2011 Why Can't We All Just Get A Longboard Contest winner Brian Villeneuve.
For the second year in a row the SANS/Quiksilver Longboard Contest went off in ideal conditions at Martinique Beach. Sun and warm water, light offshore winds and 1-3 ft ground swell made for fun logging, and it was a perfect beach day for all the family, friends and spectators that came out to check out the action.
We had a total of 21 participants, some as young as 2 years old, competing for hand-made trophies and prizes donated from local businesses. Things got things underway around 9 am, and we wrapped up the finals shortly after 1pm, literally 10 minutes before the winds switched onshore. Afterwards, competitors and supporters (as well as some random people walking down the beach) enjoyed free hotdogs and hamburgers grilled up on the beach. Pretty much a perfect day!
Huge thanks go out to the SANS members and volunteers that worked behind the scenes to make this event a success, especially the judges, who had to sit on the beach chained to their chair watching perfect waves roll through all morning.
A shout-out to our co-host Quiksilver and Roxy for making the contest possible and for stepping-up with some amazing prizes for the winners. Also, a big thanks to the following sponsors for providing some great prizes: If Only, Kannon Beach, Dacane’s, Jamieson’s Tavern, Bridget Turner Jewelry, and Aim High Sportswear.
RESULTS
Men’s Final
1st Brian Villeneuve
2nd Justin Huston
3rd Jason VanMeer
4th Jack Hillman
Women’s Final
1st Michelle Richards
2nd Jill Manos
3rd Sylvie Julien
4th Shannon McPhail
5th Ruth Shorten
Junior’s Final
1st Collin Colson
2nd Craig Colson
3rd Jamie Smith
4th Sylvie Julien
5th Sam Julien
Super-Grom Expression Session
Nathaniel Collier
Zachary Collier
Sofia Michelle
Dani Michelle
Ben Alexander
The 2011 Why Can’t We All Just Get A Longboard contest is a go for Saturday, August 6 at Martinique Beach.
Based on current models, conditions could turn out to be almost identical to last year, which was all-time for loggin’! If you haven’t already registered online, do it now so we can get a handle on numbers. You can pay the registration fee at the beach if you don’t want to online.
Sign-in will be between 8 and 8:30, and the first heat will start at 9am. Don’t sleep in and miss it like some did last year.
Poster designed by Jess Flynn
That’s right, back for another year! If it’s anything like last year’s event, make plans now! Come out to Martinique beach for a fun-filled day of surf, bbq, & volleyball. Guaranteed fun for the whole family!
Event will be held on the first contestable day of surf.
Dates: August 6,7,13,14
Divisions:
Men’s Longboard
Women’s Longboard
Junior Boys Longboard (18 under)
Junior Girls Longboard (18 under)
Grommet Division (11 and under, 5$, maximum of 10 participants)
How much??
$15 for SANS members
$20 non-member
BBQ and Volleyball to follow: FREE!
TO REGISTER ONLINE NOW, CLICK HERE
We’re getting the summer issue of our newsletter ready and we need your pictures! Send in summer surf photos to sans@surfns.com for a chance to have your work featured in our next issue.
If you weren’t able to make it to the 2011 AGM/BBQ, check out our Annual Report and Financial Statement. New board members were elected and those continuing on, re-elected. Look for more information on our plans moving forward in our summer newsletter.
- The SANS Board
A beach cleanup will be held at Lawrencetown this Sunday, June 19 at 12:00PM. Get out to the beach and pickup some trash! June 20th is International Surf Day, so in honor of this, show your beach some love and help us keep it pristine! The same crew held a killer cleanup earlier this spring, check out their story as reported by SBC Surf here.
The 2011 SANS AGM will be held next Tuesday, June 21 from 7:00-9:00PM. If you are interested in getting involved with SANS, please contact us and RSVP for the meeting. E-mail us at sans@surfns.com.
Don’t forget to mark these dates on your calender. See you there!
With the initial shock over, and all of the media attention surrounding the O’Neill Coldwater Classic quieting down, O’Neill announced yesterday that they are canceling/postponing the event for 2011. SANS will discuss how this went down, and look towards developing a proactive strategy for the future. Look for another analysis of this whole situation on the website, and in our Summer newsletter.
SANS President Justin Huston sent this comment for the website:
“With O’Neill’s recent decision to cancel/postpone the Cold Water Classic event, I’m sure there are a lot of happy and disappointed local surfers out there. There are probably even more people, surfers and non-surfers alike, who are left scratching their heads about the whole affair, not sure what to think.
Personally, I think that O’Neill made the right decision given the circumstances with the time lines and the fundamental questions they were facing, like, “5 out of 6 days of surf?” I think they deserve some respect for persevering through a lot of uninformed and negative press, and making an effort to do things right, despite the rocky start. I also think that Jackie Barkhouse, HRM Councillor for Cow Bay/Eastern Passage, deserves recognition for ensuring that local residents and surfers had a voice in what would take place in their backyards. As for John Fluke, I think that everyone needs to take a big step back, count to ten, and realize that John was not the engineer behind this whole thing and that whatever role he did play was with good intentions. John has made very positive contributions to the local surfing community, and I hope that he will continue to do so and that the surfing community will let him.
Looking forward, SANS is pretty stoked about the next few months, with a couple of longboard contests in the works for July and August, and the annual September Storm Classic. We’re also kicking around ideas for a Jr.’s event, reviving the surf-costume contest, or maybe something different like a fish fry, paddle-race, etc. Not to mention the Canadian Surf Film Festival, beach clean-ups, and so on.
If you are not already a member of SANS, think about joining. For those that want to get more involved, you might think about joining a committee, volunteering at an event, or even joining the SANS Board of Directors (in reality not nearly as serious as it may sound). Or do something completely unrelated to SANS, but do something! My point being, there was a lot of talk over the past few weeks about what is good for surfing in NS, and it would be great to see that talk translate into positive action back into the local surf scene.” – Justin Huston, SANS President
Stay tuned for info on our upcoming AGM, happening in the next few weeks!
SANS President Justin Huston passed along this update:
“On Thursday, May 26th I met with Pascal Morian, the Directior of Marketing for Oneill Canada. Mr. Moisan is the point person for O’Neill Canada for the Cold Water Classic, and he was in town to speak with various people in relation to the CWC, including the Mayor, city councillors, and others. I met with him to learn more about what O’Neill has planned and to share SANS’ perspective.
· Mr. Moisan said that while funding has been tentatively secured from the city, the CWC is not 100% a go. He stated that, despite the way the event came to light, it has always been O’Neill’s plan to work closely with the local surf community to gain support before going forward (see below statement which O’Neill released May 27th).
· We discussed how O’Neill intended to engage the local surfing community, and the possible role SANS might play in this. SANS is currently considering how, in conjunction with Councillor Barkhouse, it might host an information/consultation session between local surfers, residents, and O’Neill.
· We didn’t get into much detail about the actual contest, since Mr. Moisan is not in charge of running the CWC, but I said that SANS, and the surfing community in general, have no idea what this event will really look like on the ground (format, infrastructure, space, etc.), and that is where a lot of questions and concerns are coming from. I think O’Neill’s plan will be to share a detailed contest plan as part of their process to seek local feedback.
· We discussed in a general sense three areas of concern that SANS has consistently raised since the CWC came on the scene two weeks ago: What will be the positive benefit/legacy to the local surfing community? What will long-term impact be to relations between surfers and Cow Bay residents? And the elephants in the room: what if there’s no surf?! And where do you think you’ll be able to fit this thing in Cow Bay?
· We didn’t get into much detail on the first two areas of concern, and I made it very clear that neithert I, nor SANS, claims to speak on behalf of all Nova Scotia surfers, and that these type of issues/concerns are what O’Neill needs to talk to the local surfing community about.
· We discussed in more detail the reality of surfing in Nova Scotia, and Cow Bay specifically, and the lack of surf and lack of access sites for a contest of this size and duration. Mr. Moisan, the first to admit that he isn’t a surfer, took lots of notes to share with his CWC colleagues. I offered to talk to anyone else at O’Neill about these issues so that they can understand the reality on the ground.”
Check out O’Neill’s recent press release: O’Neill Looks to Halifax
All for now, folks! Stay tuned for an update on a possible community meeting with O’Neill!
With all of the rumors and conflicting reports floating around, we feel it’s important to get all of the current information we have in your hands. We hope this will provide some clarity and will give you the facts to make your own informed opinions.
The grant that was passed on Tuesday, May 24, 2011 reads:
10.5.1 O’Neil Cold Water Classic Grant Application
The following motion was approved:
That Halifax Regional Council approve the 2011/12 Non-Annual grant award of $145,000 (as amended) for the O’Neil Cold Water Classic, to be funded from the Marketing Levy Special Events Reserve (Q315);
- That O’Neill and HRM staff work with the host community and the local surfing community during the planning of the event;
- That O’Neil and HRM staff make every effort to work with the host community to minimize any impact to the host community and environment by looking as shuttle service, etc, to address transportation and parking issues, and to provide a commitment to leave the area in condition consistent to what it was prior to the event.; and
- That O’Neil commit to work collaboratively with the community, Councillors, HRM staff and the Province on a long term strategy for surfing, if they intend to make this an annual event.
** Councilor Barkhouse added amendments to the proposal (in bold). These new non-negotiable conditions exist thanks to her work and acknowledgement of the value of community consultation. The original motion just gave money. This is a positive step moving forward.
As always, we look forward to learning more.
ESPN’s Jon Coen added his perspective to the ongoing O’Neill Coldwater Classic story yesterday. News of the event, and HRM Council’s unanimous decision to grant O’Neill $145,000 on Tuesday has taken over Halifax media outlets and news channels in recent days. We believe that this is the most accurate story to date. It’s refreshing to get an outsiders look at the situation, especially when it’s a fellow surfer who is no stranger to this kind of story. Coen has covered surfing for years, with work published in Transworld Surf, Anthem, Frank 151, and The Surfers Journal, to name a few. You can find the article by clicking here: http://es.pn/iiSMcR
