The West Coast Board Riders Season officially began on Saturday, when the Ripcurl@Churches took place in San Clemente.
The event brought together teams form the south central region; San Clemente, Laguna Beach, Dana Point and Newport Beach.
In case you are not familiar with the WCBR, it is the west coast division of the US Board Riders.
The USBR has teams in California, Florida and South Jersey, and all three jurisdictions have events throughout the year to determine their entrants into the National Championship called the Wheat Cup, which will be held again at Lower Trestles in May.
The Wheat Cup will host the top three teams for the WCBR, top two teams from the Florida Board Riders and the top team from the South Jersey Board Riders.
Last year, San Clemente took home the cup in its first year of existence. While they are favorites to do it again, 17 other California teams will have something to say about that.
The other three regions; North (San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Ventura and SLO County), the North Central (Northern LA, Venice Beach, South Bay, Seal Beach and Huntington Beach), and the South (Oceanside, Carlsbad, Encinitas, and La Jolla) will all have two events to build up points.
In case you aren't familiar with the format here is a quick breakdown.
There are 7 divisions
14 and under,15-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50 and over, and women all ages.
Each team has four surfers per division, and each division is allotted one hour to compete.
The surfers go in a tag-team style format, one after another so only four surfers are in the heat at a time.
Each surfer can ride a maximum of three waves
One surfer per division is the team's "whammy" surfer (able to double one of their wave scores)
All four surfers "best" wave score is added up to tally a team score for each division, which all adds up the team's final score for the day.
While each contest has a "winner" all points are tallied up through the season to determine the top three in the state.
So, there you have it. Now let's get onto the results of the Ripcurl@Churches
As expected, the defending champions from San Clemente took top honors, but all four teams surfed extremely well making the point totals closer than the champs had expected.
"Today was great, " said San Clemente coach Frankie D'Andrea. "We had 40% new surfers, and it was really cool to see all the other teams bring a high level and push us. We try very hard every event, but it's really inspiring when you have the other clubs pushing the level each and every time."
San Clemente topped all teams with 236.14, followed by Newport Beach 190.36, Dana Point 185.64 and Laguna Beach 141.84
15-19 YEAR OLDS
San Clemente 35.13, Newport Beach 33.30, Dana Point 20.14, Laguna Beach 14.26
San Clemente came out strong. QS surfer Taj Linblad opened the proceedings with a wave of 8.33 (whammied for 16.66). Raiki Nishida (SC) chipped in with a 7.17 on his only wave caught and Dylan Young (SC) added a 6.50.
Ben Benson (NB) put up the second highest wave of the division with an 8.17 (16.34) on his one wave caught. David O'Keefe and Taj Miller each added a 5.73 to the total.
Newport Beach surfer Parker Cohn had a 6.93, (13.86) and Laguna Beach's Travis Booth put up a 5.13, (10.26).
14 AND UNDER
San Clemente 26.36, Newport Beach 24.37, Dana Point 18.99, Laguna Beach 13.97
San Clemente got the win, but Newport's Quaid Fahrion got the high wave of the heat. Fahrion had an opening score of 5.17 but waited and whammied his second score of 6.67 (13.34) to lead the way.
Kai Finn (SC) led the team with a 6.58 first wave and then whammied his 5.93 (11.86). Nash Rice also helped with a 5.97 wave.
Sean MacDonald (DP) led his team with 5.13 (10.26) and Morgan Moore (LB) had a team high 3.67 wave.
WOMEN
San Clemente 34.82, Newport Beach 32.16, Dana Point 26.26, Laguna Beach 25.16
Junior team USA member Mia McLeish (SC) put up the high score of the heat with a huge 9.13 on her second wave.
Her Teammate, former WSL surfer and now commentator Rosy Hodge added a 6.83 (13.66) and junior ripper Addison McPhillips added a 6.60.
Newport was led by Shelby Detmers who whammied an 8.50 into a 17.00 and Zoey Kaina, the youngest in the heat, delivered a huge 7.83.
Hana Bakker (DP) led her team with a 6.43 (12.80) and Kayla Coscino (LB) was high with a 7.83.
50 AND OVER
Dana Point 35.06, San Clemente 31.57, Newport Beach 28.06, Laguna Beach 22.10
The legends were ripping, and Dana Point was on point.
DP was led by the whammy surfer Pat O'Connell who put up a 9.93 (19.86).
Vinnie Delapena also contributed a 6.93.
San Clemente was close up thanks to a nice 7.67 (15.34) by Jason Senn.
Nicolai Glazer (NB) was high on the team with a 7.50 and David Giddings added a 5.83 (11.66).
Jeff Both led the way for (LB) with a 5.93 (11.86).
40-49
San Clemente 37.33, Dana Point 26.60, Newport Beach 26.10, Laguna Beach 24.99
Big Nate Yeomens powered San Clemente to the heat win. The whammy surfer dropped an 8.50, (17.00). He got back up by Benji Severson who dropped a nice 7.23.
Dana Point was not far behind thanks to a 7.33 by Dave Pinto and a 4.67 (9.34) by Rod Brewster.
Newport Beach was led by Joe Alani with a 6.33, (12.66) and Laguna Beach had a real nice 7.33, (14.66) by Mike Todd.
30-39
San Clemente 31.23, Dana Point 22.03, Newport Beach 18.77, Laguna Beach 18.76
Pat Gudaskas, who won the 2008 Sebastian Inlet Pro, showed he is still in fine form with a nice 8.33 to lead the way for San Clemente.
Whammy surfer Brandon Regenouch added a 5.17, (10.34)
Nathan Zoller had the next high score of the heat at 6.03, (12.06) for Laguna Beach.
Dan Johnson (DP) had a team high 5.77 and Mitch Contreras (NP) had a 5.27.
20-29
San Clemente 42.70, Dana Point 36.56, Newport Beach 27.60, Laguna Beach 22.16
In a heat where the scores were as high as the afternoon's sun, San Clemente squeaked out a close win thanks in part to whammy surfer Ian Crane who put up a 9.50, (19.00). His teammate Jake Davis added an 8.50 to the win.
Dana Point was in it till the very end, thanks to a 9.13, (18.26) by Colton Sullivan and an 8.93 heat by Sammy Orozco.
Newport Beach surfer Parker Cohn had a 6.93, (13.86) and Laguna Beach's Travis Booth put up a 5.13, (10.26).
While San Clemente was expected to be the top team, Dana Point put up their best performance ever in WCBR event.
"We did really good, it was fun," said DP coach Eric Diamond. "We are kind of a working man's town; we are a lot like a Seal Beach or a Mayberry. We don't have the depth or the pros that San Clemente has, but we have a lot of talented guys. They have a lot of pro surfers, we have like firemen, paramedics and janitors so it was really good for us to do well today."
Next up is the Oneill@The Lane for the teams in the North Region on November 20th.