Words: Sydney Pizza
Jackalope 2026 was nothing short of epic and non-stop action! Walking onto the beach for finals day, we were met with a doubled swell from Saturday of 2’-4’, barreling whilst still a little too high tide (but would not be an issue) and some light Northwest winds of four to five miles per hour! It was a dreamy day with weather in the low 70’s and the best conditions that we have seen at Virginia Beach since Jackalope came to town!
The day started off with the Legends, Senior Grandmasters, Grandmasters and Jr. Men, while waiting for the tide to start dropping and for conditions to start cleaning up and becoming more attainable for the pro heats. In the Jr. Men’s division, with improving conditions, Yuan Bonhayag got the people going, with a standout performance, using the wind to his advantage for some crazy aerial attempts, and speedy lines to even faster tricks he was able to pull out the heat win and move onto the finals. Right after that in the Men’s division, Will Grady, battling a bum ankle found his way to a heat win and a spot in the Men’s final, with big bashes, completed wave rides and a very stylish full rotation frontside 360! As if that wasn’t enough Brody Chandler-Thompson and Gio Tomasi both made their way through their respective Boys semi-final heats with wraps to 3 shuvs, massive airs, shuv-it grabs, combos, and re-entry tricks, these boys do not stop pushing and are skimming well above their age!
Now the Pro Men. Man-on-man. With the remaining eight skimmers, six of which are Zap Team Riders, the pressure was on because every heat was stacked. First was Mason Broussard vs Pablo “Machete” Real, with conditions that favored more wave riding and combos the boys had a time! Mason is on fire and was unstoppable during each and every heat this weekend, which showed through clearly in his first heat of the day where he found easy wraps and stylish combos to cover-ups. Second heat was Elian Juarez vs Zach Rubin, where Elian’s effortless style and re-entries played to his favor and he took the win over Zach. Third heat, Gerardo Valencia vs Chester Burnette. Gerry had a field day of fully extended wraps to cover ups on some of the bigger waves of the day, 3-shuv re-entries, and massive airs, leaving Chester in a combo situation. Fourth and final heat of the second round was Eoin Lally vs Aidan Stevenson. Eoin is one of the savviest upcoming competitors and has really become a strong competitor, he is able to put together very technical combos that he makes look effortless. Eoin also finding wraps to cover ups, and re-entries with drop-knee style got him the win!
Final four, were Mason vs Eoin and Elian vs Gerardo the two winners would move onto the 1st and 2nd skim off, and the remaining two would skim off for 3rd and 4th. Mason and Eoin was the more technical heat with Mason using his skate style to bring a different element to his wave riding and approach, while Eoin used his “flow state” mentality to give it his all with big attempts. Both guys got very solid wraps to cover ups, with the Mason coming out on top! Then came the Mexican vs Mexican heat! Two very different approaches, but both so entertaining. Gerardo came out the gate with a far out wrap to critical and sketchy 3-shuv down the double up troughy face of the wave, and a massive frontside 180 re-entry up the beach, both being two of the best waves of the entire contest. Elian used his combos of 3-shuvs and 360 spins out to 3 shuvs up the beach for high scoring waves. At the end of the heat Gerardo came out on top, setting us up for a repeat of last year’s final! Gerardo vs Mason! Elian vs Eoin was super entertaining, as they both had impeccable wave selection and crazy attempts of innovative maneuvers, Elian came out with the win! The most exciting heat of the day, going back and forth the whole time, using the same strategies and styles as they had been all day Mason came out on top! The podium was a beautiful sight as it was full of ZAP! Mason in 1st, Gerardo in 2nd, Elian in 3rd, Eoin in 4th and Zach in 6th!
For the Pro Women, the outside waves were a little too far out to reach, making the inside sections the plan of attack for our girl Syd, and when a nice share of 10k is on the line, it’s go time! Syd stuck to one section that seemed to be working for her in a very tight heat, and in the last moments, her last three wave rides are what put her on top for the win! A very stylish 3-shuv to whitewater bash back up the beach, a shuv-it off the lip, and a very nice completion of a wrap to big spin got Syd what she needed! Very nicely done!
The Jr. Men’s final was up next, where Yuan earned himself a very nice 3rd place finish with clean wave rides and super-fast combos, he is someone to keep your eye on! Then into Semi-Pro round three where Evan Rubin had his moment to shine, with secured wave rides to shuv-its and big spins, making his way to a first-place finish and into semi-finals.
Getting into the last heats of the day, the Boys final was on, and all the Boys ripped! A very tight heat, but our boy Gio put on a show with a huge 180 re-entry off the lip of a wave, and a very nice wrap barrel on a sizable wave, he gave the people a show and earned top honors on the podium! Not to forget our second Boys Basher Brody, who showed a wide variety of maneuvers, with a liner to rail grab cover up, a frontside 3-shuv to backside 3-shuv, and some nice wraps, earned himself 4th place over the long weekend! Great job guys!
To round out the day, the Men’s final was on and so was Will! He used the same magic, and earned a solid 4th place with an injured ankle pushing through pain, stomped more airs, and re-entries, and had a smile the whole time! Evan Rubin did great in both Semi-Pro and his division, earning top honors in the Master’s division, and a 4th place in Semi-Pro after skimming lots of heats all weekend, he landed some critical 3 -shuv re-entries down the face of the wave and wraps to big spins.
The team had a blast as always at the most exciting festival of the year! We cannot wait for next year and want to express our gratitude to the Skimmunity House crew and Jackalope for an amazing weekend!
For full results, click here: https://liveheats.com/events/494255