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Surf City 2023 Yearbook
Download high resolution photos here. Password is Ashton's last name.
2023 Surf City Beach Patrol
Season Statistics:
Total Rescues – 120
Missing Persons Recovered by the Patrol – 8
First Aid Responses w/EMS – 9
Total Estimated Beach Population – 178,600
Average Water Temperature – 68.3 degrees Fahrenheit
Green Flags - 45 days
Yellow Flags (Limited Bathing) - 33 days
Red Flags (No Bathing) - 2 day
2023 Summer Overview
After the continually frigid water during the 2022 season I think all of the guards and myself included were worried we might have a repeat of that unually cold water. Luckily that was not the case and we had a nice summer when it came to water temperature. It's amazing how a 3 degree difference in average temperature can make such a difference. The surf was a bit rougher this year as noted by our 33 days of limited bathing and 120 rescues. We welcomed quite a few new lifeguards to the squad this year. Surf City Lifeguard-In-Training Academy graduates included Dean, Brody, Laura, and Allie. We also welcomed Christian, Megan, Bridget, Lily, Morgan, Sydney, Madison, Brian, Katherine, Joey, Johnny, Erin, Blake, Brooke, and Chris to the squad.
Surf City is still up and coming when it comes to lifeguard tournament. Notable performances included a team win at our Epic Tournament as well as at Seaside Park. The team traveled to Diamond Beach and came away with a 3rd place team finish with both Shane and Pepper winning their individual events. The Surf City women lost a really close one 59 to 57 at the Long Beach Township Women's tournament. It's the first time since the inception of this tournament 5 years ago that Surf City did not win it. We also came in second by a couple points at the Harvey Cedars MidSummer Meltdown. It came down to the last event on that one. Finally, things were looking really good for the team after the first night of the Island tournament with Surf City holding 1st place. We later slid down to 2nd overall but it was a great season for the Surf City team.
Beach Patrol Events
Diamond Beach - Saturday June 24, 2023
3rd Place Surf City Team
1st Place Women's Paddle - Pepper
1st Place Iron Guard - Shane
17th
Annual Surf City Epic Tournament –
Thursday July 6, 2023
1st Place Epic Run-Swim - Johnny
and Pepper
1st Place Paddle Relay - Ashton, Allie, Pepper, Kieran
1st Place Iron Man Medley - Bella (run), Shane (swim), Ryan (paddle),
Pepper/Sydney (row)
Lavallette Open – Thursday July 12, 2023
1st Place Swim Relay - Johnny, Shane, Brooke, Pepper
1st Place Paddle Relay - Ryan, Jack, Bella, Jessie, Shane, Kieran
Ortley Bush Classic Lifeguard Tournament – Wednesday July 26, 2023
1st Place 1500' Paddle - Pepper
1st Place Doubles Row - Haley/Sydney
1st Place - Iron Woman - Pepper
1st Place Run-Swim-Run - Brooke
1st Place Iron Woman - Brooke
2nd Place Surf City Team
1st Place Rescue Relay - Shane/Johnny (buoy rescue), Jack/Kieran (paddle
rescue), Pepper/Mark (boat rescue)
1st Place Doubles Row - Jack/Pepper
2nd Place Swim Relay - Shane/Mark/Pepper/Jack
2nd Place Boat Swim - Ashton/George
2nd Place IM Medley - Kieran (run), Shane (swim), Ashton (paddle), Row
(Mark/Pepper)
Ship Bottom Invitational – Monday July 31, 2023
3rd Place Rescue Race - Shane/Dean/Kieran/Ryan (line-pull), Jack/Ashton (paddle
rescue), Zach/Mark/Johnny (boat rescue)
1st Place Women's Paddle - Pepper
1st Place Iron Man - Shane
1st Place Iron Woman - Pepper
1st Place Iron Woman - Pepper
1st Place Women's Swim - Brooke
1st Place Paddle Reescue - Ashton/Jack
1st Place Run Relay - Jessie/Steph/Morgan/Haley
Some Photos from 2023
Diamond Beach - Saturday July 24, 2023
The Epic and Seaside Park tournaments went well for Surf
City having won both of them.
Unfortunately it would not be our night at Ortley.
