Day 3 started out with a handful of us staff out at the beach scaffolding at dawn scratching our heads with an undertone of doubt wondering if we were gonna pull off the Finals day! One by one as someone would walk up you’d hear an “Ut oh” upon arrival. We got lucky with some fun solid chest to shoulder high bowls for days 1 and 2, and some great heats went down as a result. But sometimes it’s hard to trust the surf reports when you’re seeing what you’re seeing with your own eyes. LoL 

However, like with the previous two days, and the luck of having a mid-day low tide this year, as the tide started to recede the waves started revealing themselves, and the surf forecast did exactly what it said it was gonna do. We made it through with some very clean knee to waist high waves with an occasional chest high set here and there. It’s what we all know as “contestable“.

The day started off with the Playa Bowls Women’s semi 2 heat,  a couple of Pacifico Longboard semis, into the Cecil Lear Legends semis, followed by Creatures Masters semis, Joe’s Surf Shack Senior Men semi‘s and the FINS Men’s Open semi‘s. 

The more the tide dropped the better the waves got and so did the performances! When all the semi’s smoke cleared the stage was set for some exciting finals heats and clean waist to chest high waves.

The first final saw 2x Legends champ, SRH brand ambassador and Jersey legend Jack Murphy edge out another New Jersey legend and long time industry rep Dean Schoonover for his third Legends win. Next was the Creatures Masters final with a heated, high-scoring battle between a Jersey favorite Rob Kelly narrowly defeating New Smyrna FL’s Josh Nicastro. Once that smoke cleared the Pacifico Longboard open ensued with the overall highest scoring action of the entire competition where even 4th place James Contreras (who coincidentally just won the Manasquan Danish and Friends Longboard Classic literally the day before) ended with a 13.23. But it was James Carr who carved his way through the Longboard open with an impressive 16.20. Next was the Eastern Lines Legends longboard final won by Joe Gillen taking out Belmar‘s own Gary Finnegan. Following the Legends final, another jersey favorite, LBI’s Randy Townsend overtook Corey Miller to win the Joe Surf Shack Sr Men’s.

And now as if things couldn’t heat up any further, the Playa Bowls Women’s final took the water. While a very young new up-and-comer who’s making some noise on the local scene, Keira Soleau put up an incredible fight with very stylish bottom turn off the top combos. However, a Jersey legend in the making and superb Belmar Pro judge, South Jersey’s Cassidy McLean got an incredible heat score of 17.80 to take her 11th, YES, ELEVENTH,  Belmar Pro women’s title! Once the wake from her on-fire surfing subsided, the two FINS Mens finalists paddle out. 2024 men’s champ Blayr Barton and Masters winner Rob Kelly went wave for wave making the absolute best of the marginal conditions. At one point while both of them went to paddle into the same peak they crossed paths upon taking off, and upon inspection an interference was given to Rob. Controversy ensued with everyone deliberating that it could’ve been a double interference, technically speaking, but either way no matter how you sliced it, Blayr’s on-fire surfing and high wave scores would’ve cemented him the victor regardless of how the interference call went, making him the 2x consecutive FINS Men’s pro champ.

This year’s event, although with a little bit of a weather setback Sunday morning drizzling in the first half of the day, overall the event was a smashing success! Congrats to all the winners, thank you to all the sponsors and all of the people behind the scenes that make the event go smooth. Also thank you to spectators who made it down to the beach to cheer on their favorite surfers and visit the vendor tents.

See everyone next year for the 25th anniversary of the Belmar Pro!

2025 Pacifico Belmar Pro Results:

Eastern Lines Legends Longboard:

1 Joe Gillen – 11.37
2 Gary Finnegan – 9.73
3 Gerald Matthews – 8.70
4 Pat Cunningham – 6.50

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Photos by Daniel Stockdale and Mark Sisom:

Highest Heat Scores throughout the event: