41st Annual New England Mid-Winters

Eastern Surfing Association
Town Beach Newport, Rhode Island
21 February 2009

ESA set for the 41st annual New England Mid-Winters

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 4 February, 2009 : - - It is hard to believe that on February 21st, the Eastern Surfing Association will run the 41st consecutive New England Mid-Winter Surfing Championships at the town beach, making it the oldest running winter surfing contest in the world!

The first contest was originally run on December 1st, 1968, at First Beach, in Newport, Rhode Island.  It was held in icy cold conditions, with air temperatures in the 20’s, and a stiff off-shore wind.  Over 50 surfers participated in this non-rated, ESA event, run by the ESA director, Colin Couture.

Competitors rode the clean 2-3 foot surf on the newest “Mini-Model” surfboards of that era.  These included boards with names such as the “Fain Formula Two,” Corky Carroll Mini-Model,” “Phillips Strawberry Shortcut,” and “Dewey Weber Feather.”

Due to the awful wetsuits that were available at that time, surfers had to really move around in the water to stay warm.  While many still used two-piece diving suits, the first, one-piece surfing suits were primitive at best.  There was no taping and the seams would flush with icy cold water after a wipe-out.

Surfing boots and gloves did not exist, as well as surf helmets.  Competitors used thin, leaky diving boots and clumsy dive gloves, with thick ¼ inch dive helmets for the extreme cold.  You just resigned yourself to surfing in excruciating pain, once the extremities became frozen.  With the equipment available in 1968, it did not take too long to get to that point.

While this first winter contest was held in Newport, it was local Narragansett surfers who ended up taking home the trophies.  Dale Terranova of Westerly, who was an outstanding athlete and member of the University of Rhode Island Surf Team, easily won the Women’s title on a “Hobie G.P. Wedge” model surfboard.  Dale also competed in the Junior Men’s division, where she put the local boys to shame, taking an overall 3rd place in the contest.

Narragansett’s Warren “Wag” Gerraty styled his way to the victory in the Junior Men’s Final, stretching out some long cheater “fives” on his “Hansen 50/50 Ultra Light 7’10” model.

Another local University of Rhode Island Surf Team rider, Peter Pan of Narragansett, rode his “Hobie 8’4” Super Mini” to the Men’s Open title.  The Hobie Surf Team of Narragansett won the team trophy.

Moving ahead 41 years, this up and coming contest will not be limited to the four divisions of yesteryear.  There are age group categories for children, women, and men, as well as specialty divisions such as long board and body board.

This contest will also feature a special new open division for Stand-Up Paddle Boards.  This popular surfing activity has been gaining momentum for the past two years, and ESA officials feel that it will really take off in New England, this summer.

The South New England ESA hopes to set a precedent by running the first official ESA sanctioned stand-up contest on the east coast, at the February 21st event.  Stand-Up Paddle Board competitors will be subject to the same rules, regulations, and judging criteria as the surfers.  Stand-Up riders can compete and not be members of the ESA at this contest.

In the past, the New England District of the ESA was the first district to introduce sanctioned long boarding and body boarding into contests on the east coast.  It did not take long before the ESA saw the success of these New England competitions, and made the divisions official ESA rated events for all east coast districts.

ESA Co-Director Ron Belanger is hoping to run the contest at the Narragansett Town Beach, due to the great accessibility to the surf and close proximity to the parking lot.  “We might be dealing with a lot of snow and ice, which has been an issue in the past,” said Ron.  “The beach parking lot is the best place to work the contest from.  If it is really cold, we can sit in our cars, judge and call heats right from the front seat.   All we need is a good swell.”

The contest will be the first rated ESA event of the 2009 season, and will be on call for the night before, February 20th, after 6:00 PM.  Interested surfers can call the ESA hotline at 401-727-2605 after 6:00 PM and get an update on the surf and location of the contest for the following morning.

Entry fee is $20.00 and non-members can join on the beach.  For further information on the contest, email inquiries to either bicsurf@hotmail.com or belangerron@comcast.net.

www.surfesa.org

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