed it, if
not for the hurricane-induced backwash. But then Southworth found a magic right
that allowed a vicious hack to a gritty white barrel, from whence he emerged
almost flat on his back and regained himself for an 8.93. His heat total was a
convincing 17.93, with Parker Coffin at 12.80 and Stack and Cole Richards each finishing
with 10.10.
SLIDE: Thinking
back a few years to when fans at Belmar were half-watching SUP surfers in
one-foot waves and half-listening to Jimmy Buffet covers, this year was the
best Foster’s Belmar Pro ever.
Joey Beachchair doesn’t
always understand the intricacies of a surf contest, but when it comes down to
surviving sucking pits or getting a sand enema, it’s a pretty simple concept.
This event runs on the weekend so that New Jersey fans can enjoy one more
stellar trip to the beach. The bands, vendors, and parties are as much a part
of the action as the surfing. But when you get massive hurricane lines
unloading on the sandbar, your average beachgoer, as well as the seasoned
surfers gathered to compete, get drawn into that life-or-death drama. And it
all comes together for an epic event.
Among the most exciting
action to watch for the Belmar followers were the hometown homeboys. Brendan
Buckley brought his usual electricity, before longtime local and Columns
Restaurant suds-slinger Brian Dalton raged on to the Pro Longboard final,
beating such notables as Cory Kiesel and Steven Mangiacapre. Brian continually
hung himself out to dry on the nose in impossible bowl sections. But Tony
Silvagni was absolutely thriving in the gnar. One second he had ten over, and
the next he was punching the shit out of an oncoming lip. He waffled everyone
in the final, with Dalton taking a syrupy second.
THE PAIN: Igor
claimed five longboards in just six heats. And one of them happened to be a
loaner from Eastern Lines owner/ contest director Don Tarrant.
THE WOMAN: We’re
taking the liberties of adding a new heading to the Fight Club department,
since it wouldn’t be cool to name a lady as “The Man.” Jamie DeWitt Baittinger,
originally of Long Beach Island, NJ, and now residing in Kill Devil Hills, NC, is
all too familiar with the girls getting stuck with less favorable conditions.
That was largely the case throughout Friday and Saturday, by no one’s fault but
Mother Nature.
After taking 1st-place in
the quarters and semis, Jamie couldn’t wait to get into the arena for the
Hannah Women’s Pro final. The big heat wasn’t so much four girls competing as
it was Jamie vs. Igor. Halfway through the heat, one of the biggest sets of the
day loomed on the horizon. She sat the deepest and stroked in. There was a
moment when it looked like the lip might hold her up, but she careened down the
face. Drawing a deep bottom turn, she came around a huge folding section and
ducked under a double-overhead lip. She came through the tube, and could have
possibly straightened out, but instead went charging into a mutant hell section
for an 8.83.
This was the event Jamie
was waiting for. That single wave may have set a new standard for women surfers
on the East Coast. If anyone has ever deserved to be carried up the beach, it
was Jamie. Somebody lift a girl up for Pete’s sake!
THE MAN: The
Men’s Pro winner, Michael Dunphy. In an age where a lot of post-adolescents are
walking around with funny paintings on their boards and an “I don’t really like
contests” attitude, Dunphy is a blood-hungry competitor. Sunday started out
with him coming through a hell tube and ended with him coming through another.
When you wake up and send Jeremy Johnston home, you have pretty good momentum
to chop down Bryan Hewitson, Sam Hammer, and Jody Davis.
Dunphy faced Nathan
Carvalho, Michael Powell, and 2008 Belmar champ Kyle Garson in the final.
Unseeded Carvalho from Hawaii had been a terror all weekend, coming through a
10-point barrel on Friday and winning every heat from the very first round.
Powell had been a powder keg as well, keeping Jersey guys from advancing the
whole event.
The final turned out to be
one of the best ever on the East Coast, with the exception of a Battle of the
Banks or Grudge Match death heat, simply because of the grenades detonating
between jetties. The crowd of thousands was on its feet as Powell went
completely vertical backside on closed-out walls, Carvalho blew his fins out
and landed almost backwards for a 7.5, and Garson landed a floater over a
collapsing two-story building. Dunphy did link five turns, though they were all
sort of similar.
Carvalho looked to break
away from the pack, however, when he did two hits and a fins-free floater that
put him under the whitewater. Somehow, he stood up again to accept another 7.5
from the judges. But in the final minute, a super-set rolled in from the
horizon — the kind you see in slow motion in old Hawaiian surf
films. Dunphy nabbed the third
wave, started motoring, and had to push hard around a closeout section. Despite
its size, the wave didn’t appear to have any real scoring potential until the
kid from Virginia Beach willed himself into the last foamy section and emerged
unscathed, collecting a 9.0 and going from 3rd to 1st-place in no time. Dunphy’s
comeback was the stellar finale to a stellar contest.
YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB: “I’ve been making semis all year. I got 2nd at the
ECSC and 2nd at the Unsound, and I lost in the Fins Junior Pro here. I was
pretty much just pissed, so I really wanted to win one.” –2010
Foster’s Belmar Pro Men’s champ Michael Dunphy, on doing whatever it takes to
make the winner’s podium
“Everybody was telling me
that there was a little doggy door I could have slipped out of, but I had my
eyes closed at that point and I was just going for it. So many times you get
shitty little surf [for contests], so it’s nice to have a swell and just show
that I can surf.” –2010 Hannah Women’s Pro winner Jamie DeWitt
Baittinger, on upping the ante for women’s comp surfing on the East Coast
“We do things a little
different here in Belmar.” –Entertainment Director Barry “Penetrator”
Peterson, on the Garden State way
“It’s my first time in New
Jersey and hurricane swell showed up. We got some overhead lines and some
barrels. I had watched The Jersey Shore on MTV, so my perception was sort of like that — a lot of hot chicks and
a lot of people in the summertime. It’s been a good experience. I haven’t
surfed good waves in two months and they showed up. That’s the most important
thing.” –Humble Fins Junior Pro victor Dylan Southworth, on finding out what the
real Jersey Shore is all about
FINAL RESULTS OF THE 2010 FOSTER’S BELMAR PRO PRESENTED BY EASTER LINES
MENS PRO
1. Michael Dunphy, $5,000
2. Nathan Carvalho, $1,300
3. Michael Powell, $1,100
4. Kyle Garson, $1,000
HANNAH WOMEN’S PRO
1. Jamie DeWitt Baittinger, $800
2. Alexis Engstrom, $300
3. Ariel Engstrom, $200
4. Kim Kepich, $125 |
FINS JUNIOR PRO
1. Dylan Southworth, $2,000
2. Parker Coffin, $900
3. Balaram Stack, $700
4. Cole Richards, $500
LONGBOARD PRO
1. Tony Silvagni, $1,000
2. Brian Dalton, $500
3. Steven Mangiacapre, $350
4. John Ashton, $250 |
BOYS
1. Kalani David
2. Nic Hernandez
3. Andrew Rooney
4. Michael Vanaman
JUNIOR MENS
1. Mikey Ciaramella
2. Kalani David
3. PJ Raia
4. Nic Hernandez
|
MENS
1. Nathan Carvalho
2. Dylan Kowalski
3. Mikey Ciaramella
4. Dylan Southworth
WOMENS
1. Kim Kepich
2. Caroline Duerr
3. Jessica Kwiecinski
4. Casey Kwiecinski |
LONGBOARD
1. Cory Kiesel
2. JJ Egan
3. Jerry Matthews
BODYBOARD
1. Rob Mack
2. Phil Sperry
3. Pat Hernenway |
