Kneeboard Surfing USA Community Forum

Watch the highlights

After the first stop was reschuduled to January 2015, the real first event in the third season of the rebooted NSSA's Explorer Kneeboard Div. was held at Salt Creek Beach Park in South Orange County
[mid 70's air/ Low 60's water, light wind, 2/3ft. combo swell dropping with low tide by the end of the heat]

Chris started things off by staying inside and picking off the first wave of the set 4:25min into 20 min. heat. (Top 2 wave scores/15 wave max) followed by local & current NSSA National Champion Sean Noone picking up a fair left off the point, Mike and Evan waited outside for the larger sets.
Bermudez's strategy seemed to be grabbing insiders launching off the foam for acceleration. Noone varied his positioning trying for longer rides both from the point and mid-break even spinning around for one while paddling back out. Odom managed a few larger outside waves - including attempting a steep right back into the rock pile. However Fernandez, showing all the poise of a former National Champion, patiently waited outside for larger set waves and made the most of the bumpy conditions with a couple of longer rides scoring higher than rest.

Overall it was nice to have very surf-able conditions with a decent swell. The tour this season is missing some formidable players from prior years, but given a contest day with a real swell, and the fact that these chaps all have such varied styles should make for another fun season.

Note: Next stop - Nov.1st @ Cardiff Reef
Several of these guys expressed real interest in entering the NoCal events in Santa Cruz, which would bolster the event with an additional heat of Kneelo's and perhaps have them to have to run a Semi Final heat. (Hummmm, more time at the lane with just us out!)

Ya Mike, nice work
Max

well done Mike

Congrats to Mike for a well deserved victory!

Thanks guys.

Did the contest go off today or was it cancelled?

Contest was on, but it was Victory at Sea.
Alberto Colluci showed up.
The first results were;
Alberto 1st, Noone 2nd, me 3rd, and Big Fred 4th, but the judges thought I interfered with Noone, but it was Alberto who did, so I got my points back and ended up in 2nd place. Thanks to Noone for talking to the judges. Evening glare was bad I guess.
Somehow Alberto still won. I guess we got smoked today.

Official results:
1st Alberto Colluci
2nd Mike Fernandez
3rd Sean Noone
4th Fred Rodriguez

Winner Sean Noone physically pressures points leader Mike Fernandez to keep the 2014-15 West Coast Title Race Close

[Low tide, slightly overcast skies, glassy-windless day. Air 20c/69F Water 15c/60F Surf 3-4ft]

Rescheduled Stop One on the 2014-2015 NSSA Kneeboard Circuit was held 18 January on a beautiful winter afternoon next to the Huntington Pier. Crew had a water-start and Leonard jumped right on a great one, followed by Sean. The first five minutes of the twenty minute heat everyone had one/two solid rides. With only a few flat spells and the low tide the Pier bowl was working with steep lefts. A bit more mellow rights didn’t hold up as long as they did for the US Titles so those waves didn’t score as well. Chris worked the sandbar south of the others, but with the low tide and swell direction the gamble wasn’t working. Several long cover-ups from Sean and Mike were the difference, including a late takeoff full cover that brought an audible gasp from the crowd.

NOTE: Stop 4 Feb. 7th 9th Street - Huntington Beach

Thanks for being there Rob. All I can add is I was paddling out after a mediocre wave only to see Leonard in a nice barrel come out and do a ripping slash. I was thinking, "I am in big trouble today." Waves were almost epic for a contest. Didn't see anyone else's waves, but I think we all got some good ones.

VIDEO: A quick look back at Stop 1 action

Great Vid, Rob- tahiti_nui

Did you by chance shoot the quarters and semi's of the KSUSA Titles? Did you post it? Never saw any footage of those heats. (Not so found of that Final. )

Yes, Rob, it's fantastic how you document these finals and let us see the waves. That's a lot of effort, but fortunately you are paid very well indeed for all that work!

Stop 4 was held at the infamous “Taco Bell” reef 300 meter’s north of Huntington Beach Pier.

Surfline noted 4-7ft. surf with larger close outs on a west/south-southwest swell
(Wind 5mph – Air 63/17 – Water 60/15) Tide going out, current and rip fairly strong

Because of thick early morning fog the contest was delayed almost 2 hours, the NSSA staff moved back the heat start time 30 minutes and shorted the Heat/Final to 15 minutes. In talking to Mike, who was out earlier, he noted that the conditions were going to be challenging.

Big surf doesn’t always mean better, waves were breaking way outside and no real contestable shorebreak meant long paddles out along with fighting currents to stay inside the flagged contest area. Rights on the north-side of the flags, Lefts bordering the south edge and the bigger sets rolling through the middle made lineup placement difficult. To make up for the reduced heat times the guys were allowed to paddle out early.

Chris, Sean, and then Mike each got one - after then getting caught inside, an arduous struggle back out ducking under dozens of close out waves exhausted the guys. The paddle out got the best of Mike as the clock quickly ticked away, luckily Chris sprinted during a short lull on the north end to get back out and grabbed his second wave. With less than 6 minutes left Sean gave himself one final push to get back out, snagging the last wave of the heat at the 1:20 mark.

Result: Only 5 total score-able waves.
Here is quick-look VIDEO

Back of the envelope math has Sean nudging ahead of Mike by a mere 300 points with one stop to go.

wow looks like yellow got the most turns...but thats just me

Nice work Sean....hate those kinda venues....but where's the last finalist?