47.0°,
Fair Unsound Pro kicks off
17th annual surf competition held at Lincoln Blvd
Sunny skies and prime waves helped kick off the 17th annual Unsound Pro surf competition on Thursday morning.
The event, which will be held from Sept. 18-21 at Lincoln Boulevard, is presented by Volcom, the popular surfing brand, and is being described as the most important professional surfing competition to come to Long Beach since the Quiksilver Pro New York in 2011.
The contest began at 8 a.m. on Thursday with the first round of 96 competitors. Surfers compete in 20-minute heats of four athletes, with the two top-scoring surfers advancing to the next round. The tournament was put on hold for Friday, and was expected to resume over the weekend.
Unsound Surf co-owner Mike Nelson was thrilled with the first day turnout; the beach was packed with spectators all day.
“So far it is going incredible, we’re excited,” Nelson said. “It’s beautiful weather and the waves are great; that definitely helped pull a crowd in and keep everyone happy.”
The morning started with great waves, but as the day went on, many competitors commented that the conditions had gotten worse, but that the waves were still decent for East Coast standards.
“What we have now is better than a lot of the other East Coast surf contests this year, so they can’t complain,” Nelson said. “Hopefully the waves stick around tomorrow, and if not, the weekend looks like the waves will pull up again.”
The contest drew competitors not only from the Northeast, but also from Florida, California, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Costa Rica. A few hometown heroes also competed in the opening round, including TJ Gumiela, Will Skudin, Balaram Stack and Unsound co-owner Dave Juan.
“We have a pretty loyal following with a lot of the East Coast surfers, and were psyched that they like it and like to come back,” Nelson said.”
Cody Thompson, of Florida, made his Unsound Pro debut on Thursday, only his second time ever surfing in New York, and won his heat to advance on to the second round.
“As far as the East Coast goes this is pretty good stuff, but I’ve been watching it all day and [my heat] was by far the worst,” Thompson said. “It is what it is; you have to deal with what you get. It’s still very contestable.”
