PRESS RELEASE

NSSA GOLD COAST CONFERENCE EVENTS #3 AND #4
PORT HUENEME PIER
SEPTEMBER 12-13, 2009
CONDITIONS:  Waist to chest high steep, walled up lines with some shreddable corners.
 

Just this past weekend was Gold Coast Explorer events number 3 and 4 that took place at Port Hueneme. The conditions were less than ideal but definitely contestable with waist to chest high almost-peaks up and down the beach. Unfortunately, due to recent dredging of the Silver Strand Harbor, the sandbars weren’t great which meant knee-breaking, board-buckling closeouts close to the sand. But everyone from the Menehuene to the Seniors weren’t going to let the conditions get in their way of valuable ratings points.
 

Antoine Allain of Santa Barbara has been on a roll so far this season taking down the first two Explorer Men’s finals and then heading up north to win the Northwest Open Men’s division at the season opener. His momentum continued into Gold Coast contest number 3 this weekend as he handily won the Explorer Men’s final. However on Sunday in a high scoring affair considering the conditions, it was Shaun Burns from Santa Cruz who got the upper hand on the men’s competitors. He has been knocking on the door thus far in the season and it was only a matter of time before he got his win.
        

In the Explorer Juniors division it was a pretty close final between my brother Parker and me. Parker has been surfing great lately and I had to surf my best in order to beat him. I got lucky finding a few good corners in the beginning of the heat and those remained my keeper scores until the end. On Sunday, it was a similar story but this time it was Shaw Kobayashi from San Clemente sliding over Parker by a small margin of 0.5. Shaw was looking fast and light on his feet in the closed out wonky conditions.

 
Andrew Jacobson has been working hard on his surfing lately and it sure shows. He came up with the win in the Explorer Boys division on Saturday where he had a few solid scores under his belt. He was able to find a few open corners and fit two nice hooks in while avoiding the board killing sandbar. On Sunday, Parker finally got what his surfing had been deserving of. He went loony in the final dropping two big scores totaling his two-wave combination to 17-the highest scoring totals of the day. This was a solid 3.7 points ahead of second place.
        
Menehuene was also a split win between the two days. On Saturday it was Kei Kobayashi who ventured up from San Clemente to take the win. Kei has been surfing very impressively and beyond his years. On Sunday it was John Mel, son of big wave psycho charger Pete Mel, who came away with the win. John made the long journey down from Santa Cruz to charge some of the double overhead (on the Menehuene scale) close outs that were on hand.
 
On Saturday it was Chris Keet who won the Masters and the Seniors divisions looking loose on his new Channel Islands “Proton”. On Sunday it was a different story though and JP Pereat of Sherman Oaks drove his Masters first place trophy home. Big Red John Gardner looked comfortable on his front side and did enough to take home the Seniors trophy on Sunday.
        
 
In the Women’s division it was Catherine Clark of Ventura who did double duty and took first place both Saturday and Sunday. Living in Ventura she had some local advantage in the tricky conditions and it showed as she went two for two this weekend. The other double duty candidate of the weekend was little Frankie Harrer from Malibu. Frankie was charging in the tough conditions. Her heroics earned her first place in the Girls division for both days. She also stepped up to the Women’s division and on Sunday had a strong second place finish behind Catherine.
 
Ever had a one-man final? I sure haven’t… But this was the case for Jorge Barba when all his fellow longboard competitors decided not to show for both days of the contests. He didn’t let this stop him though. He had a nice relaxing stroll to the first place trophy on both Saturday and Sunday.
        
The first airshow of the season took flight Sunday with everyone giving it their best shot at some cash. In the end it was Andrew Jacobson who took the win with a 7.5 score for his nice sized backside air reverse.  Antoine Allain did some highflying of his own with a second place showing.  
        
Coming up in So Cal is the Southwest Open Season opener at Huntington Street this weekend and it looks like there is a fun swell on the way. The next Gold Coast event will be in the chilly waters of Morro Bay on October 17.  See ya guys next time… Conner.
 
COMING UP IN CALI:  The Southwest Conference Open Season gets underway on September 19-20 at Huntington Street in HB.  The following weekend, the Southwest Open hits the shores of Oceanside South Jetty for event #2 on September 26-27.  Southwest Explorer action will continue with event #2 at Golden West Street in Huntington Beach on October 3-4.   
 
THE SCOREBOARD
RESULTS
GOLD COAST CONFERENCE EVENT #3
PORT HUENEME PIER
 
EXPLORER MENS
1. Antoine Allain-Santa Barbara 12.0
2. Shaw Kobayashi-San Clemente 9.5
3. David Dittmar-Camarillo 8.0
4. Shaun Burns-Santa Cruz 7.5
5. Shane Orr-Santa Barbara 7.0
6. Chris Love-Huntington Beach 4.0
 
EXPLORER JUNIORS
1. Conner Coffin-Santa Barbara 14.5
2. Parker Coffin-Santa Barbara 12.0
3. Theo Lewitt-Venice 9.5
4. Andrew Jacobson-Malibu 8.8
5. Dimitri Papavassiliou-Malibu 6.0
6. Shaun Burns-Santa Cruz 5.5
 
