Spy and Spellbinder’s Jersey Jerk Juniors hosted by Ryan Kimmel

Russ Meseroll photos

Event date: Sat. May 27, 2006

Location: Long Branch, New Jersey

Spy athletes participating: Ryan Kimmel on the mic and Jake Kirschenbaum head judge

Spy’s first amateur surf contest in Long Branch, NJ was a huge success!  The contest was for the groms and free of charge! 3-age divisions were decided on: boy’s division (13 yr old and younger), girls division (17 yr old and younger), and Junior’s division (17 yr old and younger). There were tons of prizes given to the winners and to everyone who was on the beach.

Spy’s surf athlete, Ryan Kimmel, a New Jersey native came up with the idea to get the kids in the area excited about surfing.  He wanted to give something back to the kids from his community. Both Ryan and I chose to use his surf shop sponsor, Spellbinders, as the voice to help reach those kids.

(The day before the event Ryan Kimmel, Jake Kirschenbaum and I went to the contest site to check things out. The waves were knee high at best and within minutes we were all soaked by the heavy rains. At that time things did not look too good for the contest).

On Saturday, at 6:30am, we were greeted with smiling faces from the groms and their families who came to watch. The excitement level was very high as everyone was greeted with rippable head high waves and sunny skies.

About an hour and half later and after filling out all the first come first serve 40 entry forms the contest horn was blown to start the 1^st heat of the day. They were all ripping! Showing us how the New Jersey groms can dominate the head high surf.  It was exciting to see the friends and family support coming from the beach. The cheers excited the groms to rip even harder.

During the contest there were some sideshow antics like trying to find the hidden prizes on the beach, beach ball blowing, water chugging, sand eating, dance-offs and even a rap contest. With all the fun and surfing everyone’s hunger was satisfied by some grindy Mexican food catered by Surf Taco on the beach.

The talented groms in the water were then narrowed into 3 final divisions. Girls, Boys and Juniors. In all the division finals, the heats were pretty close. Most of them were decided in the final minutes of the heats.

The 1^st final of the day was the girl’s. They were there to impress. It was about half way through the heat that Kim Kepich turned it on and showed the judges why she should take home 1^st place.

The 2^nd final heat was the boy’s. That was a nail bitter until the very end. TJ Mortellano had the lead but right before the final horn blew, it was Pat Schmidt who stole the show and got the wave and the score of that heat. With that Pat took home the 1^st place trophy.

The final heat of the day was the Junior’s. It was in this heat that the winner would take home a new custom shaped surfboard by Sharpeye. The heat was on from the get-go! These kids were like sharks chasing a wounded fish. They all wanted that surfboard! This definitely was an impressive heat to watch. Saturday was Tommy’s day! Tommy Ihaken made sure that there would be no choice but to award him the 1^st place spot.

There was no doubt that throughout the day everyone had a great time. The waves, the sun, the food, the prizes, the cheers and most of all the spirits were flying high. Give it up to the groms! They made the day. Spy looks forward to coming back to see those same groms and hopefully new ones to share the same fun filled experiences with.

Spy would like to thank the generous surf companies who donated prizes to give to the New Jersey groms. Those companies were: BodyGlove, Himaya sunscreen, Lost, Ocean Minded, O’Neill, Surf Diva, Surfer and Surfing magazines, Vans, Vestal and Volcom.

Thanks to the city of Long Branch for allowing us to put on this event.

We would also like to thank the 40 groms who surfed in the contest. You guys were ripping!  And what made this event great was the 100 or so family and friends who showed up to make this event memorable. Thanks for your support. We hope to see you next year!

Most of all Spy would like to thank all the parents of the groms who had spent hours driving to the beach and hours on the beach.  Your support helps them fulfill their dreams of surfing.  Without you, we wouldn’t have the smiles on our faces.

John Oda

Finalist:

Girls 17 yr old and younger:

1^st Place: Kim Kepich

2^nd Place: Kelly Mc Connell

3^rd Place: Heather Hessler

4^th Place: Sara Beveridge

5^th Place: Jill Kepich

Boys 13 yr old and younger:

1^st Place: Pat Schmidt

2^nd Place: TJ Morttellano

3^rd Place: Kevin O’Connor

4^th Place: Brady Wenrich

5^th Place: Terence Doll

6^th Place: Brian Hiech

Juniors 17 yr old and younger:

1^st Place: Tommy Ihaken

2^nd Place: Tom Petriken

3^rd Place: Roarke Shanni

4^th Place: Chris Gooch

5^th Place: Alex Rivera

6^th Place: Sam Levine