40th Annual New England Mid-Winter Surfing Champs

ESA
Narragansett, Rhode Island
16 February 2008

New England Mid-Winter Champs go off in Rhode Island

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 21 February, 2008 : - - With the wind chill in the single digits, and a solid 2-3 foot swell produced by a winter nor'easter, it seemed to be a perfect day to celebrate the 40th Annual New England Mid-Winter Surfing Championships, this being the longest running winter surfing contest in the world.

Sunny skies masked the cold enough to bring out surfers from all over the New England area. The Narragansett Town Beach actually produced some well formed sections that made for some quality riding, especially in the long boarding events. ESA Competition Director Mario Frade commented on what he saw, especially in the final heats.

"Some of the winning rides were scored with perfect 10's on the judge's cards. The wave quality was there, and the better surfers were really ripping it up." Local surfers certainly had their way, especially as the tide moved in the sand bars became tricky. Triple event champion, Chuck Barend probably caught the best wave of the entire event, a perfect chest high right that reeled off the seawall.

"This is the best I have seen this place break in quite a while," he said. "If you were in the right place at the right time, you could get some great rides." He certainly showed that knowledge, taking the Senior Men, Senior Longboard, and Open titles with a tremendous performance. Leading the local charge was Narragansett's Josh Trotta, who put on a show in both the Men's and Men's Longboard Finals.

Bob Fitton : photo Joe McGovern

He charged through some nice sections to take the Men's short board title over Boston's Ronoldo Lima. In the Long board event, he pulled off an array of hot dogging moves on the perfect left walls at the corner of the contest area, to edge out Jeff Benoit of Woonsocket. That final turned out to be the closest one of the entire event, with only a .05 separating Trotta and Benoit. He came close to a triple win, taking a close second to Little Compton's Chuck Barend in the Open Final.

14-year old Courtney Sutherland of Narragansett, shook off the cold, and tore up the surf in several categories. The diminutive hot dogger won three divisions in the 32 degree water. She took the Girls, Menehune Longboard, and Menehune Bodyboard crowns. North Kingstown's Katie Zullo showed some smooth long board riding abilities, as she easily won the Junior Women's Long Board Final.

She also took the Junior Women's title for a double win day. It took reigning East Coast and Regional Championships winner, Ana Barend of Little Compton, just a couple of minutes to warm up in her contests. Once she did, she put up some big numbers in both the long and short board finals. Ana continued her undefeated streak, winning both the Senior Women's and Senior Women's Long Board categories.

Newport's Pat Redmond also continued undefeated in regional competition, as he topped the Open Bodyboard Final with two perfect "El Rollo's." Woonsocket's Jeff Benoit nose rode to a big win in the Master's Final, while Cobb Fields of Little Compton took the Boy's crown. Narragansett's Mike Salvadore enjoyed a good outing, as he won the Grandmaster's title, and finished 3rd in both the Open Bodyboard and Legends Longboard finals. 

Other top local finishers included Wakefield's Kai Holtbakk, who finished 2nd in the Masters and 5th in the Senior Longboard events. Scott Sutherland from Narragansett finished 4th in the Senior Men and 6th in the Senior Longboard final. This was the first rated ESA contest for the South New England District in 2008. The next contest is scheduled for First Beach in Newport, on April 19th.

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