Words: Sydney Pizza // Photos: @devindmedia
We did it! Team Zap survived the 109-degree heat index with a slight breeze, ever changing conditions, peeling liners, and great times at the 2025 OBX Skim Jam held on the south side of Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head, North Carolina. After three long days in the sun, the Zap team had a blast skimming stacked heats, hyping up the groms, getting a couple of surf sessions in between heats, and finishing the weekend off pretty well. The weather was sunny, beautiful, and a bit humid all three days making for the refreshing water of OBX exactly what everyone needed to stay cool in the 90 degree heat. The waves were ever changing with high tide, and mid-tide falling to be the best of the weekend. A solid 1–3-foot swell hit the shores of OBX just in time for the contest to begin and Sunday showing the dreamiest of conditions possible with liners, barrels and far out wraps, giving a little something for everyone!
With three loaded days of competition, we started things off hot on Friday with the first two rounds of Professional Men and one of the Professional Women. Our line up for the pro men was stacked including top team riders Gerardo Valencia, Leo Freitas, Mason Broussard, Elian Juarez, Zeke Williams, Eoin Lally, and Lucas McCoy. On the women’s side of things, resident pro Sydney Pizza, and rookie pro Nicole Phillips met up with Kill Devil Hills local, Codie Patterson, for a heated semi-final. After the first two rounds of the pro men, our stand-out riders for the weekend were lining up to be, Eoin Lally, Mason Broussard, Leo Freitas, and Gerardo Valencia. We could not wait to see how the quarter finals were going to shape up!
After the pros kicked off, Friday was filled with the opening rounds of Jr. Men, Semi- Pros, Masters, and Legends, all the largest divisions of the weekend. We saw upcoming amateurs Trent Moranda, Yuan Bonhayag, Zach and Evan Rubin, and Kate Warrington all have a great first day stringing together great combos while staying cool, calm, and collected during their heats to advance with ease. A very special shout out to Kate for advancing all the way to the quarter finals in the semi pro division this weekend! A fantastic way to wrap up day one of the 2025 OBX Skim Jam.
Starting off day two, the boys went straight back to work marching through two more rounds of professional men, setting them up for quarterfinals to commence on finals day, while our professional ladies of skim had a lay day. With heavy hitters, crazy combos, and finesse like no other finals day was looking to be another one you did not want to miss!
Immediately following we got to watch Zach and Evan Rubin, and the Men’s division get to work, Kate Warrington and the Women battle it out in semi-finals, and Trent Moranda and the Jr. Men push through the heat and multiple rounds of combos and tech that had you double checking what division you were watching!
Kate with plenty of poise finessed her way to finals day, Trent with a minor injury to the toe and enough style to skim for 10 was ready to join her, along with both Rubin twins, and our very own Alex Bevard surviving the heat and popping shuv grabs off of nothing were all ready to Zap up and head into Sunday!
To wrap up day two the Menehune Monsters were back in action advancing through their quarter and semi-finals leading the charge skimming like semi-pros! Gio Tomasi racking up huge heat totals, with crazy airs, super technical combos and charging big wraps, he was ready to meet his best buddy Brody on finals day! Brody Chandler- Thompson, throwing frontside 3 shuvs, doing more shuv its than we could count, and bringing every wave back up the beach all with a dry head of hair, was right there with Gio, ready for Sunday!
Finals day arrived quicker than we had expected, and it brought a slight breeze coming northwest giving some flavor to the peeling liners that ended up giving finals day a perfect touch of dreamy OBX waves! Our quarter finals for the men of the hour were Leo vs Lucas Fink, Eoin vs Mason, and Gerardo vs Eddie Dixon. Tough heats and well fought battles left the semi-finals to be Mason vs Fink in heat one and Gerardo vs Leo in heat two. After combos, speed, power, 5-shuvs, and inverted re-entries like you have never seen, our Raptor Pilot and Mighty Mason had it out for 3rd and 4th place, their 3rd head-to-head heat of the season, this time with Mason coming out on top! A very hard fought and well deserved finish for the guys! After all was said and done Mason took 3rd , Gerardo 4th , and Leo rounded out the top 6. And that was just the beginning!
Immediately after we saw Syd and Nicole hit the water, and it was just as exciting! These ladies are really pushing the sport and the changing to perception of what professional female skimboarding looks like! With their technical abilities, the future is bright! Their final was easily one of the most technical we have seen in a while. Syd brought out flawless combos with 3 shuvs, before and after the wave, while Nicole was ripping up the flatground with 3 shuvs to big spin, 3 shuv to 3 shuv and much more! A fantastic heat to watch, Syd took this one home with a total heat score of 20.06, her highest of the season! Well done ladies, we can’t wait to see what you bring in Dewey!
Could the day get any better? Yes! We had non-stop exciting action ALL DAY. The semi-pros put on a clinic with some prime conditions, followed immediately by the Men’s and Jr. Men’s divisions where Zach Rubin shuv’d his way to 2nd place and our boy Trent pulled out a 4th place finish, in their respective divisions, very well done! Alex Bevard was back in the mix in the Grand Masters final, skimming like a Jr. Man with speed and combos that he has been working hard on! This second-place finish has kept him in the lead for the SkimUSA tour title, a very exciting moment for Alex!
The Women’s division is looking as fierce as ever with lots of talent and plenty of future pros that make our sport proud Kate is right there with a very polished style to 360 wrap off the lip, come back with the beach with a no-comply, and 3 shuvs with ease Kate pulled off a very nice 2 nd place finish! Well done Kate!
To wrap up the day leaving the most action packed to keep everyone on their toes the Menehune Monsters and Minis were on! Gio skimmed a near perfect heat with a total score of 19.50 including wraps to 3 shuvs, out-the-backs that could not be missed and smiles for miles, Gio was a stand-out of the weekend! Brody not far behind, was right there with him wraps to double shuvs, and frontside 3 shuvs to backside 3 shuvs, and charging over headers, the boys cleaned house, leaving Gio in 1st and Brody in 2nd. Way to go boys!
The team had a great weekend and we are very proud of everyone! See you in Dewey!
For full results click here: https://liveheats.com/events/376082/divisions/673909