Details on The Jimmy Lewis SUP Invitational
at ESA Southeast Regionals, April 22
by Steve Sjuggerud, Contest Director for the Jimmy Lewis SUP Invitational
My friends, it's finally here! SUP in the ESA is a now a reality!
Stand up paddle (SUP) surfing will make its first ever appearance at an ESA regional championship on Sunday, April 22nd, with the Jimmy Lewis SUP Invitational in New Smyrna Beach.
The top standup paddlers in the Southeast will battle for bragging rights, prizes, and for a slot at "Easterns" -- the East Coast surfing championship -- in North Carolina in September.
We still have a slots available for this April 22nd contest... more details below.
We are proud to have Jimmy Lewis as the title sponsor...
Jimmy Lewis was truly one of the very first companies to produce legitimate high performance standup boards. As proof, take a look at this page from the very first issue of Standup Journal magazine (a magazine that I founded in 2007 with Clay Feeter and Glenn Dubock). The top picture has three different Jimmy Lewis production boards, and I am actually surfing a Jimmy Lewis production board in the bottom picture. Again, these shots are from 2007.
It looks like the level of competition will be off the charts...
John EB will come up from Central Florida with a group of other well-known talents from the area. John pioneered ultra-short SUP surfing, and he competed in the Standup World Tour Hawaii finals event. Here he is ripping recently at home:
Eddie Toy is one of a couple rippers coming down to represent St. Augustine. Eddie has run SUP contests, taught lessons, and charged all over the world, spreading the stoke. Here's a nice shot of Eddie at home, absolutely charging:
These older well-known chargers need to look out for lesser-known young guys... like teenager Steven McLean. Steven surfs with incredible style and has the added advantage of having New Smyrna as his home break.
A few Jimmy Lewis teamriders (Todd Waskuch from the Treasure Coast area and Tony Malara) will be competing as well. Here's Tony competing on his Jimmy Lewis board:
It is a stacked field... as it should be... battling it out for a potential chance to move on to Easterns!
Here are the details of competition
-No entry fee... because this is not an official ESA championship event this season, it is an invitational exhibition event.
-You must be an ESA member however, and be able to prove it. If you are not a member, print out this form and bring it with your membership fee: http://www.surfesa.org/regionals/ESAforms/2012/ESA_join.pdf
-Competition starts at 9am, on Sunday, April 22nd, next to the ESA competition area.
-The format is three preliminary heats of six competitors. The three winners will advance directly to the finals. 2nd and 3rd in each heat advance to a death heat. The top three in the death heat advance to the finals.
-Judging will be based on the ISA criteria, which emphasizes shortboard style over longboard style.
The full details are here: http://www.isasurf.org/files/ISARulebook_Feb2012.pdf
The critical part is here (click on it to enlarge):
- This event will be self-judged -- Who knows how to judge progressive SUP better than the guys doing it? The competitors that are NOT in the water will help judge the competitors in the water.
I will act as head judge and Contest Director for this SUP event...
Through Standup Journal I've been fortunate to surf some of the world's best waves. Here's a recent photo of me in Fiji on a custom 8'8" from a trip to Tavarua for the magazine:
I am also the co-Director of the ESA's First Coast Florida district. In our district, I ran six SUP contests in 2011. Here's a recent clip of me at home in Florida trying out an 8'2" (I'm 6'4" 240 pounds).
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With plenty of SUP surfing experience and plenty of ESA SUP contest directing experience, the Eastern Surfing Association put me in charge of the Jimmy Lewis SUP Invitational at Southeast Regionals. I'm stoked to do it!
Again, we are thankful that Jimmy Lewis has stepped up as the lead sponsor for this event and for the season. (For more on Jimmy Lewis boards, visit: www.facebook.com/JimmyLewisBoards We are also happy to report that longtime ESA supporter XTrak has kindly offered up one of it's excellent SUP deck pads as a prize... And Standup Journal magazine has contributed a free subscription as well.
So to wrap it up...
It's on! The Jimmy Lewis SUP Invitational at the ESA Southeast Regional Championships is on!
The top SUP surfers in the Southeast will be there... competing for bragging rights and for a potential spot at Easterns.
I look forward to seeing you there!
All the best,
Steve Sjuggerud
Contest Director for the Jimmy Lewis SUP Invitational at Southeast Regionals
cell phone: 904 - 556 - 7785
email: standupjournal @ gmail.com
P.S. An important note: A few invitational spots are still available... Please email me if you want one of them... and please make your best case why you deserve to be in... Thanks! Also, if you know someone that belongs in the event, that is not in yet, please make sure they're aware of the event, and let me know about them... Thanks!
(Please note, this is not an official communication from the ESA, this is an update from me about the Jimmy Lewis SUP Invitational to district directors, competitors, and prospective competitors. In short, this email was not approved by the ESA in advance, so anything below can be over-ridden by the ESA... This is simply my opinion of where we stand now, getting the word out, one week away from the event!)
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