Garrett & Kealii win 2006 Nelscott Reef Tow In Classic...

2006 Nelscott Reef Tow-in Classic

Presented by Liquid Militia
Nelscott Reef, Lincln City, Or.
1 Octoer - 31 December 2006

2nd Annual Nelscott Reef Tow In Classic Goes Big!

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 9 December, 2006 : - - Lincoln City, OR – Pro surfers from around the globe converged on the small coastal town of Lincoln City, OR on Friday to ride some of the largest waves on the West Coast. The 2006 Nelscott Reef Tow In Classic, presented by Liquid Militia and the Nelscott Reef Surf Shop, was held Friday December 8th in perfect 30-40’ conditions. The day long contest started just after 8 AM and the finals were finished 5 minutes after sunset. The winds held off all day, making for glassy conditions for the entire event.

After months of planning, and nearing the end of their 3 month holding period, Behemoth, LLC, the contest promoters, turned on the green light on Tuesday, Dec. 5th. “We wanted to give everyone a few extra days to get here. We knew we had the swell and the weather, it was just a little iffy on the winds”, said organizer Adam Wagner. The winds were forecasted as 20-25 mph from the East (offshore). However, on the Friday morning, it seems that was the only part of the forecast that was wrong. The swell was pumping, the ocean glassy, and 30 Waverunners lined the beach ready to compete for the $20,000 purse.

The Nelscott Reef contest has a non traditional format in that there are no elimination rounds leading up to a final. This non-elimination format is focused on letting the contestants get the maximum amount of time in the water. Each team competes in two 45 minute heats, in which each member surfs the entire heat. The top two waves from each heat are combined to get the final scores. The five teams with the highest score move directly to the finals, which consisted of two 25 minute heats.

The field was stacked with the best names in big wave surfing from the West Coast of the US, Hawaii, Australia, South Africa, and Canada, which made for an exciting day of surfing.

The final results are as follows:

First Place ($7,000): Garrett McNamara and Kealii Mamala
Second Place ($4,000): Brad Gerlach and Mike Parsons
Third Place ($3,000): Adam Replogle and Alistair Craft
Fourth Place ($2,000): Raph Bruhwiler and Keith Malloy
Fifth Place ($1,000): Greg Long and Rusty Long

The K38 MVP Award ($600) was given to Vince Collier after all of the contestants unanimously voted him the MVP of the contest. For many of the folks in the contest, Collier is an idol. Jeff Clark pointed out that Vince was one of the first guys to surf Mavericks with him.

“We thought there was no way were going to beat last year’s contest, which went off in near perfect conditions and 20’+ waves”, said event organizer, John Forse. “But somehow, mother nature smiled on us with incredibly glassy 30-40’ surf all day. Combine that with the high caliber of talent that showed up, and we had an unbelievable day of big wave surfing”.

The Nelscott Reef Tow In Classic is Nelscott Reef Tow In Classic is Nelscott Reef Oregon’s only Professional Surfing Contest and one of only a handful of Tow In Contests globally.

For more information on the Nelscott Contest visit www.nelscottreef.com and www.actionsportsnw.com.

This year’s complete list of competitors were as follows:

2006 Nelscott Reef Tow In Classic Roster:
Zach Wormhoudt/Twiggy Baker
Shane Desmond/Tyler Fox
Peter Mel/Anthony Tashnick
Osh Bartlett/Mike Brummett
Adam Replogle/Alistair Craft
Vince Broglio/Richard Schmidt
Raph Bruhwiler/Keith Malloy
Nacho Lopez/Troy Virostko
Josh Mulcoy/Stan Meurer
Ross Clarke-Jones/Paul Patterson
Shawn “Barney” Barron/Daryl “Flea” Virostko
Greg Long/Rusty Long
Andrew Kell/Ed Guzman
Garrett McNamara/Kealii Mamala
Homer Henard/Matt Rockhold
Brett Hudson/Jeff Kafka
Brad Gerlach/Mike Parsons
Davey Smith/Paul Schulte
Matt Ambrose/Shaun Rhodes
Nathan Fletcher/Vince Collier
Jeff Clark/Chris Bertish

Official Safety Team:
Shawn Alladio and the K38 Safety Team

Pre-event video (Windows media)

Click image to enlarge

About the 2006 Nelscott Reef Tow In Classic:

The Nelscott Reef Tow in Classic is the only professional tow in contest on the North American Continent and one of only 2 professional tow in contests in the world. Oregon is not known in the surfing community as a destination for quality waves. The water ranges from the mid 40’s to upper 50’s year round and is usually plagued with high winds, pelting rain and hungry Great White Sharks.

A small window in the fall allows large swells generated from the first winter Pacific storms to reach the Oregon Coast while a dominant high pressure system remains over the Pacific Northwest. A few days a year, Nelscott Reef plays host to huge perfect waves.

Despite being visible from the well populated coastal town of Lincoln City, the reef wasn’t successfully ridden on a surfboard until 2003, when local, John Forse, convinced Peter Mel and Adam Replogle to come to Oregon and check out the wave - they surfed near perfect 30-40’ foot waves all day. Two years later, Behemoth, LLC put on the first Annual Nelscott Reef Tow In Classic held in 20-30’+ waves. The event was won by Zack and Jake Wormhoudt from Santa Cruz.

“We have put a lot of time into making sure the event runs smoothly and safely. Nelscott Reef is one of the best big wave venues in the world and we have the best big wave talent lined up. All the work has been done, now we have to sit back and wait for mother nature to send a big swell our way” said Behemoth, LLC partner, Jim Kusz. “The 3 month window allows us to be patient and hold the contest in the best conditions possible”.

About Behemoth, LLC
Behemoth was started in 2005 for the purpose of promoting surf events at Nelscott Reef and other surf locations around the world. Founding member, John Forse, was the pioneer at Nelscott Reef and made his first attempt to ride the reef in 1995.

Forse, along with Jim Kusz, safety coordinator for North Lincoln Fire and Rescue and veteran water rescue team leader, and Adam Wagner of Action Sports Northwest, operate Behemoth, LLC out of Lincoln City, OR. Behemoth, LLC organized and promoted the first annual Nelscott Reef Tow In Classic, bringing the sport of surfing to the professional level in Oregon for the first time.

About Liquid Militia
Liquid Militia is an action sports clothing company dedicated to core water sports like surf, wake, jet, snow, and kite. Liquid Militia is based in Santa Barbara, CA. Liquid Militia Core Wear is a private label brand offering high quality original designs. The company expresses customers’ active lifestyle with youthful excellence and quality products.

Liquid Militia supports a wide range of team riders, with expertise in water rescue, surfing, windsurfing, and PWC racing. Products and team bios are available online at

About Nelscott Reef Surf Shop
Nelscott Reef Surf Shop is a full service surf shop located in Lincoln City, OR. The shop carries all surf related items and has a large collection of Nelscott Reef historical items, including photos, videos of early attempts to ride the reef, and Oregon shark attack documentation, including John Forse himself, survivor of an 18’ Great White attack. The shop will be holding its grand opening in conjunction with this year’s Nelscott Contest.

Previous reports:
# 1 : 2006 Nelscott Reef Tow - in Classic goes on to Standby
# 2 : The Nelscott Reef Tow In Classic greenlighted for Friday
# 3 : Nelscott Reef Tow-in event details: Contest is ON Friday
# 4 : Coming soon

www.liquidmilitia.com
www.nelscottreef.com
www.shawnalladio.com
www.actionsportsnw.com

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