Words: Sydney Pizza // Media: @devindmedia
Just like that, one of the most anticipated three-day weekends of the year has come to an end! It was a jam-packed weekend with tons of fun, new memories made, and exciting results that put some extra emphasis on the Zap Team and put them in a great position for some tour titles! Sunday was a day about as classic as Dewey gets. With 5 mph southwest winds, switching a little bit in the afternoon, the beach looked like a wave machine. The weather could not have been better, it was sunny in the morning with some humidity, and some much-needed cloud coverage as we got into the afternoon segment of the day.
The day started off early with a prompt 8am start for the Pro Women semifinals, who hit the water at one of the better moments of the day in terms of tides. It was mid-tide falling, so the waves were super fun, with solid 2-foot sets coming through, as we were still hanging in that 1–3-foot range for the weekend. First up was team rider vs team rider, Alex Yokley vs Casey McCullough. A well fought heat, between the two ladies, both with solid wave riding abilities, Casey ended up taking the win and filling the first of two spots for the final. Semifinal heat two was Sydney Pizza vs Julia Dias. Syd was able to not only find the better wave selection and open faces, to find some of the longer liners, but also found herself the highest single wave score of all the Professional Women’s heats for the weekend with a 7.50, on a long rail grab backside liner, driving down the line to a critical alley-oop 360 back up the beach, putting her on top and into the final with Casey.
After that the Pro Men’s semifinal heats went down, and we were back to the Pro Women. Alex put up a good fight against Julia pushing herself and connecting with some solid frontside liners to alley-oop 360s back up the beach. Just narrowly getting edged out, Alex finished in 4th for the weekend, very nicely done. Then it was time for Syd and Casey to hit the water together for another shared final between the two. Syd, worker more of a tech angle, and found some nice lines throughout the heat, including a liner to rail grab cover up, while Casey working both her backhand and fronthand, found the better and longer sections of the heat, to take the win! Way to go ladies, we are so proud of all of you! This weekend was a standout weekend for Professional Women’s skimboarding as the ladies were able to demonstrate a high level of skimboarding that has not been seen a lot before!
Following the Pro action, we saw the amateur Women’s division take the water, where team rider Willow Huellemeier found some sick liners for herself! On both her backside and frontside she dominated her semifinal heat, and we were stoked to see her make it to the final! Then came the Semi-Pro semifinals where Trent Moranda went head-to-head with fellow team rider Brady Crall to see who would get a spot in the first and second place skim off. Both Trent and Brady took big risks in their heat and hoped that they would pay off. Trent was going big with re-entries, and tricks off the lip, while Brady was throwing tricks out to the wave, and back up the beach, while also going to the air, giving him the extra boost he needed to take the win and now get to skim for 1st and 2nd place! Next up the Jr. Men had their time to shine where one of our fastest team riders, Yuan Bonhayag, had a solid semifinal heat working the frontside lines to his advantage, and moving onto the final! Next Brady Crall had another moment to shine for his Mens semifinal, where he absolutely tore into the lip, and stomped every trick he threw, to advance to the final!
Masters division took the water and Evan Rubin, in the first semifinal, had a blast, timing out the section perfectly he was able to put together some very nice lines and move onto the final. Then it was time for the Boys division, Brody Chandler-Thompson and Gio Tomasi were seeded into the same semifinal heat and had to double down to ensure that they could both secure their spots in the final, which is exactly what they did. Gio charging and flawlessly flying down the line of the smaller inside sections, and Brody going against the grain going on his backhand to get some full wraps and good completions.
From then on, it was all finals. Starting off with the Grandmasters division, Alex Bevard put together a stylish and steezy final heat, including a pretty perfectly executed widley flip, to earn top honors for the weekend, yay Alex! Back to the Semi-Pro division, first Trent took the water for his 3rd and 4th place skim off. Trent went big with huge re-entries, both straight air and three shuv, frontside 360 airs out the side, and speedy liners to three shuvs and three shuvs out to finish in an honorable 4th place overall for the weekend. Then Brady was back in action skimming for a very attainable 1st place, which was exactly what he got. He took big risks and skimmed at the highest amateur level throwing five shuvs back up the beach, massive three shuv re-entries off the lip, three shuvs out to the wave and drawn-out liners, very nicely done!
Next it was time for the Women to get back into the water, where Willow put together her best in a tough heat with string competition. Doing backside wraps to shuv its, big spins on the flats, and frontside liners to shuv its, she did great and earned a solid 4th place! Back to the Boys division for more high level amateur skimboarding. Both Brody and Gio skimmed great heats, with standout waves being Gio’s frontside liner to frontside three shuv back up the beach, and his liner to barrel, and Brody’s liner to frontside 180 re-entry to frontside shuv-it, and backside straight air re-entry to pop shuv-it; both very technical combination for the Boys division. All in all, Brody ended in 2nd place and Gio took home 3rd, we are very proud and are continuing to be astonished with the level of skimming that these boys bring to the table.
Rounding out the day for team Zap was Brady in the Men’s final, Evan in the Masters’ final, and Yuan in the Jr. Men’s final. Brady earned his second 1st place finish for the weekend, with his undisputable ability to take advantage of every liner that he took, and throw five shuvs on the lip and three shuvs back up the beach, while holding all the style that he has. Evan took home 1st place with his ability to find bigger frontside liners to cover ups and three shuvs out to backside wraps. Yuan, who last but certainly not least took home 3rd place this weekend, in a well fought battle, he had all the speed and style to make the liners work for him, with some epic combos. Nice job boys!
We had a great weekend in Dewey Beach, as always and cannot wait until next year!
For full results click here: https://liveheats.com/events/455942