ESA Summer Titles

Eastern Surfing Assn.
Second Beach Middletown, Rhode Island
25 - July 2010 

Swell shows up for first contest of the summer season

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 28 July, 2010 : - - The 2010 Eastern Surfing Association summer contest season got off to a late start this past Sunday when the first competition took place at Second Beach in Middletown, Rhode Island. Faced with new restrictions on running surfing events on weekends at the Narragansett Town Beach, ESA officials needed a new place to run contests. Narragansett’s John Burnett, Waterfront Manager of Second Beach in Middletown, came to the rescue.

“We are excited to be able to host all of the ESA events on our beach,” said John. “We have the longest beach in Rhode Island and the largest surfing area as well. The summer swells at this beach are far more consistent and ridable at this time of year and perfect for a contest.”

3-5 foot well formed left and right peaks greeted ESA officials at the start of the competition. The surf stayed that size all day. “I was surprised at the size and consistency of the swell,” said ESA Co-Director Ron Belanger. “The rest of Rhode Island breaks were less than ½ this size today. It is great that they are welcoming us and encouraging us to run our events here.”

Two-time East Coast Surfing Champion Ana Barend was on fire, finding the powerful onshore surf to her liking. She pulled off a rare triple win by first gliding through the Ladies Longboard and Shortboard contests with some super smooth riding. After easily taking her first semi-final heat in the Open Division, she found the competition in the final much more challenging.  There was some great surfing going on from Junior Men’s James McGraghan and Ron Belanger, which kept the contest tight.

After Belanger nailed a nice inside barrel on a hollow left peak it looked like he was on the way to the win. That was until Ana stroked into a shoulder high right in the last two minutes, which kept sectioning with lots of push and power. Once up and riding, she realized that this wave was setting up to be a contest winner.

She began racking up points on the open face with a series of roundhouse cutbacks and fast pumps through the flat spots. By the time she kicked out close to the shore, it was evident that this wave was the best one ridden all day.  Two of the judges gave her perfect scores as she wrapped up her third win of the contest.

2010 Northeast Regional Championship finalist Mya Kotalac continued her winning ways, as she notched victories in both the long and short board versions of the Junior Women finals. New England’s #1 bodyboarder, Pat Redmond tucked into both left and right inside bowl sections and tossed in some “El Rollos” to take the Open Bodyboard crown over veteran Chance Hurley of Maryland.

The fiercest contest was in the Senior Men’s final, where Ron Belanger and Chuck Barend went head to head with matching rides.  Belanger seemed in control with two nice shoulder high lefts that sucked out on the inside shorebreak. Barend, however, managed to scored two consecutive right peaks that sectioned perfectly. The last one put him over the top as he outpointed Ron for the title.

There was plenty of outstanding surfing in all divisions. Nick Carter found some great waves as he took the Masters Shortboard title and notched a second in the Men’s Longboard final. Both Pat Brown and Colin Cooks took turns winning both the long and short board finals in the always tough Men’s competition.

The next rated ESA contest is scheduled for Second Beach on August 7th, which will include the Second Annual New England Standup Paddleboard Championships. The contest will be on call for Friday night after 6:00 PM on the ESA hotline: 401.789-1954.

Final Results of the ESA New England Summer Championships: 

Boys -
1.Cob Ingalls  

Junior Men-
1.James McGraghan  

Junior Women-
1.Mya Kotalac 2.Courtney Sutherland  3.Dolci Wagner  

Men-
1.Colin Cook  2.Pat Brown  

Masters-
1.Nick Carter  2.Ray Jarvis  

Ladies-
1.Ana Barend  2.Melanie Kotalac  

Senior Men-
1.Chuck Barend  2.Ron Belanger  3.Jose Galvez  4.Scott Sutherland  

Grandmasters-
1.Claudio Paolino  

Legends-
1.Peter Pan  

Junior Longboard-
1.Cob Ingalls  2.James McGraghan  

Men Longboard-
1.Pat Brown  2.Nick Carter  

Master Longboard-
1.Chuck Barend  2.Ron Belanger  3.Scott Sutherland  4.Jose Galvez  

Legends Longboard-
1. Peter Pan  

Junior Women Longboard-
1.Mya Kotalac  2.Courtney Sutherland  3.Dolci Wagner  

Ladies Longboard-
1.Ana Barend  2.Melanie Kotalac  

Open-
1.Ana Barend  2.Ron Belanger  3.James McGraghan  4.Pat Brown  5.Ray Jarvis  6.Chuck Barend  7.Joe Booth  8.Colin Cook  9.Cob Ingalls  10.Jose Galvez  11.Nick Carter  

Open Bodyboard-
1.Pat Redmond  2.Chance Hurley  3.Peter Pan

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