And Whammy, Ventura for the Win!

C-Street in Ventura was the site of WCBR North Division Event #3. Photo: Abe Alarcon

In a West Coast Board Riders’ heat, there are a total of 50 points that a team can earn. This would require each surfer scoring a perfect 10, including the Double Whammy surfer.

On their way to the win at yesterday’s WCBR North Division Event #3, which also secured their spot in the WCBR Championships at Lower Trestles on Saturday 9 May 2020, the Ventura Board Riders Club almost achieved it!

In the very first heat of the day, Ventura’s Whammy Surfer Jabe Swierkocki (don’t even try to pronounce it) dropped a perfect 10 to give Ventura an early lead over the field with a total heat score of 33.97.

In the Women’s heat a few hours later, Ventura’s Makena Burke also Whammied a 10 to take the heat win.

And it was in the last heat of the day when the Ventura 20’s dropped the hammer, turning in wave scores of 7.5, 18.26, 8.5 and 6.43 for a total heat score of 40.69.

Ventura claimed the cup on their home turf with a total event score of 213.69.

For the Division the Santa Cruz Board Riders Club won the north, with Ventura claiming 2nd, South Bay taking 3rd and first-year club SLO County coming in 4th.

SEASON TOTALS

• Santa Cruz—372.89

• Ventura—315.35

• South Bay—272.57

• SLO County—260.69

It was a beautiful day in Ventura

As we look ahead to our final events in the 2019/20 Season we want to thank all of our clubs and partners for the stoke and energy everyone puts into our events, in particular the following:

Santa Cruz

• Shane Skelton

• Anthony Ruffo

• Christina LoFranco

• Matt Myers

• Peter Mel

SLO County

• Dave “Mouse” Friesen

• Scott Vanderripe

• Steve Denham

Ventura

• Brett Jordan

• Sean O’Toole

• Sean “Purpele” Hayes

• Adam Virs

South Bay

• Dickie O’Reilly

• Tom Horton

• Matt Walls

• Dane Zaun

Ventura Board Riders Club for the Win!

And to all of our Partners!

• O’Neill

• Clif Bar

• Sun Bum

• Olloclip

• 805 Beer

• Surfing Heritage and Culture Center

• The Surf Network

• FUEL TV

• Surfline

• Freesurf Magazine

• Brillo Productions

• Ron Lyon Photo

• Action Sports Canopies

• Hot Shoppe

• Live Heats

Santa Cruz Board Riders Claim Victory in the North for the 2019/20 Season!

We look forward to seeing everyone at the WCBR All Stars presented by Jack’s Surfboards on Wednesday 25 March at the Huntington Beach Pier!

The Future is Local!

Encinitas for the Win!

WCBR South #2 Saturday, 2/15/20 at Seaside Reef

What a day!

WCBR South #2 will go down in the record books as one of the most exciting events any of us have ever been a part of.

From the opening wave when San Clemente’s Cole Houshmand dropped a 9+ Double Whammy, to Encinitas’ MVP Taylor Clark’s 9.23 Whammy in the final heat, it was an incredible battle between San Clemente and Encinitas that came down to the very last exchange.

Congratulations to the hometown Encinitas Board Riders Club on their victory, and to all of the club MVP’s.

WCBR South #2 Results

1. Encinitas Board Riders—193.01

2. San Clemente Board Riders—187.58

3. La Jolla Board Riders—109.13

4. Carlsbad Board Riders—100.83

5. Oceanside Board Riders—100.20

Current Standings after 2 Events

1. San Clemente Board Riders—432.2

2. Encinitas Board Riders—403.79

3. Carlsbad Board Riders—264.50

4. Oceanside Board Riders—262.69

5. La Jolla Board Riders—255.22

Encinitas MVP Taylor Clark

Encinitas Board Riders take the win.

A huge WCBR thank you to everyone who made it happen, and especially to the Encinitas Board Riders crew for pulling out all the stops and throwing an amazing Awards Party at the Elks Lodge in Encinitas!

The Chimis Band—Groms were ripping!

Thanks to our partners

Clif Bar

Sun Bum

Olloclip

Banzai Bowls

SHACC

Vuori

C3 Bank

Compass

Homegrown Meats

Seaside Market

Hansen’s Surfboards

Marea Coffee

Encinitas Elks Lodge

California State Parks

Fuel TV

Freesurf

Surfline

The Future is Local

Shooky and the hardware!

Get to the (Dana) Point!

How the Dana Point Surf Club is looking to serve the community in 2020

By Jake Howard, Dana Point Times

“We’ll have water—make it sparkling,” says Eric Diamond as we sit down at a patio table at Bonjour Café & Bistro in Dana Point.

