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Ocean Lifestyles believes in supporting the youth of today
New Jersey’s premier professional surfing event. Set for September 11 - 14th 2008 at 16th Avenue in Belmar. The 2008 contest is sure to top itself as the biggest event at the Jersey Shore this Summer!
September 6th-9th 16th Ave Belmar $15,000 Pro Shortboard $3000 Pro Longboard $1500 Pro Womens sponsored by Verizon, Fosters, Oakley, O’Neill Global Surf, Surf Taco, Eastern Lines, Marriott Hotels, Star Ledger, NJ.com, Jetty, Ocean Lifestyles, Ted Shreds, Penetrator Kustom Surfboards, Mysto & Descendant….. entry forms available online at !
Congratulations Kristy Murphy, 2005 Women's World Longboard Champion!!
SURFLINE 10/26/05 06:56AM
 The surf became massive October 21-23 as women from around the world gathered in San Diego for the Seventh Annual Women's World Longboard Championships.
At the end of three days and what could only be described as "survival at sea," it was a woman from Jupiter Beach, Florida who emerged as the grittiest and most competitive surfer on this big wave stage.
Kristy Murphy, who cut her teeth on hurricane surf in her home state, prevailed over a hungry Chelsea Williams of Australia, a determined 2004 World Champion Summer Romero, and a fearless Bianca Valenti to win the title.
The event, with a record purse of $15,000, brought an international field of almost 70 professional women longboarders to San Diego. Entrants traveled from as far away as Japan, Australia, Nova Scotia, and Canada to participate
With surf on the rise the final group paddled out into eight-to-ten-foot waves to battle it out for the title of Women's Champion. Like a scene from John Milius' "Big Wednesday," the surf seemed to get bigger by the hour.
As the final pack paddled out into the shadows of the Ocean Beach pier, Mother Nature turned up the volume. A massive set lined the horizon and swung through smacking the pier and causing spectators to run for safer ground.
The message became clear very fast that to become champion on this day, you would have to demonstrate prodigious strength, monumental stamina, and a whole lot of luck.
In earlier rounds a variety of strategies were employed. Most paddled out alongside the pier and fought for position to capture the large lefts thundering through.
Some paddled to the north and played with the riptide and occasional right. Bianca Valenti employed a brilliant strategy to get her into the finals. She sat inside and racked up points on the smaller waves until she heard the judges announce she had moved to second place in the heat. With 10 minutes left on the clock she paddled outside to round out her arsenal of waves for the day. She advanced easily.
The final was hard fought with numerous, massive, closed out walls and only the odd corner coming through to offer point scoring potential.
Chelsea Williams, the tenacious Australian Women's Longboard Champion, was picking off steep waves and matching power with power. Summer Romero fought hard to try and capture her second crown and was also paddling into some heavy lefts off the pier. Big waves are nothing new to Romero.
Bianca Valenti, who had proved herself to be a calculated competitor in earlier rounds (and a definite world title contender) surfed well but had trouble with wave selection.
In the end, the radically fast and vertical lefts favored the powerful style of goofy footer Kristy Murphy. She picked off a massive top-to-bottom left, which thrilled the spectators. She streaked across the face, hanging five in the pocket with no fear of consequences from a mistimed walk-back.
The title was hers.
As the finalists returned to shore a massive cheer rose from the crowd. Kristy Murphy was hoisted upon the shoulders of her friends and supporters as the new Women's World Longboard Champion in a display of emotion not unlike a World Cup soccer match.
The usual scene at women's longboarding events involves carefully timed take-offs, slow bottom turns, an elegant walk to the nose, perhaps a drop-knee cut back and then another walk.
It's a style of surfing that is so different from the cut and slash of shortboarding, yet is appreciated as much for its aesthetic grace as its athletic prowess.
If there were ever doubts about the athleticism of women longboarders, all one had to do was watch them as they sprinted across the faces of these 8-to-10-foot monster waves.
As the finals began to take shape, surfers were trying whatever they could to receive the all-important points that would find them either advancing to the next round, or sitting on the beach.
Computerized judging allowed for announcements throughout the heats on the standings of each surfer. This did two very important things.
One, it gave spectators an incredible insight as to who they were watching, and just how dramatic the moment was for each and every surfer in the water.
Two, it raised the bar for the women competition-wise. For example: There is five minutes left in your heat. You think you've surfed well, have a couple of high point-scoring waves. You feel confident you're going to advance. Then you hear the speakers blaring out that you are in fact in third place, and need a 3.7 wave to move into the advancing two positions.
It's a wonderful addition to the sport, as welcome to surfing as instant replays are to football. The technology would seem to have earned its place in surfing's future.
This year's Women's Worlds was orchestrated by former five-time US Women's Champion Linda Benson. Following the finals, Benson, widely accepted as the "First Lady of Surfing," presented the awards and offered kudos to the many volunteers who had helped her stage this important event.
Benson also awarded Joyce Hoffman with an honorary Lifetime Achievement Award for her outstanding inspiration to women's surfing. As a surprise to Benson, legendary surfer Skip Frye took the microphone and read a Proclamation introduced by his wife, San Diego City Councilwoman Donna Frye, declaring Friday Oct. 21 as "Linda Benson Day."
The 7th annual Women's World Longboard Championships was a momentous event for the art and sport of longboarding, a sport that is all too often overlooked by the surfing world.
A team of women surfers and luminaries that included two-time world champion Cori Schumacher, Kassia Meador, Julie Cox, and Prue Jeffries worked with Linda Benson to produce an event by women and for women surfers.
Three generations of women competed in three divisions. The 17-and-under division had 18 surfers; the 40-and-over masters division fielded 22 competitors; and 68 women vied for the world title.
Kristy Murphy, who is immensely popular on the tour, graciously accepted her new crown and thanked her supporters while surf legends such as Linda Benson, Joyce Hoffman, Jericho Poppler, Skip Frye, Donald Takayama, 'LJ' Richards, Denny Aaberg, and Henry Ford participated from the sidelines.
Results of the 2005 Women's World Longboard Championships:
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OPEN
1st Kristy Murphy
2nd Chelsea Williams
3rd Summer Romero
4th Bianca Valenti
5th Kassia Meador
5th Julie Whitegon
7th Liz Motshagen
7th Kaitlin Maguire
9th Kim Hamrock
9th Leah Dawson
9th Lindsey Steinride
9th Ashley Lloyd
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JUNIORS
1st Rachel Barry
2nd Ashley Smeltzer
3rd Lauren Ngan
4th Ming Hui Brown
MASTERS
1st Mary Ellen Rogers
2nd Mary Schwinn
3rd Jeannette Prince
4th Stacy Willis
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The Women's World Longboard Championships Inc. would like to thank the following major sponsors and supporters: Paul Mitchell, Surf Diva, Toes on the Nose, Ocean Lifestyles, Hansen Surf gear, Soda, Ellegirl, SheRider, Surf Life For Women, and the people of Ocean Beach who made this such a friendly event.
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