The second stop of the Goldfish Surf Series was absolutely nuts with some crazy weather and waves. A few days out we looked at the forecast and could hardly believe our eyes with reports calling for heavy rain and wind gusts up to 50 mph. In true VQS fashion we made the call to run anyway and prepared for the worst. Upon rolling up to the beach early Saturday morning, we were greeted with rain, wind and some real cold temperatures and quickly got to work zip tying the tents to the pier. Surprisingly the rain let up, the wind died down, and even the sun made a brief appearance. We ended up scoring some fun rippable waves all day and into the finals. On top of all that, the kids were going nuts keeping the energy on the beach up all day, even Santa made an early appearance taking over the mic and keeping everyone entertained.

This event we had an great girls turnout, forcing us to add extra heats despite the threat of darkness. Once in the water, our gamble paid off as the girls obliterated the wind driven waves. Amy Covert jumped to an early lead with a sold mid range score. However, Mackenzie Kessler quickly answered back with a flurry of solid scores. Mackenzie looked like the favorite until the final minutes wore down which is when Rachel Harris unleashed a blistering attack of hacks. Rachel grabbed a couple solid scores and then really sealed the deal with her buzzer beating wave which she absolutely blew to pieces. For her eye of the tiger like focus, Rachel walked away with a Riviera complete more prizes than she could handle. Ashley Reiley, Marissa Kuiken and Jill Roberts filled up the rest of the final.

The Groms looked inspired by their elder’s shredding and hit the water with more insanity then Mike Tyson. Nick Hdez made the long trek up from Santa Cruz and looked fired up to take the win. Nick started the heat with a hailstorm of solid scores, but this just fired up Kent Nishiya and Sam Reagan. Kent answered Nick back with a huge score of his own, but Sam blew up a defenseless wave with his vicious forehand attack. Kent quickly answered back with a huge backup score and looked like the winner, until just before the buzzer, when Sam grabbed the backup he needed. For his last minute heroics, Sam walked away with the win, the Volcom grom prize, a Riviera complete, and a grip of other prizes. Mason Reepmaker, Vinny Leonelli and Joel Scheck brought up the back half of the final.

The Juniors were up next and put on a show to remember. Cody Lewis looked solid with his local knowledge and competitive prowess. John Wilson quickly got fired up grabbing some huge scores midway through the heat. However, neither John nor Cody could match Shaun Burns’ explosive performance. For his incredible surfing, Shaun walked away with the win, a Riviera complete Skateboard and enough prizes to crush an elephant. Elliot Hodges, Ian Jenkins, and Christian Ramirez rounded out the rest of the final.

The Pro-Am division on the Central Coast is always stacked, with numerous surfers coming out of the woodworks from all over the coast for their chance at 500 dollars and the right to claim PBL for life. Chad Jackson was a standout in the early rounds, grabbing the Electric Volt Thrower move of the event with a hair tingling, electrifying frontside air. Nate Tyler also looked good going into the final, with his great manipulation of nearly every wave that came his way. However, once in the water, Hank Mills and Bobby Morris proved to be valiant contenders themselves, each racking up some solid scores. Hank grabbed some good ones right off the bat putting him into the early lead. However, expert yurt liver, Nate Tyler managed to find some weird warbly lefts down beach and make them work to his favor. As the heat wound down it looked like Nate would be the winner, that is until Bobby Morris grabbed a final backup score just before the buzzer, giving him the win, 500 dollars cash and more prizes then he could ever imagine. Locals Hugh Soderquist, Matt Lahg and Matt Gallagher rounded out the rest of the final.