OCEAN CITY — The Eastern Surfing Association held its 2013 Mid-Atlantic Regional Surfing Championships in Ocean City last weekend, showcasing the best amateur surfing in the region. “It was an exciting contest,” said ESA Executive Director Michelle Sommers. “We had great weather and consistent surf throughout the entire event. The competitors, some of whom drove more than nine hours to compete, put on a fantastic display of progressive surfing. Our local business and surf community really came out to support the ESA, and the response from our visitors was that Ocean City is a top-notch town for fun and most will definitely be back.”
Competitors qualified for this event through their local ESA districts over the past year and were competing for a coveted slot at the ESA’s premier event, the 46th Annual Eastern Surfing Association Championships (Easterns), scheduled for Sept. 15-21 at Nags Head, N.C. The ESA’s three regional events are also qualifiers for the Surfing America Prime Series and the Surfing America USA Championships.
There was a live webcast by UnScene Productions during all four days of competition on the ESA website (www.surfesa.org).
“It was wonderful to be able to allow people who couldn’t attend the event in person to view it live online while it was happening,” said Sommers.
Ocean City’s local ESA Delmarva District’s members surfed well. Ocean City’s own, and ESA All-Star Team member, Simon Hetrick won the Junior Iron Man Award for competing in multiple divisions and had the highest placings in those divisions during the event. Hetrick also placed first in Menehune Bodyboard, third in Open Bodyboard, fourth in Menehune Longboard and fifth in Boys.
Local Tyler Clazey placed fourth in the Under Armour Junior Men’s division, while his father, Delmarva District co-director Dave Clazey placed sixth in the Masters Longboard.
Teddy Smith took first in the Masters division while Delmarva District co-director Chris Makibbin placed second in Masters. Makibbin also took second in Mens Longboard and second in Open Bodyboard. Travis Knight came in second for the Mens division and Danton Boulanger took sixth in Boys.
Longtime OC surfers Bill Helmuth, who placed fifth in the Legends division, and Dave Hartman, who won first place in Grand Legends, also competed well. The only Delmarva female competitor, Laurel Harrington, swept the Womens division to win first place.
A complete list of all the results can be found at www.surfesa.org.