Quiksilver Pro N.Y. returning to Long Island

The Quiksilver Pro New York, the largest and most lucrative surfing contest ever held on the East Coast, is slated to make a return to Long Beach next year — at least for now. According to an Association of Surfing Professionals official, Quiksilver has not yet confirmed that it has decided on Long Beach, but has not indicated that it plans to move the venue anywhere elsewhere on Long Island.

On Nov. 15, the ASP International, the tour’s governing body, released its 2012 World Tour schedule, and once again it includes the Quiksilver Pro New York, one of 11 stops on the tour, which kicks off in Australia on Feb. 25.

The announcement mentioned that the New York event — scheduled for Sept. 2-14 and again featuring a $1 million prize purse — will be on Long Island, but it did not specify Long Beach. Last Friday, however, ASP International Media Director Dave Prodan said that Quiksilver had not told the association that it intends to move the competition elsewhere.

“At present, the ASP has not been informed by the licensee, Quiksilver, of any plans to move the venue from the 2011 installment at Long Beach,” Prodan said via email.

Last Friday, however, renowned big-wave surfer Peter Mel, the marketing director for Quiksilver’s Waterman line of men’s apparel and a host during September’s event in Long Beach, told the Herald that Quiksilver has not formally announced plans to return and that a decision has yet to be made. “I don’t have complete details,” said Mel. “We’re working as hard as we can to make sure it comes back to Long Beach.”

Calls and emails to Quiksilver’s marketing vice president, Mike Matey, and other representatives were not immediately returned. In September, Matey told the Herald that Quiksilver has a three-year licensing agreement with the ASP to hold the event on the East Coast, but had yet to make a decision about whether to return.

“We’d love to come back to Long Beach,” Matey said, “… We’ll let you know when we can make an announcement about 2012.”

City Manager Charles Theofan said that despite attempts to contact Quiksilver, he has yet to hear from the company. “I sent an email to Quiksilver, asking them if in fact they are coming back and that we’d like to sit down with them as soon as possible to discuss it,” Theofan said, “and I haven’t gotten a response.”

The ASP announcement came a week after the Nov. 8 election, in which the three Democratic candidates for City Council won in a clean sweep, securing a 4-1 council majority. A member of the Democratic transition team, a city official who asked to remain anonymous, also said that Quiksilver has yet to determine whether it will return to Long Beach.

“Representatives of Quiksilver have been in contact with the transition team, and the transition team is hopeful and optimistic,” the official said. “It’s premature to comment on it now.”

Quiksilver has paid the City of Long Beach over $155,000 to cover the costs of September’s competition, and city officials said that thousands of dollars more were expected in the coming months. The costs associated with the event ranged from police services to an event permit to host what was described as a historic competition, featuring 10-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater and drawing an estimated 100,000 spectators, according to Quiksilver. The event was to include a festival encompassing music, fashion, art, skateboarding and motocross exhibitions intended to complement the surfing competition, but in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene, city officials decided that staging the festival was simply too daunting a task and canceled it.

The city’s handling of the event was a subject of debate at several candidates’ forums leading up to the election, with Democratic candidates criticizing the city’s administration for not doing enough to inform residents about the contest in the months leading up to it and for not signing a formal contract with Quiksilver. Republican coalition candidates, however, said that they were working to bring the event back to Long Beach.

Shortly after the competition, the city conducted a poll in order to gauge what residents thought about the event’s potential return to Long Beach. While the results were not immediately available, one administration official who declined to be identified said that the early results showed that most residents “were hugely in favor” of hosting the contest again.

Alex Michelman, a Boyd Street resident, surfer and former national account manager for Quiksilver, said that he believes the ASP’s announcement is a good indication that Quiksilver will return. He also said that he doesn’t believe the event would be suited to another Long Island location, such as Montauk or Jones Beach.

“From what I’ve heard from friends who are working internally at Quiksilver … they are coming back to Long Beach,” Michelman said. “But I think they’re going to keep that pretty close to the vest in terms of making an official announcement, and the final decision will depend on officials in Long Beach. I have to believe that after the success of this year’s event, it would be difficult to find an alternative venue that is better suited for the event in New York.”