Words: Sydney Pizza
Wrap it up and put a bow on it! The 2026 Skim USA Season has officially come to a close, and it is time to go home! A beautiful and most exciting finish for Team Zap getting it done. Finals day was one for the books with all-time Sea Bright conditions it made for an unforgettable day. Starting the day off in the rain, in the mid 70’s with waist to chest high, southeast swell, and no wind until about 1pm it was kind of dreamy.
At a prompt 10am start to get the best conditions of the weekend, the Pro Men took to the water. Starting off the seeding rounds our boy Eoin Lally put on a rainy-day clinic, taking the win in his first-round heat easing his way into the top six, and joining pre-seeded fellow team riders Mason Broussard, and Elian Juarez. In the second seeding heat part of our Brazilian storm, Leo Freitas made New Jersey look like his home break, with a heat win for himself, also joining the rest of the Zap Boys. In round two heat one Leo joined Mason to take down local Aidan Stevenson, with outrageous combos, and huge re-entries. Heat two Elian took the heat win, leaving Eoin to a 5th place finish for the weekend, way to go!
The final four looked pretty Zapped up with Mason vs Chester Burnett, and Elian vs Leo. Mason was the standout skimmer of the weekend doing judo kick re-entries, 360 airs on the lip and on the way out to the wave, massive air drops and critical combos. That being said, he earned his spot in the final with Leo, who just edged out Elian with the bigger set waves of the heat, finding the longer lines. The Pro final was back-to-back and flip flopping between Leo and Mason until the final seconds leaving Mason to take the win and Leo to earn a very well-respected 2nd place, and a buttoned-up 3rd place for Elian. With those results, Mason took home the Skim USA Tour Title, for the very first time, congratulations to him! Elian finished second on the tour, and Eoin in third, nice job boys!!
Right after that the Pro Women took the water, Syd Pizza, vs Eve Redefer. Syd did great and brought home a second-place finish. While it wasn’t the best heat Syd has ever had, she came out of the water with a smile on her face, and brought home her 4th consecutive Skim USA Tour Title, way to go Syd!
Right into the Mini Boys, Mini Girls, and Girl’s finals, to round out those titles. The Semi Pro semifinals and finals went back-to-back with our boy Gio Tomasi, skimming the best he could going head-to-head with someone almost double his age, he did great earning a 3rd place finish for the weekend. Showing his potential and what the future holds both in the short-term and long-term we are in for quite a treat!
Then we saw the Legends, Menehune, and Jr. Women’s finals, all leading up to the Boys final, where our Boys Bosses had a field day! Brody Chandler-Thompson absolutely dominated the heat, with the longest amateur liners of the whole contest, and not just that but he topped them off with alley oop 360s back up the beach! Not only that but he stomped his first ever 5 shuv in a contest! All that to take the win not only in the division for the weekend, but also for the tour title! Way to go Brody! Not making that accomplishment easier by any stretch of the imagination Gio Tomasi was right on his heels with both 360s to wraps, three shuvs out to the wave and back up the beach, and massive airs, he did great and landed in 3rd. We also want to shout out Lincoln Wilson for his best performance yet, earning a 2nd place finish, after putting in so much work, it was very well earned!
From there the day wrapped up with the Jr. Men, Senior Grandmasters, Masters, Men’s, and to end the contest on a sweet note the Women’s finals. Our girl Willow Huellemeier held it down over the weekend and scored a 2nd place finish! With backside big spins, three shuvs, shuv-its on the lip, and a mean frontside Willow did great and we are super excited to see what she has in store next year!
To end the year Team Zap claimed seven out of sixteen total Skim USA Tour Titles this year. All being the Professional Men & Women, Semi-Pro, Grandmasters, Masters, Men and Boys, we are super proud of the whole team for all of their accomplishments on the Skim USA Tour this year!
For all the details, click here: https://liveheats.com/events/493068
Day 1 Recap HERE!
