South wind came on today just enough today to keep the swell from disappearing and begin our next building phase for Finals Day. This kept the heats grinding along today as we picked up from yesterday with Round 3 Heat 6 of the Mens division completing Round 3 and shifted into Longboard and Womens heats to close out the day.
One of the more interesting highlights of the day came when a giant heavy behomth of a boat drive right across the front of the lineup pushing out an impressive visible boat wake that created a solid set of chest high waves breaking left against the south swell off the jetties as it passed by. A competitor actually picked off one of them for a scored ride.
There were several upsets today, one that saw Pete Machotka taking on South Jersey’s Andrew Gesler. Another notable upset was Belmar’s Own Nick DeLisa who broke his long standing curse of not making it out of a Round 1 heat in Belmar to win himself in to Round 4 over South Jersey heavyweight Ben Graeff of NubTV fame. Ben was left needing a better backup score as DeLisa surfed more of a sharper top to bottom game to to take the win. Another upset today was Simon Hetrick taking out Volcom’s NJ team rider Pat Schmidt. Accomplished NJ pros and Belmar Pro regulars Sam Hammer and Rob Kelly both won their heats into Round 4.
Longboard Quarters and Semis were hammered out today with two visiting Hawaiians Fritz Belmore and Kaniela Stewart making the final against arguably the in-form longboarder so far Kevin DeWald and Belmar Pro longboard regular Steve McLean.
On the womens side a few upsets were had with the former Womens Pro winner Jessica Kwiecinski and her equally ripping sister Casey succumbing to wins by Cassidy McClain and Hannah Blevins. Cassidy and Hannah join Belmar Pro regular Maddie Petersen and Alexa Muss in the final tomorrow.
Results are Posted on the Heats page and updates have been made on the Schedule page. Be sure to refresh your browser.
Local Marine Forecast:
TONIGHT SW WINDS 10 TO 15 KT...INCREASING TO 15 TO 20 KT LATE. SEAS 4 TO 6 FT. SUN SW WINDS 15 TO 20 KT...BECOMING W 10 TO 15 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. SEAS 4 TO 6 FT.
… that looks pretty good to us! See you 8:00am tomorrow to kick off Mens Round 4 heats!
Some photos from Day 2:
