Mugu Contest Day 2

By Staff

Dennis Rizzo of J7 Surfboards flys off the lip at Point Mugu on Sunday

Whereas Saturday morning began with a threat of rain, and unusual Southeast winds, Sunday morning began beautifully, with slight offshores and steady 3-4 foot surf as glassy and perfectly-formed A-frames graced the coastline at Pelican Point at Naval Base Ventura County.

With close to 200 competitors in this year’s contest, elimination and quarter final heats continued throughout the morning as the pool of trophy contenders was whittled down in preparation for the afternoon’s showdowns.

Santa Barbara was represented initially by only a small handful of surfers, led by Brandon Smith in the Open Mens division and Demi Boelsterli in the Women’s. Also competing from our area were Jason Campbell from Carpinteria (Open Men’s), Sally Saenger (Women’s division), Connor Lyon (Young Guns), and Justin Rodriguez (Bodyboard).

By Sunday afternoon all local competitors were eliminated except for Demi Boelsterli who had advanced to the final round only to miss her final heat. The winds the blew out the conditions the previous day never came up on Sunday, and when the tide began to drop in the afternoon, world-class conditions unfolded much to the delight of competitors and surfers alike.

One local bright spot for Santa Barbara was the performance of the J7 Surfboards team. J7 managed to land 2 surfers on the Open Men’s podium, Keoni Cuccia of Ventura, and Dennis Rizzo of Los Alamos.

The Expression Session this year was rumored to have legendary Kelly Slater on hand as well as Santa Barbara’s own former world champion Tom Curren, but those rumors failed to materialize. That took nothing away, however, from the amazing display put on by the top-tier pro surfers who did in fact show up, including Hawaiian goofy-footer Kalani Robb, top pro surfer Dane Reynolds (a Ventura native), and Christian Fletcher. These three were busting airs the likes of which most spectators have only seen in magazines, and thrilled the crowd with incredible tube rides to go along with their monster punts.

There were so many standout performances on the afternoon, it is impossible to recount them all here. Suffice it to say that the final 4 standing in the Open Men’s division all put on performances worthy of any world-class competition.

All in all you’d have to say that this year’s edition of the Point Mugu Surf Contest was a huge success. Year-over-year growth and improvements based on lessons learned from experience are sure to thrust the Mugu contest into the upper echelon of the contest scene in the years to come.

Credit to the US Navy and the staff at NBVC is due for their amazing efforts in bringing this even to the public. Special thanks to Captain James J. McHugh, Commanding Officer - Naval Base Ventura County.

Be sure not to miss next year’s event; details to be announced in the coming months!

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Mugu Surfing Contest presented by Quiksilver Official Results

LONGBOARD:

1. Skylar Peak, Malibu
2. Jeff Belzer, Ventura
3. Larry Ugale, Ventura
4. Ryan Cardone, Oxnard

WOMEN:

1. Jordan De La Vega, Canyon Country
2. Chloe Buckley, San Diego
3. Chelsea Rauhut
4. Demi Boelsterli, Santa Barbara

BODY BOARD:
1. Jason Blanchard, Ventura
2. Felix Rivas, Port Hueneme
3. Julien Durand, Thousand Oaks
4. Blake Peterson, Newport Beach

YOUNG GUNS:

1. Luke Davis, Capistrano Beach
2. Chance Lawson, Agoura
3. Taylor Curran, Oxnard
4. Jake Kelly,

MILITARY MEN:

1. Machinery Technician E5, Mathew Merel, Coast Guard station Bodega Bay
2. PSCM Jeffery Eason, SPAWAR San Diego
3. Seaman E3 Jonathan Flick, Coast Guard station Golden Gate, San Francisco
4. Mike Carter

OPEN MEN:

1. Noah Erickson, Newbury Park
2. Adam Virs, Ventura
3. Keoni Cuccia, Ventura
4. Dennis Rizzo, Los Alamos

All Photos © 2009 Jon Shafer / Santa Barbara Surfer
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Selected Images - Sunday

Nathan Fletcher