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Surf Club Holds First Regional Competition in Gloucester
The campus’s Surf Club held its first regional surf competition this month at Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester, where 25 surfers from across New England vied for three top spots in the new contest. It also drew about 75 onlookers plus local and national media coverage.
Colby Kelly, 18, of Gloucester, who is a senior from Rockport High School, won first place, while Rhodes Cole, also a senior from Rockport High, won second. Third prize went to John Lane, a student at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine. Peter Roy, president of the UMass Surf Club and a junior majoring in economics and anthropology, one of three current UMass Amherst students who competed, came in fourth.
Roy, who inherited the club presidency last September, says, “The Lake Atlantic Invitational is the start of a new chapter in UMass Surf Club’s history. I look forward to seeing it grow and continue to strengthen our surfer community in the years to come.”
He adds, “The idea to hold a surf competition started last fall. Until then, the UMass Surf Club had mostly offered trips to the coast for beginners and experienced surfers alike, and served as an on-campus community for those who were passionate about the sport.” The club’s officers were all “on board” with the idea, and over the winter they planned for the new competition, which they named the Lake Atlantic Invitational because of the infrequency of surfable wave conditions in the Northeast.
“Our goal was not only to create a fun event for UMass Surf Club members and other UMass students to enjoy” Roy says, “but also to expand our reach to other New England universities as well. We wanted to foster a stronger community among all surfers of the northern East Coast by uniting everyone in friendly competition.”
In surfing competitions, two to four surfers compete at the same time in each heat in the pre-determined zone. They have 10 minutes to choose and catch the best waves possible. Judges rate each wave on a ten-point scale in five categories from poor to fair, average, good and excellent.Each surfer’s two best waves are counted for a possible perfect score of 20. Usually two surfers with the highest scores per heat move on to the next round. Judges rate surfers on the degree of difficulty and commitment, innovative and progressive maneuvers, variety and combinations of major maneuvers, and speed, power and flow.
The waves may have been small that day, Roy says, “but our spirits soared as everything went even better than expected. The other club officers and I received such great feedback from everyone at the event that we’ve already set our sights on the next competition, which we plan on holding sometime in the fall.”
The club received support and sponsorship from Surfari, a Gloucester surf shop, New England-based Jimbo’s Surf Wax, Yerba Mate and New York-based Kind. It also received over $1,200 worth of donations, Roy reports.
The UMass Surf Club, open to all regardless of skill level, has a table twice weekly in the Campus Center, and can be reached at umasssurfclub@gmail.com.