I used to think that being 40 was old, but now that I am 31, I realize that most people don’t hit their stride until 40. I think that the same principle holds true for this year’s Eastern Surfing Championships. A lot has changed on Hatteras Island in the last 40 years. And in those 40 years, the Eastern Surfing Association (ESA) has had many facelifts as well.  This year was the biggest overhaul yet.
 
ESA began holding the “Easterns” at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Beach in the late ‘60s.
Conditions and set up then were extremely simple, compared to the entourage of vendors and sponsors, tents and banners that are usually set up around a contest area today.

ESA chose Hatteras for the championships because of the consistency of its surf. However, a problem has been that since the beach is located on National Park Service grounds, tents, banners, and vendors were not allowed. For years, the ESA has been trying to get proper permits so that their sponsors could put tents up at the beach during the contest, but to no avail.

The Park Service allowed unmarked tents in years past. There was a strict rule -- no advertising (sponsors names, logos, etc.) on the tents. For surf contests, this advertising is a key to fundraising. Companies sponsor the events, with the trade off of being able to advertise and ride on the event. At times there have been rumors that the ESA might even move the location of the contest to accommodate its sponsors.

All of that changed this year. The National Park Service granted permits for ESA to erect two-story scaffolding for judges with banners covering the front and back. Sponsors were allowed to set up tents with their logos, banners, etc. around the scaffolding. Some cringed when they saw the spectacle, while others, like my children, thought that it was the coolest circus that has ever come to Hatteras.

As I drove up and down the island during the week, I saw signs at many local businesses reading “Proud supporter of ESA.”

The reality is that the ESA brings in hundreds of surfers and their families to Hatteras. Local businesses receive an incredible boost, including restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, motels, and rental companies. 
Natural Art Surf Shop in Buxton was the headquarters for the Easterns. In order to prepare for the event, the surf shop got a facelift with a new paint job. Natural Art became the gathering point for contestants to view contest results and buy contest T-shirts, and it was the site of the awards ceremonies.

The contest began on Sunday, Sept. 23, with a barbecue to welcome the contestants in the parking lot of Buoy’s restaurant in Buxton. At the beginning of the week, contestants 18 years and older in both men’s and women’s divisions competed. On Wednesday, contestants 17 and under began competing, and their contests ran through Saturday.

The way that the contest works is based on heats, or qualifying rounds in which about six surfers have 15-20 minutes to catch as many as 10 waves. Judges rate each wave surfed, and a contestant’s two highest scoring waves are added together to make a composite score. The top few contestants in a heat advance to the next round of competition.

Every year, ESA has lucked out with good surf during the competition. This year the surf was small, in the 2-3 foot range, but there were a couple of days where the conditions at the lighthouse beach were the cleanest that they have been in a long time.

At night, the contestants trade their surfboards in for entertainment. Avon Movies 4 hosted two surf movie premieres. The first, on Tuesday night was sponsored by Transworld surf magazine. The second, on Wednesday, was sponsored by Analog clothing company. The Psycho Beach party was on Thursday evening, sponsored by Transworld  and Spy Optics at Wahini’s Surf Grill in Buxton. At the beach party, to celebrate ESA’s 40 years, there was a name-that-tune contest of songs written in 1967. Local surf shop owner and surf music expert, Carol Busbey, destroyed the competition.

The awards ceremonies were held at Natural Art Surf Shop. Listed below are the top contestants and their standings. A notable finisher, and Hatteras native, was Brett Barley, finishing third in the Junior Men’s competition.

It was a very successful week for the ESA and Hatteras Island. We welcome the contest again next year, and thank the ESA and its supporters for their support of Hatteras Island.

I also want to thank Mike Waggoner of Essex Water Housing in California for making great water housing for cameras for surf photography.

(Daniel Pullen is a surfer who has been playing in the Hatteras Island surf for more than 20 years. He is a surfing photographer and co-owner of Daniel Pullen Photography, www.danielpullenphotography.com)


FOR MORE INFORMATION
Check out the Eastern Surfing Association Web site at http://www.surfesa.org


Click here to see a slideshow of the awards
Click here to see a slideshow of "In the Water"
Click here to see a slideshore of "On the beach"


ESA EASTERNS RESULTS

Menehunes (11 & Under)
1st Weston Williams, SNC
2nd Cam Richards, NSC
3rd Corey Howell, CNC
4th Noah Schweizer, NCFL
5th Daniel Glenn, CNC
6th Pat Schmidt, CNJ

Boys (12-14)
1st Nick Rupp , SNC
2nd Tommy Orsini, CFL
3rd Christian Miller, PBFL
4th Tyler Thornsley , CFL
5th Dylan Kowalski, SNC
6th Christian Porter , CNJ
7th Michael Ciaramella, SNJ
8th Asher King, NFL

Junior Mens (15-17)
1st Rob Kelly, SNJ
2nd Vince Boulanger, DMV
3rd Brett Barley, OBNC
4th Andy Karabinchak, SAFL
5th Cole Richards, NSC
6th Philip Goold, VA
7th Michael Dunphy, VA
8th Kedren Ferrero, PBFL

Men (18-24)
1st Wayne Satterwhite Jr, NFL
2nd Zach Kenny, OBNC
3rd Ben Manganaro , NCFL
4th Robbie Remson , NSC

