In first round action of the O'Neill Belmar Pro, on Belmar's 18th St. Beach, surfers from California, Puerto Rico, New Zealand, and a good number from New Jersey, were greeted with three to four-foot seas and hard south winds for the start of the event.
The contest, in its second year, is a 2-Star World Qualifying Series Event, sanctioned by the Association of Surfing Professionals. Professionals and top amateurs will be battling all weekend for a share of the $25,000 purse.
The surf, which began to build on Wednesday evening, was chest to head-high by morning. South winds, in excess of 25 knots further amplified the size, while making for choppy seas. However, at this level of competition, the surfers were able to nab the bigger waves, gouging massive turns and displacing buckets of water.
By afternoon, the burly, gray sets were well overhead.
The opening rounds featured primarily non-seeded surfers. The rounds consisted of 20-minute, four-man heats, with the top two surfers advancing to the next round.
Many early heats had two no-shows, sending the remaining two surfers automatically to the next heat.
Jersey surfers, like Jamie Moran and Kevin Richards, both of Ocean City, and Brenden Willem, of Surf City, advanced to the round of 160. Willem defeated Sean Slater, brother of six-time world champ Kelly Slater. Frank Walsh, of Atlantic City, walked through his first round.
Locals Randy Townsend, Nick Blunda and Pat Emerry all surf today in the round of 160. WQS-ranked New Jersey surfers, including Matt Keenan and Dean Randazzo, don't surf until the third round.
The highest wave of the first round was an 8.75, posted by Wesley De Sousa, of Deerfield Beach, Fla. The goofy-foot executed several big moves, right off the drop, and diced the racy inside-section.
De Sousa, 19, is a fixture on the WQS tour, but while on the European leg, he failed to register for the East Coast events, and therefore, as a late register, has to surf his way through the early rounds.
"I love coming up to New Jersey for contests," said De Sousa. "There always seems to be waves for these contests. My heat was so much fun. In the past, I've had heats where I didn't get a wave for 17 minutes, but it just worked out today."
De Sousa looks forward to surfing against top WQS surfers, like Tim Reyes, of Huntington Beach, Calif., and fellow Florida surfer Kyle Garson.
"The waves were pretty good, and it's supposed to clean up for tomorrow," said De Sousa.
Today, winds are predicted to turn southwest, and eventually northwest, which should make for very exciting surfing. Heats start at 8 a.m.
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