No big mistakes but a collection of small ones made the difference
between top three finishes and mid to back of the pack finishes.
Trying to stand in the gully when the water is too deep, shipping the
oars before the boat will make it to the beach, swimming a bit upstream to the
buoy… small things that add up to precious seconds.
Also I should say that the South lanes had the benefit of big sandbars so
those were the teams winning all of the events.
Not much to write here except Zach and I along with
Shane/Kieran and Pepper/Jack competed in the boat relay and simply didn’t put it
together well. Wide, slow turns, and
not getting the boat all the way to the beach were part of the problem.
I believe Ashton, Jack, Kieran, and Ryan came in 4th
or 5th in the Paddle Relay but it was literally a second or two
separating 3rd place from 5th.
Dean, Shane, Brian, and George were our swim relay team and they also
finished mid-pack, just a handful of seconds out of the points.
Brian swam in the IM Medley while Ryan paddled and Shane
and Kieran rowed. Another “out of
the points” finish. Finally Zach and
I wrapped up the competition in the Doubles row with another lackluster finish.
It was a tough night but we’ll be stronger having been there!
This was the first
time that SCBP competed in the Diamond Beach tournament at the end of the
parkway in Lower Township. An early
season tournament that was a lot of fun and a great way to kick off the 2023
competition season. Competing teams
included Diamond Beach, Cape May Point, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood, North
Wildwood, Harvey Cedars, and Surf
City. The waves were 2-4 feet but
there was a lot of surf with waves breaking nearly to the common course buoys.
Jack and I must
have missed the announcement at the Captain’s meeting that the stern rowers
would not be running to the boats or the start of the doubles row as I was on
the beach when the race started.
Kieran was on the sandbar stabilizing the boat and after waiting for 10 or 15
seconds to figure out what was going on did the right thing and jumped in the
boat to row with Zach. They rowed
well but there is no coming back from a late start in a common course row.
Ultimately this mistake was on me because I missed the start of my race.
Ryan and Ashton
were our competitors in the “M” course open paddle and I’m not sure where they
finished but I think it was aroun 5th and 6th or so.
Pepper and Haley were our women paddlers, again on the “M” course.
Pepper had a great paddle and easily won the race.
Our paddle relay
team of Ashton, Jack, Kieran, and Pepper put in a solid performance for a 3rd
place overall finish in this event.
Dean and Johnny
were our open swimmers (“M” course) and Dean had a great swim finishing 3rd
place overall and I think Johnny finished 5th or 6th.
Brooke and Allie were our women swimmers and Brooke finished 3rd
in a very competitive field of female swimmers.
Finally in the last
event the “Iron Guard” our LBI Iron Man Island Champion Shane competed for Surf
City. The run was a strange
North-South-North-South affair of approximately 100yards for each leg.
Shane paced himself and entered the water last for the paddle leg of the
event. I believe he got out of the
water in 5th place and passed 3 boats during the very challenging row
portion of the event. One of the
Cape May rowers never even made to the first buoy.
The wind and waves made the row really tough.
Coming into the swim portion of the event the Diamond Beach competitor
was in 1st place with Shane close behind.
Shane passed him pretty quickly on the swim and won the event for Surf
City!
The final scores
showed Surf City in 3rd place with Diamond Beach winning their
tournament. This was a fun way to
start the season and we’ll be back next year.
17th Annual Surf City Epic Tournament – Thursday July 6, 2023
The conditions for the 18th annual Surf City
Epic lifeguard tournament were absolutely perfect.
Just enough surf to make things interesting but not so much as to be
hazardous for the boating events. It
kind of reminded me of the inaugural Epic tournament, which I believe was 2004.
Johnny and Pepper were up first in the Epic.
Johnny entered the water 2nd but ended up catching the
competitor from Island Beach and finished the event in first place.
Kudos to Johnny for winning the grueling Epic run-swim event.
Pepper entered the water in last place but ended up passing all of the
female swimmers and one of the male swimmers assuring a 1st place
team finished in the Epic for Surf City.