Masters (25-34)
1st Jimmy Blumenfeld, SAFL
2nd Jason Motes, NFL
3rd Pat McManus, OBNC
4th Steve Moore, NFL
5th Jimmy Mendillo , SNC
6th Donnie Macrae, PBFL

Senior Mens (35-44)
1st Buddy Evans, NFL
2nd Charley Hajek, NFL
3rd Jim Berger , CNC
4th Todd Brazell, SSC
5th Bill McCardell, CFL
6th Rory Fairly, NGFL

Grandmasters (45-54)
1st Jesse Fernandez, OBNC
2nd Glenn Tanner, SSC
3rd Dud Brownlow, CNC
4th Art Lueck, CFL
5th Sean Hayes, CFL
6th Kevin Grondin, NNE

Legends (55-64)
1st Bill Roach, CNC
2nd David Sledge, CNC
3rd Ed Fawess , NY
4th Ray Pimentel, NFL
5th Bobby Holland, VA
6th Bill Helmuth, DMV

Grand Legends (65 & Over)
1st John "Chum" McCranels, PBFL
2nd F. Robert Gillinder, SNJ

Girls (14 & Under)
1st Keenan Lineback, NSC
2nd Brittney Hickey, SNJ
3rd Liza M Caban, PRC
4th Savanna Bradley, CFL
5th Nikki Viesins, CFL
6th Haley Watson, SAFL

Junior Womens (15-17)
1st Jessie Carnes, NFL
2nd Ariel Engstrom, PRC
3rd Alexis Engstrom, PRC
4th Kim Kepich, CNJ
5th Kate Leonik, SNJ
6th Michelle Creamer, CFL

Womens (18-29)
1st Lauren McLean, CFL
2nd Lindsay Barfield , NFL
3rd Leanne Foster, OBNC
4th Tiffany Layton, NFL
5th Kayla Beckman, NFL
6th Maria Del Mar Gonzalez, PRC

Ladies (30 & Over)
1st Ana Barend, SNE
2nd Jenny Brown, SSC
3rd Mindy Fitzpatrick, CNC
4th Christine Benedetts, TCFL
5th Kate Whatley, NCFL
6th Jessica Delosreyes, OBNC

Menehune Longboard (14 & Under)
1st Tommy Evans, CFL
2nd Teddy Lyons, SNJ
3rd Weston Williams, SNC
4th Kate Easton, VA
5th Keegan McLaughlin, VA
6th Cam Fullmer, VA

Junior Longboard (15-17)
1st Dylan Andrews, NFL
2nd Cole Richards, NSC
3rd Rob Kulisek, SNJ
4th Alex Strangways, VA
5th Logan Helmuth, DMV
6th Rutledge Godfey, SSC

Mens Longboard (18-34)
1st Ty Roach, CNC
2nd Michael Wood, CFL
3rd Jason Motes, NFL
4th David Taylor, CNC
5th Alex Fawess, NY
6th Kyle Sumer, CNC

Masters Longboard (35-49)
1st Mitch Kaufmann, NFL
2nd Jesse Fernandez, OBNC
3rd Kai Dilling, SSC
4th Bill Whatley, NCFL
5th Mike Paugh, NNE
6th Paul Poston, CNC

Legends Longboard (50 & Over)
1st Bill Roach, CNC
2nd Lenny Nichols, NNE
3rd Kevin Grondin, NNE
4th Glenn Tanner, SSC
5th Bobby Holland, VA
6th Jon Ashton, DMV

Womens Longboard (29 and under)
1st Kate Easton, VA
2nd Brittney Hickey, SNJ
3rd Mallory Turner, NFL
4th Lisa Autrey, SAFL
5th Christine Emmanuelli, CNC
6th Regena Foster, TCFL

Ladies Longboard (30 & Over)
1st Mindy Fitzpatrick, CNC
2nd Jenny Brown, SSC
3rd Marty Mentzer, SNC
4th Traci Derbin, RC
5th Beth Schub, CNC
6th Nathalie Glenn, CNC

Menehune Bodyboard (14 & Under)
1st Matt Landon, DMV
2nd Caleb Buchler, DMV
3rd Patrick Tighe, CNJ
4th John Joyce , OBNC
5th Jacob Lahr , DMV
6th Teddy Lyons, SNJ

Open Bodyboard (All Ages, M/F)
1st Orlando Vega, PRC
2nd Jorge Colomer, PRC
3rd John Heyman, NY
4th Jake Buchler, DMV
5th Rory Rosenburg, SNJ
6th Austin Dalton, NCFL

Open Shortboard (All Ages, M/F)
1st Rob Kelly, SNJ
2nd Philip Goold, VA
3rd Jason Motes, NFL
4th Jimmy Blumenfeld, SAFL

East Coast Hall of Fame
1st Ed Fawess
2nd Peter Pan
3rd Dick Messerol
4th Cecil Lear

Allstar District Challenge Tag Team
1st VA-Team
2nd NE Regional-Team
3rd NFL Team
4th NCFL-Team
5th PRC-Team
6th NFC Team
7th PCFL-Team

Junior Iron Man
Cole Richards NSC

Senior Iron Man
Jason Motes NFL

Iron Woman
Kate Easton VA