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DELMARVA SURFERS EARN 28 INVITES TO EAST COAST CHAMPIONSHIPS
The top competitive surfers from Maryland, Delaware and Virginia competed in the 2007 Mid-Atlantic Region Surfing Championships in Nags Head, NC, May 18-20 and earned twenty-eight invitations to the 2007 East Coast Surfing Championships (The Easterns).
Thirty-seven Eastern Surfing Association Delmarva District competitors were faced with every possible wave condition during the three-day event. Adult competitors on Friday had waist to shoulder-high waves and Near Gale force onshore winds. This created almost unmanageable conditions for the surfers to stay within the competition area. Competitors were continually swept down the beach and forced to run back towards the pier multiple times during their short 15 minute heats. Catching the two wave minimum was extremely challenging. The wind kept increasing throughout the day and forced the organizers to postpone Friday afternoon's heats until Saturday morning. Saturday brought overhead surf for the youth divisions with offshore winds (a perfect combination), except the 300 yard paddle out once again made it an exhausting effort for surfers to compete. Most of the final heats were run on Sunday in small knee to waist-high, clean conditions.
Three Delmarva competitors managed to surf through multiple heats and make it into two finals each. They were Caleb Buchler of Fenwick Island, DE; Rachel Harrell of Ocean View, DE and Kate Bassett of Berlin, MD. ESA All-Star Vince Boulanger of Ocean City, MD also faired well in the highly contested Jr. Mens division. Other Delmarva finalists were: Jake Buchler of Fenwick Island, DE; Logan Helmuth of Ocean Pines, MD; Jenna Landon of Berlin, MD; Kaitlyn Curran of Berlin, MD; Danielle Ariano of Lewes, DE; Art Baltrotsky of Berlin, MD; Bill Helmuth of Ocean Pines, MD; Jon Ashton of Berlin, MD and Matt Landon of Berlin, MD.
In order to qualify for the Mid-Atlantic Region Surfing Championships, Delmarva surfers had to accumulate enough points in local competitions throughout their year-long competition season. Only the top competitors with the most points from each age division receive an invitation to compete in the regional event. With four hundred and fifty competitors, the Mid-Atlantic Region Surfing Championships is the largest of three regional events on the east coast. The Mid-Atlantic region spans from Delaware to Georgia and also includes Puerto Rico. Top surfers from all three regional events qualify to compete in the annual ESA Eastern Surfing Championships (The Easterns) held in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and the United States Surfing Championships in Huntington Beach, California.
The next competition for the ESA Delmarva District is the Quiet Storm Delaware State Surfing Championships at North Side Indian River Inlet or the Tower Road State Park in Dewey Beach, June 2-3. For more information on the Eastern Surfing Association, visit www.DelmarvaESA.org or call the toll-free contest hotline at 1-888-632-4742.
Delmarva surfers qualifying for the 2007 Eastern Surfing Championships (The Easterns) are:
Caleb Buchler of Frankford, DE - Boys, Menehune Bodyboard and Open Bodyboard
Jake Buchler of Frankford, DE - Open Bodyboard and Jr. Longboard
Art Baltrotsky of Berlin, MD - Senior Men and Masters Longboard
Jon Ashton of Berlin, MD - Grandmasters and Legends Longboard
Rachel Harrell of Ocean View, DE - Girls and Womens Longboard
Kate Bassett of Berlin, MD - Womens and Womens Longboard
Matt Landon of Berlin, MD - Menehune Bodyboard and Open Bodyboard
Dallas Harrington of Ocean City, MD - Menehune
Jenna Landon of Ocean Pines, MD - Girls
Vince Boulanger of Ocean City, MD - Jr. Mens
Joey Boulanger of Ocean City, MD - Jr. Mens
Kaitlyn Curran of Berlin, MD - Jr. Women
Jack Thomas of Chincoteague, VA - Masters
Danielle Ariano of Lewes, DE - Womens
Bill Helmuth of Ocean Pines, MD - Legends
Spencer Ashton of Berlin, MD - Menehune Longboard
Logan Helmuth of Ocean Pines, MD - Jr. Longboard
Chelsea Remines of Berlin, MD - Womens Longboard
Matt Meinhardt of Ocean City, MD - Open Bodyboard
Nick Leonard of Pocomoke City, MD - Open Bodyboard
For more information about the Eastern Surfing Association contact:
Art Baltrotsky
Delmarva District ESA Director
http://www.DelmarvaESA.org
P.O. Box 207, Ocean City, MD 21843
410-641-3329
delmarva@surfesa.org
The Eastern Surfing Association (ESA), founded in 1967, a non-profit, IRS tax-exempt corporation, is the largest surfing organization in the world with more than 11,000 members. It is dedicated to the sport of surfing, to the operation of a program of competition for surfers of all ages and abilities, and to the establishment and preservation of public access to a clean shoreline and ocean environment. The association's activities are organized in a total of twenty-seven districts, which extend along nearly 2,000 miles of coastline, stretching from Maine through the Gulf Coast of Florida and Alabama and also including the Great Lakes and Puerto Rico. The Delmarva District currently has more than 550 active members and is operated by a non-paid, all volunteer staff. Visit the Delmarva ESA on-line at www.DelmarvaESA.org.