|
April 6, 2009
New Smyrna Beach, Florida
“Gorkin” dominates home break
at Landshark Pro”.
Aaron "Gorkin" Cormican, 29, of New Smyrna
Beach, won the 2009 Landshark Spring Surfari Pro at his home break on the south
side of Florida’s Ponce DeLeon Inlet on Saturday, April 4. Cormican was
in dominant form and ran away from the other three finalists with a two-wave
heat total of 17.16 to seize the $6000 first place prize.
All three of his Final opponents were
“combo-ed” in the parlance of the sport, meaning that they each needed two
better scores to catch Cormican. In second place was Bryan Hewitson, of
Melbourne Beach, FL, who pocketed $3000. Third was Asher Nolan, of Atlantic Beach,FL,
who received $1500 and fourth was young New Smyrnan, Eric Geiselman, who took
home $1000.
The prize purse for the event was $20,000, distributed amongst the top 32
finishers. The purse was provided by Title Sponsor, Landshark Lager, a division
of Jimmy Buffet’s “Margaritaville” brand. The atmosphere of the five-day event
was very much in the “Margaritaville” vein of beachfront fun, with the County
of Volusia allowing Landshark to dispense their samples to VIPs and spectators
in their beer garden on the sand.
The event was promoted and run by the Smyrna Surfari Club, a non-profit,
community service surfing club, who were celebrating their 30th anniversary. A
total of 88 pro surfers competed and there were also four different “Specialty
Events”. On Saturday and Sunday there were two heats of the “Lost Air Show”,
sponsored by Lost Clothing. Travis Beckmann, Vero Beach,FL, won $250 for his
aerial move in Saturday’s installment, and Nils Schweizer, NSB, received $250
for his air on Sunday.
Also on Sunday, DNA Energy Drink sponsored the invitational “Legends of the
Inlet”, which was a nostalgic, and sometimes emotional, reunion of twelve
longtime Inlet surfers that was won by Mike Luke, of NSB. For the ladies there
was the “Divas of the Inlet” event, also on Sunday, which was won by USA World
Team member, Amy Nicholl.
Conditions for the contest were two – four feet with good quality for the first
four days, convincing organizers to run the Pro division to a conclusion on
Saturday afternoon. In fact, Friday’s waves were so good that organizers were
reluctant to conclude the competition with the end of the Round of 64. Local
surf shop sponsor, Inlet Charley’s, organized an impromptu “Expression Session”
to take advantage of the clean, offshore conditions. Local surfers Jeremy
Johnston and young Noah Schweizer, 13, each won $100 for “Best Maneuver” and
“Best Wave”.
Contact Us
|
Thanks to
Our
Sponsors
Results and Photos
InletCharlies.com
Photos and report
Surfline
Even more photos
Lost Enterprises |
