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On May 18, 2004 the Black Surfing Association (So Cal Chapter) held its first Annual Pro/Am Open Spring Surfing Contest. Slated for Leo Carrillo State Beach, the competition began at 7:00 am sharp. The opening heats were held in extreme low tide conditions as the shortboard competitors jockeyed for position to find clean peaks and open faces while trying to avoid the breaks treacherous rocks. The preliminary heats moved smoothly with notable black surfer/skaters participating such as Dogtown's Marty Grimes and ESPN host Sal Masakela. As the tide began to rise, clean 2'-4' waves began to line up from the point. The warm weather, gentle offshore breezes and south swell all started to kick in at once. By the time the semi's were held the waves were pumping and the bikinis were styling. The DJ blasted soul tunes and the MC brought color commentary and big humor while families of all ethnicities danced on the beach. The Greater Cater fried chicken beneath the Red Bull official contestant tent. If you didn't know better you would have thought we were all on a sun drenched island in the Caribbean.
During the semi's a strong contingent from Team Brazil really began to attack the waves and pushed the skills to an even higher level, but in the finals the BSA team responded in kind and prevailed with 1 st place showings in the Longboard, Shortboard and Women's Division.
The highlight of the event was contest director William Lamar's soulful hip hop awards presentation on the beach, complete with freestyle surf rap like only the BSA could perform. Tony Corley, BSA founder (circa 1975) pronounced the event a rousing success and promises to begin now planning for next years event.
The official contest results are as follows:
Men's Shortboard:
- Rusty White
- Paul Peters
- Vagner Machado
- Dustin Coury
- Sage Dammers
- Diego Sousa
Men's Longboard:
- Rick Blocker
- Max McMullin
- Manuel Vela
- Steve Mathers
- Tom Nefcy
- Woody Lovell
Women's Division
- Andrea Kabawsa
- Cedar Rogers
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