Surfrider Toes on the Nose
Longboard Team Challenge
June 10th, 2006
Ocean City, Maryland
Bruce “Snake” Gabrielson and Jeff Schad
The 6th annual Surfrider Toes on the Nose Team Challenge went off smoothly June 10th
at the foot of 37th St in Ocean City, Maryland. Teams arrived at the contest site as early as
6:15 AM for the 9AM start, prepping for a long day of competition and camaraderie by
putting up tents alongside the two judging platforms. Fifteen teams entered the competition
this year; 3 Surfrider
Chapters: New Jersey, DC, and Delaware; 3 clubs: the 62nd St Longboarders,
Annapolis Surf Club (entered two teams), and Offshore Longboard Surf Club (OLC) of New
Jersey, plus the Christian Surfing Association, some teams with fun loving names like
Chicks With Sticks and Belly Blocks, and a number of shop or manufacturer sponsored
teams.
By 7:00 am the tents were up, banners were flying, and the surf was crowded with
competitors and visitors getting in early sessions. Some of the banners besides
Surfrider included the 62nd St Longboarders, Quicksilver, Annapolis Surf Club,
Nezzy Surfboards, Wave Trek Surfboards, and TurboTunnel.
The break at 37th is one of the more popular locations in the area, with a consistently well
shaped wave and a shallow sandbar that produces the goods in both big and small surf. The inside
rolling whitewater also makes the break popular for beginners and surf schools.
Two surf schools are located there during the summer season, plus a third school
often shows up nearby. For this contest, the wind was offshore all day, producing waist to
chest and occasional head high hollow peaks, with the rights typically being the better option.
The contest format required each team to surf together in one of two adjacent
contest areas for half of each heat, then paddle to the other contest area to
be judged by a second set of judges. The two teams competing would thus
criss-cross between surf areas during a short break.
This format eliminated the problems encountered with inconsisten judging scores,
plus it also eliminated hassling for waves between differing teams.
The result ensured that each team got a chance to enjoy the better sandbar, which flip
flopped from one area to the other throughout the various tidal stages.
All teams were guaranteed two rounds of surfing before eliminations began; the advancing
team was the one with the best-combined score from both sets of judges.
By round 3, one club, OLC, two Surfrider Chapters (DE and DC), and four
shop teams remained. The local competition showed its local knowledge and wave
riding acumen during the first Ocean City surf shop match-up, stalwarts
Malibu’s against K-Coast Surfboards. Malibu’s featured Ocean City standouts
Chris Vaxmonsky, Wyatt Harrison, Jeff Jester, Steve Lane, and Justin Weismiller.
In a competitive local bragging rights heat, Malibu’s advanced to the semis.
The Semi-Finals in Round 4 featured Ashton going against OLC and Malibu’s against NJ Surfrider.
Both heats saw some great higher scoring rides; with the final round matching Ashton against
former champs Malibu’s, two very strong teams.
First to strike in the finals was Chris McGibbons of Ashton with a quick right tube. This ride was followed immediately by another clean right smoker, almost to the beach by Malibu’s Chris Vaxmonsky. Each team continued to get quality rides, but it seemed that wherever Ashton team members were surfing, their wave magnet kept working its magic The ride of the finals was a long chest high hollow right that allowed Art Baltrotsky to lock into the tube.. He smoked off a few more hairs on that one.
