Words: Sydney Pizza / Photos: Devin Demenezes
Hello skim world, Zap Skimboards Team here checking back in after an amazing weekend in Panama City Beach, Florida. While conditions were not picturesque, the blustering winds provided workable conditions for the team to show down with and represent! We had a consistent 20-mile per hour wind coming out of the northeast that would build as the day went on, providing difficult conditions, where local knowledge was key, yet allowing for a bump in the water to show pushing for a fun regular-footed backside liner and a random barrel here and there.
Starting the day out with the a few heats of amateurs, we moved straight into the first rounds of the professional men and women. Opening the professional rounds, we saw the women hit the water first, including our newest professional Nicole Phillips and now professional veteran Sydney Pizza going up against Rylea Sinex. In tough conditions, Nicole demonstrated a bright future in the professional ranks with a wide range of skills from backside liners and combos to a strong technical backing! Using it all to grab a well earned first place to meet Rylea Sinex in the final on Sunday!
Moving right into the men, Gerardo Valencia, Dylan Duncan, and Mason Broussard were on call to represent and put on a good show. In heat one, we saw Gerardo take a quick and lasting lead over tough competition and breeze his way into the semi-finals. In heat two, Dylan and Mason were seeded against each other along with Sterling Myers. Amidst a heat that felt like a final with effortless style and combos, Dylan edged out Mason to secure another spot for team Zap in the semi-finals! Without wasting a beat, semi-final heat one was Gerardo vs Dylan, a matchup that got the whole beach on their feet. Going back and forth, matching and upping the combinations wave by wave Gerardo secured his spot in the final, along with Sterling Myers.
The semi-pro heats picked up right where the pros left off, and we quickly saw the amateur standout of the weekend, Zach Rubin, skim his way to the semi-pro finals with style and creative combinations that were both technical and risky enough to show the judges that he had it dialed in.
Sending us into the afternoon, the conditions started to change as the wind picked up, but that did not stop our amateurs from showing how Zap does! Women’s division warrior, Kate Warrington, absolutely dominated her preliminary heat, giving her competition a little taste of what she had in store finals day. Opening rounds of the menehune division had our “Menehune Monsters” Brody and Gio seeded against each other, with both making it to the final with ease. Moving into the Men’s heats, Tobi Blount with brothers Zach & Evan Rubin all left nothing up to chance by throwing huge combos off the lip and re-entries with ease, and made it to the semi-finals, awaiting more chances to dominate on Sunday. Wrapping up day one for the team, Kaleb Perkins and Alex Bevard showed up and out in the Grandmasters division, making sure everyone knewthat they too are stylish and can throw 3 shuvs like the groms!
Finals day had arrived and was easily one of the best days of the season so far! SkimUSA has just announced that they will now be showing professional final scores as the heat progresses and boy does it bring the energy! Without question our Raptor Pilot, Gerardo Valencia was the standout skimmer of the weekend. He brought an effortlessness level of style that was undisputed all weekend long! That being said, he skimmed the final with poise, control, and style to secure his second contest win at PCB! Dylan Duncan aka the “Prince of Panama City Beach” threw a wide variety of creative maneuvers and out the back tricks in his heat to secure a 3 rd place finish! For the women Nicole held nothing back, putting together a great heat, leaving not a doubt in anyone’s mind that she had secured her first ever professional win! Way to go Nicole, we cannot wait to see all that is in store for you!
On the amateur side of things, Kate came back for finals day hungrier and more determined than Saturday to secure her Women’s division win with 360 wraps and style! Way to go Kate! In the Men’s division Evan and Zach Rubin dominated with more combos and huge hacks to make their way to a first and second place finish respectively. Inversely in the Semi-Pro division Zach came out with his very first win in the division! Great job boys! Our “Grandmasters Gurus” were skimming like the Menehunes, throwing big spins, 3 shuvs, and airs, putting Alex Bevard in first and Kaleb Perkins in second! Last but certainly not least, Gio and Brody put on another mind- blowing show in the Menehune final with 3 shuvs on the lip, bigger spins out the back, wraps to air re-entries to 3 shuvs and so much more. These boys are mind blowing and do not cease to amaze every person on the beach, earning their first and second place finishes respectively. Another great weekend full of even better memories and team bonding in the books for our Zap crew! Thank you to the SkimUSA and Shore LB crews for running another great contest and helping grow and support the sport! We can’t wait to see you all in Nokomis!
For full results click here: https://liveheats.com/events/342060