Ryan and Killian Todd of Surf City on a glassy bomb wave during the Tandem Division of the Alliance for a Living Ocean LBI Longboard Classic last Saturday. (Photo by Ann Coen)
It’s hard to pick a decisive note to describe the 2020 Alliance for a Living Ocean LBI Longboard Classic.
Usually it’s the waves that make a contest notable. Each year, especially the last several, the surf has been very cooperative for this event. But last Saturday, it was dialed up a notch. The 2- to 3-foot waves with 4-foot sets and bigger surpassed anyone’s expectations, and there was barely a breath of wind all day.
Finalist Jamie Contreras called the waves among the top three contest conditions he has surfed in his long career of competing on both coasts, just behind the waves at California’s famed Malibu Point.
Sometimes the defining note is the backstory of the winner. Surfers come from all over the state to compete and sometimes win this event. But this year, even with an impressive cadre of graceful longboarders from everywhere that included four of the six finalists, it was Mitchell Gaudioso of Surf City who took home the men’s trophy.
This year, just the fact that there was a contest may have been the storyline. With almost every event canceled for 2020, holding the contest with proper safety was a huge undertaking.
But when you consider all these factors together, it was a day that no one involved, no matter how distanced, will ever forget.
“These were the best waves to date. There were great vibes on the beach even with the extra precautions,” reported Kyle Gronostajski, event director and executive director of Alliance for a Living Ocean. “I have to give thanks to our sponsors and all involved and a huge thank-you to Ship Bottom for their assistance and allowing us to hold the event. I can’t wait for next year already.”
As surfers started over the dunes on Saturday morning, there was barely any texture on the water, a very rare completely glassy morning in New Jersey. The swell, a combination of local wind swell and groundswell from Hurricane Isaias, was pumping, even at high tide. The sun shone bright in the sky, and the ocean was a gorgeous blue. In many ways, it was a sort of idyllic surf scene, often hard to come by in New Jersey.
A lot of credit has to be given to Alliance for a Living Ocean’s board of directors and volunteers. For what has become pretty routine after 12 years, the board had numerous meetings in advance of the contest, coming up with ways to keep from any COVID-19 spreading. Anyone with any symptoms was asked not to attend. Each contestant was screened the morning of the event with a thermometer. The beach was dissected by dune fence to ensure social distancing, with masks worn in and around the tents. The crowd was spread out, and even the contest jerseys were disinfected between use.
The result was a very good time for many local families during a summer when it is really needed.
The day began with the first round of men’s and then women’s, local and visiting surfers all paddling out on the required vintage boards from the 1960s at least 3 feet over their heads and with no leashes. This has been a rule since the inaugural contest back in 2009. It’s not usually such a factor, but with some of the bigger sets on Saturday, when a surfer lost his or her board, they expended a lot of time and energy swimming to the beach to retrieve it and paddling back out.
As always, the boards were a conversation piece. At this point, many of the same boards have been ridden year after year at this event. Some new finds and collector’s items made their way to the water this year as well.
The level of surfing among the surfers who have dedicated themselves to the art of riding these boards from surfing’s golden age has gone through the roof.
By the middle of the day, with the lower tide came the junior heats. The kids are not required to ride vintage boards, but they all ride longer boards and did a fine job of getting them out through the considerable surf.
At the time of day when the wind usually comes onshore, it remained calm and the ocean glassy for the tandem heats, which have become a crowd favorite with a lot of sibling and parent/kid combination teams. The bigger swell made this particularly challenging with some comical spills. Winning the tandem final was brother/sister duo Lauren and Evan Zodl, who rode a standard longboard (as opposed to some of the oversized SUP boards), taking off on some huge waves, speeding down the line and showing skill and teamwork. The brothers team of Ryan and Killian Todd took second.
With three-time junior champ Ryan Todd moved up to the men’s division this year, the younger surfers were all battling hard in the swell, which was bigger than most were used to. Logan Rieser took third and Reese Evert of Long Beach Township, who is an accomplished shortboard surfer, finished second. But it was Killian Todd, Ryan’s brother, who stepped up, catching some big lefts to take the win.
Meridith Miedama of Ocean City won the women’s for the second year in a row with a series of swooping turns and some skilled footwork. Taking second and third place respectively were Surf City surfers Lauren Rothstein and Brittany Histing, who are both raising the level of women’s longboarding locally.
In another tradition, the surfer over 55 years old who advances the farthest wins the AARP Award. This year’s honors went to Bob Duerr of Manasquan, followed by Wayne Ignatuk and Gerald Rothstein.
The men’s division was a showcase of classic longboarding like the Island has never seen. The sets continued to pour through in the afternoon, and the finals included Jake Dematteo of Manasquan, Jamie Contreras of Point Pleasant Beach, Mike Melega of Beach Haven, Mike Cardinale of Ocean City, Mitchell Gaudioso of Surf City and Aaron Jamison of Ocean City.
Each finalist had a specific style. While Contreras has the technical footwork and noseriding, last year’s winner, Mike Melega, looked weightless on his board. DeMatteo kept stepping on the tail and swinging his board into radical direction turns. But Gaudioso proved the most fun to watch, catching mostly lefts, running up to the nose and hanging on through impossible sections.
Though his brother Mike had won in the past, this was Mitchell’s first victory at the Classic.
“This year’s longboard contest had the best conditions we’ve ever had for this event,” said Gaudioso, who rode a 9-foot 8 Challenger East surfboard, shaped by the famed California to New Jersey transplant board builder Tinker West. “There were non-stop waves all day long. I’m really happy for Kyle and our whole community that this event was able to happen. It’s always the best time of the summer, spending a full day with my friends and family on the beach and surfing with some of New Jersey’s s best longboarders. You can’t beat it. And as always, the groms and ladies continued to step it up this year with some great surfing.
“I’m already looking forward to next year’s contest.”
— Jon Coen
Recent Comments