Dean swam first in the swim relay and had a great swim
against a super fast field finishing in 3rd in the first leg of the
race. Brooke swam next and held our
position. Rookie Laura R. stepped up
on one day’s notice to jump into the highly competitive field and swim the 3rd
leg. She came out of the water in 6th
place but did her job, which was to keep the other teams in striking distance
for Shane. Laura had to swim against
a bunch of male swimmers and she kept them close!
Shane entered in 6th and came our in 3rd.
The paddle relay was all Surf City from start to finish.
Ashton got out to an early lead, handing off to Pepper and Allie V.
When Kieran entered for our last leg I think we were in 2nd
place. He quickly took the lead and
fnished the event for another Surf City first place.
Things didn’t go as well for Zach and Pepper in the
mixed double/boat push event. It all
started as planned but Zach decided to push from the back of the boat, which I
think it a little slower than pushing from the sides.
As a result the Surf City team entered the water in the boat just a
second or two ahead of the LBT boat.
Then before the apex buoy there were a couple of tie ups between the boats and
Zach lost an oar! Not being able to
row Zach jumped out of the boat and Pepper finished the race singles still
coming in 5th place.
Bella had a great run in the IM Medley getting Shane into
the water in 3rd place.
Shane got Ryan into the water on the board in 1st place, who then got
Pepper and Sydney in the boat launched in 1st place for yet another 1st
place finish for Surf City. When the
points were tallied Surf City won the Epic tournament!
The last time Surf City won the Epic was in 2010.
Nice job team!
Lavallette Open – Tuesday July 12, 20
Without the right team this is a hard tournament to match
up well with the events. It’s a very
specific set of requirements needed to do well and I have a feeling that’s why
Lavallette always has trouble getting teams to attend… it’s a tough one!
In the Rescue Medley Shane and Johnny took on the Buoy
Rescue and came out with the top teams.
Jack and Kieran lost a little ground during the paddle rescue leg and
Pepper and I finished up the event just out of the points in 5th
place. You only earn points to 4th
place in this one. It’s not like it
wasn’t close, the spread between 1st and 5th wasn’t more
than 20 seconds. As you see that
will be the theme of the night.
Johnny and I next in the Boat swim and again.. 5th
place. This one was really close and
I thought we had 4th.
Seaside Park Lifeguard Tournament – Monday July 19, 2023
We always seem to match up well with the events at the
Seaside Park tournament having won this tournament quite a few times over the
last 20 or so years and while I don’t like to “expect” to win I must admit that
I expected to win this tournament.
We ended up winning but it was much tougher than I expected.
Jessie and Kieran were our beach flags competitors and as
always, the competition in the flags was fierce.
Previous winner Jessie had to fight for a 3rd place finisher
while first time flag competitor came away with a 4th place in the
male division. These were really
good results when you consider that there were 9 competing teams at this
tournament and both Jessie and Kieran scored points for the team.
Points that would later prove crucial.
Next up was the IM Medley.
Newcomer Johnny S. was our runner and put in a great effort getting Shane
into the water in 3rd place.
Shane was really swimming well tonight and got out of the water in first
place to tag Ryan T. for the paddle portion of the event.
Ryan did his job and got the boat launched in first place.
Now this is what I was hoping for!
But then disaster as the boat is launched into a shore break wave and is
flooded. Return to shore, empty the
boat, 8th place. Very
disappointing for Pepper and Jack who were on their way to conclude a first
place IM Medley race for Surf City.
Zach and I were next in the Doubles row. The waves were
chest high; this was going to be interesting.
Launch was decent and Zach did a nice job on the way to the mark
considering he is really a first-year rower.
Off the turns with the lead boats, into a wave on the way to shore but I
screw up the till and we finish midpack in 5th place.
Most people on the beach thought it was 3rd or 4th
but there was the usual pandemonium finish of a boat race so 5th it
is.
If there was any event, we were destined to win it was the
swim relay with Johnny, Shane, Brooke, and Pepper.
Johnny was out to the mark with the leaders and Shane caught a wave
putting Surf City way out in front.
Brooke and Pepper sealed the deal for a 1st place Surf City finish in
the swim relay.
Paddle Pick-Up team Ashton and Jack did not disappoint in
this event with a strong 2nd place finish.
It was a close one.
The boat relay was cancelled due to the huge surf so the
paddle relay team of Ashton, Kieran, Pepper, and Ryan were up next.