EXPLORER BOYS
1. Andrew Jacobson-Malibu 13.5
2. Patrick Curren-Santa Barbara 9.7
3. Kadin Panesi-Pacifica 8.5
4. Nic Hdez-Santa Cruz 8.0
5. Parker Coffin-Santa Barbara 7.5
6. Cole Walter-San Mateo 7.0
 
EXPLORER MENEHUENE
1. Kei Kobayashi-San Clemente 11.0
2. Thelen McKinna Worrell-Malibu 9.0
3. Colin Deveze-San Clemente 6.5
4. John Mel-Santa Cruz 5.0
5. Spencer Farrar-Malibu 3.5 tiebreak
6. Micky Clarke-Ventura 3.5 tiebreak
 
EXPLORER MASTERS
1. Chris Keet-Santa Barbara 10.5
2. Mat Deveze-San Clemente 8.0
3. JP Pereat-Sherman Oaks 3.0
 
EXPLORER SENIORS
1. Chris Keet-Santa Barbara 8.5
2. Masaki Kobayashi-San Clemente 6.5
3. JP Pereat-Sherman Oaks 6.0
4. Robert Weiner-Oxnard 5.5
5. John Gardner-Ventura 4.0
6. Shane Mathews-Hermosa Beach 3.5
 
EXPLORER WOMENS
1. Catherine Clark-Ventura 8.5
2. Frankie Harrer-Malibu 8.0
3. Morgan Gore-Mendham 6.0
4. Keenan Reeser-San Luis Obispo 3.5
5. Katie Draeger-Nipomo 3.0
6. Alexis Ross-Arroyo Grande 2.5
 
EXPLORER GIRLS
1. Frankie Harrer-Malibu 6.5
2. Allyson Heinemeyer-Laguna Niguel 4.2
3. Lauren Heinemeyer-Laguna Niguel 3.8
4. Ashley Beeson-Trabuco Canyon 3.0
5. Megan McCormick-Solana Beach 2.5
6. Hailey McCormick-Solana Beach 2.2
 
EXPLORER LONGBOARD
1. Jorge Barba-Burbank 8.0
 
THE SCOREBOARD
RESULTS
GOLD COAST CONFERENCE EVENT #4
PORT HUENEME PIER
 
EXPLORER MENS
1. Shaun Burns-Santa Cruz 14.5
2. Shaw Kobayashi-San Clemente 13.0
3. Shane Orr-Santa Barbara 12.0
4. Antoine Allain-Santa Barbara 10.0
5. Chance Lawson-Malibu 6.0
6. Dimitri Papavassiliou-Malibu 5.5
 
EXPLORER JUNIORS
1. Shaw Kobayashi-San Clemente 13.0
2. Parker Coffin-Santa Barbara 12.5
3. Frank Curren-Santa Barbara 11.0
4. Andrew Jacobson-Malibu 8.8
5. Jake Kelley-Newbury Park 6.0
6. Chance Lawson-Malibu 5.5
 
EXPLORER BOYS
1. Parker Coffin-Santa Barbara 17.0
2. Kadin Panesi-Pacifica 13.3
3. Andrew Jacobson-Malibu 11.5
4. Patrick Curren-Santa Barbara 11.0
5. Jake Kelley-Newbury Park 9.5
6. Brogie Panesi-Pacifica 7.0
 
EXPLORER MENEHUENE
1. John Mel-Santa Cruz
2. Conner Lundy-La Conchita
3. Decker McAllister-Santa Barbara
4. Jonah Pierce-Arroyo Grande
5. Colin Deveze-San Clemente
6. Thelen McKinna Worrell-Malibu
 
EXPLORER MASTERS
1. JP Pereat-Sherman Oaks 10.5
2. Mat Deveze-San Clemente 9.5
 
EXPLORER SENIORS
1. John Gardner-Ventura 9.5
2. Masaki Kobayashi-San Clemente 8.5
3. Robert Weiner-Oxnard 8.3
4. JP Pereat-Sherman Oaks 8.0
5. Shane Mathews-Hermosa Beach 5.3
6. Curt Harper-Santa Monica 3.0
 
EXPLORER WOMENS
1. Catherine Clark-Ventura
2. Morgan Gore-Mendham
3. Keenan Reeser-San Luis Obispo
4. Frankie Harrer-Malibu
5. Alexis Ross-Arroyo Grande
6. Katie Draeger-Nipomo
 
EXPLORER GIRLS
1. Frankie Harrer-Malibu 9.5
2. Lauren Heinemeyer-Laguna Niguel 6.5
3. Allyson Heinemeyer-Laguna Niguel 4.0
4. Hailey McCormick-Solana Beach 3.0
5. Ashley Beeson-Trabuco Canyon 0.1
6. Hailey McCormick-Solana Beach 0.0
 
EXPLORER LONGBOARD
1. Jorge Barba-Burbank 6.5
 
AIRSHOW
1. Andrew Jacobson-Malibu 7.5
2. Antoine Allain-Santa Barbara 5.0
3. Duke Van Patten-Malibu
      Parker Coffin-Santa Barbara
      Chris Love-Huntington Beach
      Dimitri Papavassiliou-Malibu