Easterns® official photographer was Mickey McCarthy
The Eastern Surfing Association 2013 Easterns® Surfing Championships at Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head, North Carolina finished up on Saturday with an exciting day of youth finals. The event showcased the best amateur surfers from the entire East Coast, including the Great Lakes and Alabama.
“The weather and waves cooperated for the last few days of competition and the surfers really gave it their all,” said ESA Executive Director, Michelle Sommers. The wind was a factor on Wednesday for the Open and SUP divisions, but lightened for all the youth divisions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. “The beach was crowded and there was plenty of surf throughout the entire week,” adds Sommers.
A live webcast provided by Space Coast Productions reached over 17,000 viewers during the event, with all the action currently replaying on the ESA website at www.surfesa.org throughout the next week. “It’s great to be able to allow the competitors to view the webcast of the event as it was originally shown,” says Sommers. “We are also posting tons of photos of the competitors and other event happenings by official event photographer, Mickey McCarthy on our website and Facebook page.
In Wednesday’s Open Shortboard Final, Tyler Faulkner took first, beating Chuck Barend, who finished second, with Jared Bono in third and Parker Greenwood in fourth. Kieran Grant grabbed first in the “Jimmy Lewis” Open SUP Division with Craig Leider, Michael Carter and ESA All-Star Fisher Grant finishing second, third and fourth, respectively.
Saturday’s Menehunes Final saw Micha Cantor claim first, followed by Noah Dovin, Blake Elmore and Christian Daniels. Nick Groshell finished first in the Boys Final, with Chase Stevens in second, Jordan Montgomery in third and Boyd Brown in fourth. Tyler Faulker took the “Under Armour” Junior Mens event, followed by Fisher Grant, Tyler Clazey and Hobie Sears in second, third and fourth, respectively.
Shealyn Cunningham led the Girls Division, with Lily Whatley claiming second, Laney Brooks in third and Kathryn Neff in fourth. In Junior Womens, the ESA’s first-ever all ESA All-Star Final saw Cassidy McClain claiming first, followed by fellow All-Stars Grace Muckenfuss, Darsha Pigford and Piper Austin in second, third and fourth, respectively.
The waves were clean and plentiful for the Longboard Finals, with Nick Copenhauer, Fisher Grant and ESA All-Star Jazmine Dean each taking first place in the Menehune, Junior and Junior Womens Longboard divisions, respectively. ESA All-Star Simon Hetrick claimed the win in Menehune Bodyboard, along with a second in Menehune Longboard and third in Open Bodyboard. Noah Fielder took first in Open Bodyboard, followed by Chris Makibbin in second and Carlisle Carter in fourth.
The Youth and Adult Iron Man awards were presented to Jared Bono and Michael Foard, respectively. There was a tie for Iron Woman between Georgia Cook and Kathryn Neff. The Hot Wave Award was also tied, with a total of 9.33 for both Tyler Faulkner and Austin Hollingshead.
ESA All-Star Team member Ana Barend and her husband, Chuck, were jointly presented with the Easterns® Sportsmanship Award for going above and beyond throughout the week in support of the event and their fellow competitors.
A complete list of all the results can be found at www.surfesa.org. The ESA would like to thank Plak That and Schoppy’s for going out of their way to create unique youth and adult awards.
Special thanks also go out to the Town of Nags Head, Sun Realty, The Outer Banks Tourism Bureau, Kitty Hawk Surf Company, Café Lachine, Waveriders Coffee, Hatteras Island Christian Fellowship, along with all the local sponsors who helped make the event a success. ESA National Sponsors include Under Armour, Sun Bum, Hyperflex Wetsuits, Starboard Surfboards, Boardstix, Inc., Coca-Cola, Jimmy Lewis SUP, Catch Surf, Surfer Magazine and Swellinfo.