This is a first-place finishing team 9 out of 10 times but tonight our
lane didn’t have the waves back to shore and the team would have to settle for a
third place finish in the paddle relay.
So where are we scoring-wise?
Ship Bottom in first with 30 points, Island Beach in second with 29
points and Surf City in third with 27 points.
It would all come down to the run relay!
As expected, the team of Ryan, Jack, Jessie, Bella, Shane, and Kieran put
it on the field with a relatively easy first place finish in the run relay.
Both Ship Bottom and Island Beach were “out of the points” in this event
to Surf City came away with a 1st place finish in the 2023 Seaside
Park Lifeguard Tournament! It was
definitely an exciting one coming down to the last event.
It was a beautiful morning for the LBT women’s
tournament this year. Warm water,
absolutely flat water with about knee high waves to make it fun.
Brooke swam the line with sister Steph and Meg pulling.
It was a competitive race with the swimmers who made best use of the
sandbar, basically running out and quickly putting on the fins doing the best.
Surf City finished a strong 3rd in this one.
Haley and Sydney took on the Mile Row, which is a tough one for your
first race! They got around the
course just fine but didn’t end up on the podium.
Pepper put on a textbook lesson on how to get it done
in the 1500’ paddle. Two paddlers
got a clean out while Pepper caught some white water and was out in third place
about 10 feet or so behind the leaders.
She didn’t panic, she just stayed with the program and made up some
ground on the buoy-to-buoy leg of the race.
Once the three leaders turned to shore Pepper put herself in a position
to pull away when the moment came.
That “moment” was a small swell that would be hard to get on.
Pepper dug in hard for 5 or so hard pulls and got on the wave leaving the
other paddlers in her wake. 1st
place finish for Pepper in a race that didn’t start ideally for her.
Well done.
Brooke was our open swimmer and finished 3rd
in the always strong group of female swimmers.
Pepper was up again in the singles row and finished in 3rd
place. She hit some white water the
other boats didn’t get and couldn’t make it up.
Our young squad of paddlers included Allie, Erin E.,
Brooke, and Haley and they came in 4th.
While the paddle relay was taking place Bella P. was running the mile and
also finished in 4th place.
Allie and Laura were our Buoy Rescue team and for their
first time they executed the race well for a 4th place finish.
Again, a big part of the race came down to how quickly the rescuer could
run out on the bar and get the fins on.
Haley and Sydney were back in the boat for the 1000’
Doubles row. They put in a much
better row this time and as if often the case the race came down to which crew
could bring the boat to the beach without shearing on a wave.
It was a confusing finish with all of the rowers scrambling to the finish
line! Haley and Sydney got it done
for Surf City with a 1st place finish in the Doubles Row!
Brooke and Allie were up next in the Paddle Rescue and
it was a close race. They finished
in 3rd place.
As always, the Iron Woman was the last event.
This event started with the singles row and this time Pepper got the
clean out in the boat and for all intents and purposes the race was over after
the row as Pepper put a good 20 seconds on the field in the row.
She entered the water first for the swim and opened the lead to about 30
or so seconds. Her paddle leg is
always strong and she also caught a wave on the way in.
The rest of the field was still heading for the buoys when she finished
the race for an easy 1st place in the Iron Women.
I can be sure but I think she’s won this race every year this tournament
has been held?
When the points were tallied our young Surf City team
did a great job coming in 3rd place overall.
Nice job!
Ortley Bush Classic Lifeguard Tournament – Wednesday July 26, 2023
The Epic and Seaside Park tournaments went well for Surf
City having won both of them.
Unfortunately it would not be our night at Ortley.
No big mistakes but a collection of small ones made the difference
between top three finishes and mid to back of the pack finishes.
Trying to stand in the gully when the water is too deep, shipping the
oars before the boat will make it to the beach, swimming a bit upstream to the
buoy… small things that add up to precious seconds.
Also I should say that the South lanes had the benefit of big sandbars so
those were the teams winning all of the events.
Not much to write here except Zach and I along with
Shane/Kieran and Pepper/Jack competed in the boat relay and simply didn’t put it
together well. Wide, slow turns, and
not getting the boat all the way to the beach were part of the problem.
