SURF WEEK 2014

Surf Week takes over Long Beach

Crowds come out for surf, skate, music, and art events

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Blessed with perfect waves and sunny skies, the fifth annual NY Surf Week took over Long Beach last week, and kept spectators busy with a five day, jam-packed lineup of events.

Surf Week, presented by NYSEA, ran from July 16-20. The event included surf and skate contests, concerts, movie screenings and more. Surf Week co-founder Will Skudin said that the event began in memory of his late friend, George “Geeza” Geiser, a venerated local surfer.

This year’s Surf Week was exceptional, Skudin said, drawing record numbers of participants and crowds. He said it was due in large part to the event’s main sponsors — Hurley, Imperial, Z100, Flips Audio, Earth Missions Travel Agency, Wave Riding Vehicle surfboards and Redbull — who helped spread the word about Surf Week to their large audiences.

Kicking off the week was the open surf contest held last Wednesday. Thirty-eight competitors, including some pros, vied for the title amid perfect conditions: five-foot waves with glassy water, a gift from Geiser, Skudin likes to think.

“You couldn’t have scripted better conditions,” Skudin said. “It was a real deal surf contest. It was very competitive, it wasn’t a fighting small waves contest.”

And competitors took advantage of the rare conditions, Skudin said. Contest winner Leif Engstrom threw a rodeo — a backflip with a full horizontal rotation — in the contest, something only a handful of people worldwide have done in a contest, Skudin said. “It was definitely a highlight of the day. These guys were able to get the speed to showcase how they can really surf.”

Trailing Engstrom, local professional surfer Balaram Stack came in second place, Tommy Ihken took third and Richie Bogart took fourth.

The kids’ surf contest, for competitors 17 and under, was held on Sunday. The event aims to make it a special day for the kids, letting them be in the spotlight and do all the same things the pros do. Roughly 75 kids entered the contest, with about 25 coming all the way from New Jersey to compete. Skudin said it’s great to watch so many local kids, many that he himself taught to surf, sticking with the sport and competing.

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