With this year’s hurricane season in full swing and storms circling around Florida there was plenty of surf for the National Kidney Foundation’s 23rd annual Pro/Am surf contest which just took place over Labor Day weekend. Thousands of spectators spent the weekend where Shepard Park Beach meets the end of state road 520 in the heart of Cocoa Beach.
The Registration Party was on Friday night at the Cocoa Beach Surf Company, an enormous surf complex complete with surf superstore, restaurant, shark tank, and hotel. The CBSC was the title sponsor of this year’s contest helping to support the largest charity surf event in the world.
The party was decorated with an unreal amount of vintage surf pictures, boards, fins, and trophies. There were plenty of surfers hanging out and enjoying the open bar and interacting with some of the east coast hall of fame surfers.
They even had the original Gidget, Sandra Dee, on site promoting her book! She used to surf Malibu way back when it was only like 14 people surfing there (today its as many as 14 people on one wave). She was the original hardcore surf girl. I avoided drinking in order to go home and sleep and get prepped for the next day’s activities, of which I will be filming.
I arrived at the same time as Mullz, one of the judges. I asked if he could rig the contest, we just laughed—I was joking. He was rushing off to get to the judges meeting. The first thing I saw when I walked onto the beach was the Capri Sun playground. They brought more than just free juice pouches for everyone—Capri Sun set up an obstacle course, a climbing wall and even brought a vert ramp! That’s right, a transportable vert ramp right on the beach.
On the ramp, Rob Nollie and Phil Hajal stole the show as they pleased the crowd with their doubles routines. Rob Nollie a pro BMX rider and Florida local from Orlando has been riding over 25 years and is an accomplished competitor from the X-Games, Gravity Games, and the CFB and is a staple on the demo scene. Phil Hajal, from Gainesville Florida, was skateboarding in the demo with Rob and pulling the cleanest method airs to fakie I’ve seen in a while.
The crowd went nuts as Rob aired over Phil slashing the lip. These guys rode the ramp 2-3 times a day, when the wind wasn’t blowing too hard. There was enough fun and Capri Sun for everyone.
When the surf contest kicked off, I moved in to scope out the action. Jamie, aka Dr. No, from the CB surf & skate shop, a small surf and skate shop that is one of the last core shops in town was there. Also, Javier from Oakley was at the contest and glad to see I was wearing the new Oakley gascans he gave me during the Oakley Back to School Contest at the CB skate park.
I watched some of the surf action with Bagel, a local surfboard shaper and old friend. We saw Dave Aubry ripping the hurricane swell. Justin Quintall from Jacksonville, Florida had some of the longest rides of the day in the longboard division. Grom ripper Shane Durkin was advancing all weekend, pulling little barrel rides on the inside. Too much surfing for me to mention, stay tuned to coreaction.com for the HD video…
The dinner of dinners, the party of parties: the NKF silent auction. People and companies from all over the community and surf industry donate items for auction all to benefit the National Kidney Foundation. Everything from surfboards to week long cruises was available to bid on along with hundreds of other items.
The Radisson hosted the evening and surf videos played on the ceiling as supporters gathered for the greatest dinner in Cocoa Beach. There was everything from hemp chips, sushi, pizza, pasta, fish, chicken, and beef. It was a thanksgiving of the beach all in the name of raising money for the NKF.
What’s a surf event at the beach without a Bikini Contest? Weak. That’s what. So thanks to the Sandbar Restaurant for hooking up with Mar Chiquita and making it happen. Lovely ladies of the beach were showing off for the judges to compete for the first place title and cash prize. The Sandbar is located right next to Sheppard Park and has some of the best food around. However this contest wasn’t about food. It was about every kind of bikini you’d imagine, all tastefully done of course.
Once again the NKF held the biggest bash on the beach. This year’s event had plenty surf, sun and lots of fun—and some wind too. The NKF surf fest is the largest charity surf event in the world and maybe the most fun—and an incredible way to raise money to fight kidney disease.
Big thanks to Rich Salick and Phil Salick and the NKF staff for hooking up the crew from coreaction.com. See you in 2009! Click here to check out more photos.
—Scooter