I believe Ashton, Jack, Kieran, and Ryan came in 4th
or 5th in the Paddle Relay but it was literally a second or two
separating 3rd place from 5th.
Dean, Shane, Brian, and George were our swim relay team and they also
finished mid-pack, just a handful of seconds out of the points.
Brian swam in the IM Medley while Ryan paddled and Shane
and Kieran rowed. Another “out of
the points” finish. Finally Zach and
I wrapped up the competition in the Doubles row with another lackluster finish.
It was a tough night but we’ll be stronger having been there!
Barnegat Light "Young Gunz" - Wednesday July 26, 2023
This was the first year for the Barnegat Light “Young Gunz”
tournament aimed at 16- to 20-year-old lifeguards that work full-time.
You know, the people that actually guard the beaches.
Written by Laura Ritchie.
To start out the
first ever Young Guns tournament in BL we had two rookies, Johnny and Joe,
competing in the boys run swim run. Johnny, being a runner and a swimmer,
took a quick first place finish. Joe, not being a runner or a swimmer, crossed
the finish line with some impressive speed, for a decent finish. Up next we had
Brook, Allie, and Laura in the girls run swim run. Brook, being the fantastic
athlete, brought home her first medal of the night, with Allie not so far
behind. Laura, much like her brother Joe, came in with the rest of the pack with
a reasonable finish. The second event of the night was the boys individual
paddle, semifinals. Nate was neck and neck with fourth place through the whole
race. At the very end he turned it up like crazy passing his competition while
running to the finish! He pulled it off, taking third and being only one of the
boys to move into finals. He was gassed for finals, but had a solid finish. For
the women we had Allie, Haley, and Erin advance to the finals. No one placed but
it was a close race. Brooke took home her second gold of the night in a clean
sweep iron women saying “it was my Pepper moment”. For the boys Johnny had an
impressive lead into the paddle, but was overtaken by a few to many other
competitors and did not place. Brody was a last-minute entry, and finished with
the pack. Lastly to finish up the first ever young gun BL tournament we
had an LIT style watermelon relay. Joe started it off with a crazy sprint out of
nowhere and handed off to Bella who kept up the pace into the swim. She gave our
precious watermelon off to Laura who after a bit of a learning curve was able to
make a successful handoff to Johnny. Johnny flew in as usual and helped with
Nate’s entry. Nate absolutely blew it out of the water and put us in the running
for a top place. Allie brought it home to give us our third place finish, the
most proud moment of the night, and a delicious watermelon.
Shane asked me how I would describe Ortley and I told him
“A day at work.” What I meant was
sometimes you just go to work and put in the time.
Other times better things happen.
Hopefully “better” things would happen at this tournament.
Always a favorite the team for the MidSummer Meltdown would
be Pepper, Shane, Kieran, Ashton, Johnny, George, Jack, and myself.
For the first draw it would be Shane, me, Pepper, and Jack swimming.
I believe Shane got the the flag first and after a sloppy buoy handoff on
my part I was on my way to the beach. I slipped back to second place behind
Lavallette and handed off the torp to Pepper who maintained our second place.
Jack got the buoy from Pepper and it was a good race with the Harvey
Cedars swimmer for second place but Jack outhustled him out of the bar and it
was a 2nd place finish for Surf City in the swim relay.
This of course left George, Ashton, Johnny, and Kieran for
the paddle relay. They put in a good
effort and ended up in 4th place.
A result that scored points.
For the next draw event, the Rescue Relay, it would be
Shane picking up Johnny in the buoy rescue, Jack picking up Kieran in the board
rescue, and me picking up Pepper in the boat rescue.
Since all of the victims are “active” meaning they had to swim to the
flags I knew we looking strong in this one with Johnny, Kieran, and Pepper as
swimming victims. It was a good race
but Shane and Johnny crossed the line first in the buoy rescue.
The board rescue was also close and Kieran and Jack got Pepper into the
water a bit behind the female swimmer from Harvey Cedars.
Pepper made caught and passed her on the 500’ swim to the flag and got me
launched a few seconds ahead of the Harvey Cedars boat.
I was first to the flags and once Pepper got in the boat it was game
over. First place for Surf City in
the Rescue Relay.
