ASSATEAGUE- Despite blistering hot temperatures, the Eastern Surfing Association (ESA) Delmarva Chapter’s third contest of the summer-long series was a big success last weekend at Assateague State Park with fun conditions and a huge turnout.
With a south swell and a southwest breeze, the waves weren’t huge at one to three feet for the most part, but the conditions provided for plenty of action in several divisions. There were a record 109 entries in 24 different surfing divisions in the third local ESA surfing championships qualifying event of the season last Saturday at Assateague. With temperatures hovering in the upper 90s throughout much of the day on Saturday, the participants, judges and spectators had a tough time staying cool on the beach, according to Delmarva ESA District Director Jeff Phillips.
“This was probably the hottest day on the beach I’ve ever run a surf contest outside of Florida,” he said. “The surfing talent was hot too, all day long. For the first time this season, we held a stand-up paddleboard division and those competitors really put on a show for everyone on the beach.”
Phillips said the last two divisions in Saturday’s contest were not held because of pop-up thunderstorm, but those qualifying events will be tacked on to the next Delmarva ESA contest set for August 20 at 35th Street in Ocean City.
In the menehune short board under-12 division, Kai Haughey was first, Gavin Bren was second, Kade Sommers was third, Seamus Orth was fourth and Charlie Cox was fifth. In the boys’ under-14, Austin Bren was first, Kai Sommers was second, Kai Allread was third, Trey Winklbauer was fourth, Josh Wright was fifth and Brody Smith was sixth. In the girls under-14, it was Lily Preziosi taking first, Sophie Schoenfeld finishing second, Morgan Johnson in third, Marnie Baxter in fourth, Miah Schwind in fifth and Charlie Cox in sixth.
In the boys under-16, Robby Pinzhoffer was first, Keenan Wiech was second, Riley Evans was third, Sam Schoenfeld was fourth, Chandler Vanderslice was fifth and Kai Haughey was sixth. In the girls under-16, Meara Johnson was first, Lily Preziosi was second, Morgan Johnson was third and Cassidy Roark was fourth.
In the junior men short board division, Wiech was first, Pinzhoffer was second, Evans was third and Schoenfeld was fourth. In the women’s short board division, Isabella Preziosi was first, Meara Johnson was second, Elsa Quillin was third and Roark was fourth. In the women’s short board, Aria Diliberto was first, Cat Volmer was second, Jody Perry was third and Jen Hess was fourth. Amy Smith-Wiech was first in the ladies’ short board, while Jennifer Cox was second.
In the masters short board, Drew Rathgeber was first, Craig Garfield was second and Dwayne Dunlap was third. Brian Winklbauer was first in the senior men short board and Alex Mitchell was second. David Quillin was first in the legends short board, while Mike Fleming was first in the grand legends short board.
In the menehune longboard division, Austin Bren was first, Kai Sommers was second, Kai Allread was third and Kailee Wiech was fourth. In the junior women long board, Isabella Preziosi was first, Elsa Quillin was second, Sophie Schoenfeld was third and Cassidy Roark was fifth. Cat Volmer was first in the women’s longboard, followed by Aria Deliberto and Jen Hess.
Amy Smith Wiech was first in the ladies’ longboard, while Jennifer Cox was second. In the masters longboard, Drew Rathgeber was first, Craig Garfield was second and Dwayne Dunlap was third. In the legends longboard, David Quillin was first, Scott Schoenfeld was second and Tom Pastirik was third.
It was a family affair in the first-ever SUP division with Logan Rottman taking first, John Mikulski taking second, Gary Rottman taking third, Heidi Rottman taking fourth and Tanner Rottman taking fifth.
