Pacific City – Longboard Competition

7 a.m.  The boys jump out of their bunks, grab the longboard skateboards, and zip over to see what the ocean is up to.  It didn’t take them long to come back to camp, load up the surf boards, pull on their wetsuits and hit the surf.  There have been quite a few storms up north, and we were right on the cuff of feeling power. Perfect Day.

Our friend Ric is the one that talked the boys into competing.  He’s super stoked about Pacific City! Here he is giving Nate the run down on how the heats work. It’s our first time – we are pretty ignorant – learning fast. There can be 3 heats in different stages going on, and to the north and south – 20 or more random surfers are also enjoying the beach.

Horns to get in the water, 6 minutes to paddle out, Horns and flags to start, a horn for the 5 minute warning, horns and flags to stop.  4-7 people competing at once. A lot to keep track of! Nate and Jon made friends with a lot of surfers on Saturday. Below he is with Alec, a new friend that let him borrow his longboard to compete. Alec, also new to competitions talks with Nate about what to look out for out in the water.

Nate’s first two pop ups  – didn’t turn out well, he got rolled by the white – see the random swimmer/surfer right in front of him ? Ya. He’s not even competing. Nate dropped down, turned left, and fell – hit his head on the board.  Happened twice. In the end, he couldn’t shake it off. He had a really big wipe out on Friday Night with the SUP, bruised rib. He couldn’t shake being dizzy – that’s the crazy part of the competition. We saw a lot of great surfers, just not be in the right/best position to get the best part of the wave. 15-20 minutes – and it’s over.  He got out there- and that’s amazing. Pretty intimidating to surf in front of hundreds of rubberneckers.

We brought our Sandboards – Learned that there is Surfwax Wet Sand Wax, and Dry Sand Sandboard Wax.  Man. REALLY makes a difference with DrySand Sandboard Wax. They were the kings of the hill – once they figured out how to do it, the spent most of Saturday and Sunday teaching everyone else on the hill.  Fun to watch!

Next up is Jon’s turn.  I read the board wrong, and we were not there for the start of his heat. I saw the Groms in the water from the sand hill, ran around like a frantic idiot finding Jon, his Suit, a Longboard – and getting to the Judges before the Grom heats were over. I could right an entire post  about the rollercoaster my heart went through during this hour. I am glad they let him compete out of turn – it really is about getting these guys excited about surfing.

Jon dropped in a 2 times and fell – he was used to his short board and tried standing with his foot back.  He quickly found the center of balance to the board – and then tore.it.up.

Foot work, Hoping from left to right, walking forward to hang 10, riding the board all the way to the sand, quick pop ups, squatting down to touch the board with one hand out,  great balance. It was fun to listen to the judges exclaim when he surprised them. He has really been practicing a lot! It paid off!

Concentration, timing with the other surfers in the water, pressure before the judges – completely exhausted from surfing Friday and Saturday and the afternoon on the Sand Hill – still focused on getting the runs in.

He says – “I fell and was concentrating, then remembered the judges were watching – and wanted to show them how much fun I was having so I flashed them a smile.  I was so tired, but I wanted to get the points in.”

Judges gathering scores. They said he was “Right in there” with the rest of the scores. I say – win or loose – he did amazing demonstrating everything he has learned from the Tigersharks 4H Surf Club Coaches!

One happy Grom! When do we surf again?  It’s a question I hear a lot! Now that they are pretty confident with being in the water without coaches – I see a lot more surfing ahead!

Beach Volleyball, Bonfires, New Friends, Camping, Surfing, Sandboarding, Skateboarding, Ocean SUP, Music, Dancing,  – Pacific City Longboard Competition was AMAZING. A perfect cap to our summer!

Fun. Fun Times.  – Check ya later – need to get back to Math, Wordsmith, Music, Latin, and WW2 – so we have time to get back out there!