Words: Sydney Pizza / Photos: Jeff Mathis
Day 1 of the 2026 Spring Fling Skim Jam is a wrap and boy was it an action-packed day! The weather was beautiful, sunny and in the mid 80s all day with a slight and growing breeze out of the south.
We started the day off strong with the Menehune division to get the crowd moving and primed for the rest of the long day ahead! Moving straight into the Grandmasters division for a seeding heat where Alex Bevard got to get his hair wet and show his style for tomorrow’s final!
Next up we saw our ‘Boys Bashers’ Gio Tomasi and Brody Chandler-Thompson take to the water in separate quarterfinal heats they both dominated! Brody with a calm and strategic approach was throwing 3-shuvs on the lip, on the way back up the beach and on the flats. Gio, with a more style forward approach, showed air game, 3-shuvs and big spins, all with a huge smile on his face as they both made it into the semifinals.
Fully into the day, the Jr. Men had a ball! Yuan Bonhayag, and Dylan Dubrow are on the list of the next up and comers and names to look out for! They both have such distinct styles that speak volumes and are very exciting to watch. Yuan is quick and snappy while Dylan has a laid back and effortless style that makes his lines buttery smooth. Both boys whipping 3-shuvs, floaters down the line, and 5 shuv attempts to make their way to the quarterfinals set for tomorrow!
After that, in the Men’s division, Trent Moranda dominated in all his heats today! Steezing his way to the semifinals for tomorrow. Trent’s style is always a crowd pleaser, and even more so on his new Fuse-X. Trent’s style is subtle but powerful, one of the only people to get more than one turn in on the shin high liners today, Trent had a ball. Taking to the air for massive frontside 180s, popped 3 shuv re-entries and stylish turns, he was a stand-out on the beach today!
As if all of this was not exciting enough, the Pros were up next and brought the action with them. Drawing in the largest crowd of the day, with the loudest hoots and hollers, challenging conditions called for unexpected victories and some early takedowns. In the lineup, John Akerman, Gerardo Valencia, Mason Broussard, Elian Juarez, ET Beaugrand, Graham Shelton, Chip Sanders, Pablo “Machete” Real, Eoin Lally, and Zach Rubin, were out in full force for a Zap takeover! Round one was nothing light as Akerman and Gerry came out swinging with Graham Shelton, where Graham got the advantage over some of the biggest names in the sport! While ET and Machete made it to round two! Meeting up with fellow team riders Eoin Lally and Zach Rubin, Graham Shelton had a tough heat and took another win! ET and Akerman met up with Mason Broussard where Mason’s skate style gave him something that stood out and held him apart from the rest. In the third and final round two heat, Machete met up with fellow Mexican Elian and Sterling Myers for a very technical heat just getting bested! Skimming some of the best we have seen attempting varial flips, massive combos and huge airs, all the boys absolutely killed it! Today the guys were the definition and clear example of making something out of nothing! Tomorrow’s Quarterfinal heat are Mason Eoin and Elian, and Graham and Akerman with Sterling Myers!
The Pro Women had some very exiting action going down that you did not want to miss! Kate Warrington, in her pro debut, has worked her way to the 3rd and 4th final! Her style speaks volumes and today we saw the many ways that it speaks, with steezy backside 360 bashes, big spins after the wave and 3-shuv attempts! After making her way through round one, Kate was matched up with Nicole Phillips, remaking their once amateur heats, but now at a professional level. Nicole has a much more technical skill set that gave her the edge today with the ever-consistent shin high liners, bigger tricks were the way to go. In the second heat our veteran powerhouse Casey McCullough, is back like she never left, as she faced off against Sydney Pizza. Two very different style and wave approaches outside of the fact that one is regular and one is goofy, Casey was throwing air re-entries and 3-shuvs, while Sydney was working through 3-shuvs and frontside lines, and attempting a solid 5-shuv in the final moments. Tomorrow’s final will consist of Casey and Nicole for 1st and 2nd and Sydney and Kate for 3rd and 4th!
With the Women’s division, we got a good glimpse of what the future of the Pro Women looks like, and it is so exciting! New team rider Willow Huellemeier on her brand-new Fuse-X put together a great heat! She was throwing massive frontside buckets, backside wraps to shuv-its and big spins and 3-shuvs, way to go Willow! The final tomorrow should be stacked!
The Masters, on as always where Evan Rubin and Nick Forfar were on their A-game, and knew exactly how to make the conditions work for them! With massive 3-shuvs, bigger spins, and airs, he had a great showing! They are primed and ready for tomorrow, where we get to see more speed, style and finesse to some hopeful podium placements!
The Semi-Pro division had their moment to shine where we saw the usuals take the stage while there were two new additions to the line up; Gio and Brody have taken a chance and the biggest stand out Gio Tomasi who has made it all the way to the semifinals! He is very quickly picking up on the strategy of skimming up which is super exciting to see! Yuan Bonhayag also had a great day in Semi-Pro also making it through to the semifinals for tomorrow joined by Trent Moranda, and Evan Rubin.
To round out the day, Emanuel “Mega” Embaixador, was absolutely killing it and made it to tomorrow’s final! His style is light and powerful with purpose and finesse Mega, doesn’t play! He was throwing shuv-its off the lip and big bashes that were not to be messed with! Mega is always a favorite to watch as he very much resembles a sensei and his ways with a skimboard!
Tomorrow is going to be even more exciting than today with an $8,000 pro purse up for grabs and tons of epic prizes thanks to all of our sponsors this year, be sure to come and hang out, or check into LiveHeats for all the action!
DOWNLOAD HIGH RES VERSIONS OF ALL THE PHOTOS FROM DAY 1 & DAY 2 HERE!!!