It’s a sunny afternoon, and we’re getting together to talk about what the next 12 months hold in store for the Dana Point Surf Club. 

Our glasses of water arrive, and we take a minute to enjoy the quiet weekday atmosphere.

Eric, an artist and designer by trade, and I̗ laugh that we could be sitting in a Parisian café, except the atmosphere here is better.

A two-story building, the space directly above Bonjour’s kitchen is where Bruce Brown pieced together the seminal surf movie The Endless Summer. The building should be a historical landmark, or there should at least be a plaque put up.

It’s the kind of thing people don’t know but would get a kick out of learning. I could make the argument that there’s no building more important in Dana Point, but that’s a story for another time.

Down the street is the home the Brown family lived in during those golden days. Today, it is desperately clinging to the edge of the cliff.

“We have a lot going on this year,” Diamond explains, steering the conversation back on point. “The biggest thing is that we are now a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We’re going to be putting a lot more focus on service and giving back to our community; that’s what we’re going to be all about.”

Diamond’s already been guiding the club in that direction over the past couple of years, adding a surf day partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Capistrano Valley and an annual fishing day to their calendar of events.

This year, they’re planning on more of the same, including a float in the Festival of Whales Parade in March, more scholarship opportunities for aspiring young surfers and a luau later in the summer. And starting Feb. 1, the Dana Point Surf Club will be kicking off its annual membership drive.

“This is full community involvement at the roots level. We have such a special beach culture here, we want to share that with everyone and have everyone involved in what’s happening around here,” Diamond explains.

With the West Coast Board Riders competition season in full swing, the Dana Point Surf Club will also compete against some of California’s most famous beach towns for bragging rights and to be named the best in the West.

Dana Point will compete in an event on Feb. 22 in Huntington Beach. Then, on April 4, the club will be hosting an event at Salt Creek.

“We’ve got a great team, and the competition is another aspect of it all,” Diamond says. “It’s a lot of fun to get all the surf towns together and enjoy that friendly rivalry. But now that we’re a nonprofit organization, that’s not the only focus we have. We want to be leaders in our community.”

To learn more about how you can get involved, go to danapointsurfclub.com.

What a Day at The Rock

Waves of consequence at Morro Rock on Saturday 1/25/20

For about two weeks the crew at SLO County Board Riders and WCBR were looking at the Surfline forecast at least 5 times a day. We knew it was going to be big.

For a couple of days we explored the idea of moving to the Cayucos Pier, but in the end we called it on at The Rock and it delivered.

This was one of the smaller sets…

The morning was started off with a traditional local blessing, and then it was on with the 15-19’s, U14’s and Women’s division the first heats to go.

Blessed

There aren’t enough words to express our gratitude for the work of SLO County and Van Carazo for organizing water patrol and lifeguards for the event.

The waves were pumping, and if you’ve ever been to The Rock then you know just how much water is moving and how dynamic it is out there.

All of our competitors were in great hands.

Water Patrol was on it all day!

The 50’s took the water after the Women and it was impressive to see the SLO County guys take the win—local knowledge helped and Steve Denham was a stand-out.

SLO County MVP Steve Denham and President Scott Vanderripe

Santa Cruz Board Riders Club for the win.

But in the end, Santa Cruz proved too deep and talented and they took their second win virtually guaranteeing their spot in the WCBR Championships in May at Lowers.

SLO took 2nd, South Bay came in 3rd and Ventura (with just half a team due to the Rincon Classic being called on) taking 4th.

So going into our final event in the North on March 7th at C-Street in Ventura here are the standings and point totals:

1. Santa Cruz Board Riders with 335.1 pts

2. SLO County Board Riders with 197.58 pts

3. South Bay Board Riders with 181.76 pts

4. Ventura Board Riders with 168.76

Right now it’s anyone’s game for the 2nd spot!

Huge thanks to everyone who helped make North Division Event #2 a success.

THE FUTURE IS LOCAL!

The Rock

The Future is Local

As we enter 2020 the future of the West Coast Board Riders has never looked brighter.

What was started in 2017 by Casey Wheat, Ziggy Williams, and Chris Moreno to share the stoke with lifelong friends has become a movement.

We are now 14 clubs in 3 divisions with 12 events on our schedule for this season. We have great partners who completely share our vision for where this can go, and we’re building a true community that connects all of us across generations.

WCBR Commissioner Darren “Brillo” Brillhart giving the final instructions before the start of the Central Division’s first event.

But none of this happens without the people who are building the clubs and all of the club members.

Thank you!

We have a great year to look forward to.

And as we like to say…

The Future is Local

The kids are alright