Quiksilver Pro N.Y. in Long Beach a ‘pivotal’ stop on ASP tour

Last week, just a few days after he returned home from a surfing trip to Peru, local pro surfer Balaram Stack said he is trying not to think about the pressure as he gears up for a “whole new level of competition” in the Quiksilver Pro New York competition Sept. 1-15 in Long Beach.

“It’s like a dream,” Stack said. “I never thought that there would be a contest this big in New York, let alone me being in it — I’m really excited.”

In July, Stack was granted one of two wild-card entries to compete against 34 of the world’s top surfers — including 10-time World Champion Kelly Slater — in the first Association of Surfing Professionals world tour event ever held on the East Coast. “I’m going to try and not worry about the pressure and stuff,” he said, “and stay focused on the surfing.”

The Quiksilver Pro New York is the sixth of 11 events on this year’s ASP world tour. Stack, 19, who lives in Point Lookout, will be vying for an unprecedented $1 million prize purse, with the winner pocketing $300,000. And because he has been surfing in Long Beach his entire life, he said, he could have an edge against the world’s elite surfers.

“I know how to surf next to the jetties,” he said. “It depends on the waves — if it’s a man-on-man heat, you … hope for good waves.”

In 2007, New York magazine described Stack as “poised to be the single greatest surfer ever to come out of the tri-state area.” Four years later, on the eve of the biggest competition of his life, he has a chance to make that prediction come true. His “youthful ambition and nothing-to-lose mentality” could get the best of the pros, said Dave Prodan, ASP’s international media director.

“It’s a huge advantage for a surfer like Balaram Stack,” Prodan said. “It allows him to pit himself against the very best surfers in the world and see how he measures up.”