This draw of course meant that it would be Ashton rowing
out George for the boat swim. They
got to the flag fifth out of seven teams, but not too far behind the leaders.
George never let his foot of the gas and came back to finish 2nd
in the Boat Swim! Nice job boys!
The final draw gave us the following team for the Iron Man
Medley. Kieran running, Shane
swimming, Ashton paddling, and me and George rowing.
Kieran was fast getting Shane in the water first or very close to it.
The ace swimmer from Harvey Cedars went after Shane like a rocket but
never caught him and Shane was out of the water first for the tag to Ashton who
put in a great paddle getting George and I launched first, just ahead of the
Harvey Cedars boat. We had a solid
row out and turn and hooked into a big wave.
At first it was okay but the wave redoubled its strength on the bar and
we sheared and it cost us a second place finish.
I should have gone to the stern seat and tilled from that seat.
Now Jack and Pepper were up in the doubles row against a
male/female team from Harvey Cedars.
They put on a perfect performance and it was another 1st place for
Surf City.
Going into the final event, the Singles row we were tied
with Harvey Cedars with 31 points each.
Johnny would be our singles rower.
We had no chance. The Harvey
Cedars rower got nearly a “clean out” catching one small bump while our team
held the boat through a set of 8 waves eventually getting so much water in the
boat they had to call it quits. I
have to say it was a terrible way to end a close tournament.
Why didn’t the starter wait until both teams fighting to win the
tournament have equal water on the way out?
Our rower never even got to row a stroke.
There was plenty of flat water between sets.
Regardless it was a fun and successful night barring that last event.
Ship Bottom
Invitational – Monday July 31, 2023
No “curse” this year, just a tough night at the office.
We were in lane 7 of 12 teams and our flag was definitely out farther
than the flags next to us. In
addition, the North end flags in general were closer than the rest.
Brigantine, Ocean City, and Lavallette were on the North end and did
better than the rest of the teams in every event.
Go figure?
Zach and I in the doubles boat.
A bit of a hectic row but not terrible.
We can in midpack.
Dean, Johnny, George, and Shane in the swim relay.
Another midpack finish.
Ashton and Jack were great in the paddle pick-up and came
in 5th place. Very easily
could have been 3rd as it was very close.
Zach and I, Shane/Kieran, Pepper and Jack in the boat
relay. Again another midpack finish
but it was at least our first “clean” relay.
Ashton, Kieran, Ryan, and Nate in the paddle relay.
Another midpack finish but again it was close.
Finally in the Iron Man Medley Johnny ran, Shane, swam,
Ashton paddled, and Zach and I rowed.
And again, another midpack finish.
As I wrote above “another night at the office.”
Long buoys=good training.
Little bit of shore break but a fair amount of South wind
chop. Zach and I up first in the
Doubles row. We weren’t “settled” in
the boat but still a decent row with a 4th place finish out of 12
teams.
The swim relay team of Dean, Johnny, George, and Shane was
solid also finishing in 4th place.
Zach and Johnny had a little “wiggle” on the row to the
marks and that cost them some time and the result was 6th place.
Jack, Ashton, Pepper, and Shane paddled well in the relay
and came in 4th place.
Finally, we put together a solid boat relay consisting of
team Zach/Mark, Shane/Kieran, Jack/Pepper, and George/Johnny for a solid 5th
place.
We always seem to match up well in the Rescue Race and this
year was no different.
Shane/Kieran/Ryan B. handled the line-pull portion of this one and finished in
third place. Jack and Ashton were
strong as always in the Paddle Rescue and again got to the beach in third place,
but it was close. Zach and I rowed
hard to try and catch the first and second place teams Brigantine and Lavallette
but just couldn’t get there so we had to settle for a third-place finish in the
Rescue Race. I don’t know where the
team finished in the final standing but I think it was 4th place.
Friday August 4,
2023 – 63rd Annual Long Beach Island Championship
As is the case
every season the culminating event for LBI lifeguards is the annual island
tournament, aka “Islands.” The
conditions were not great. Light
misting rain, chest high surf, and moderately strong SE wind.
The host team decided we’d go and the tournament was on.
Unfortunately, Zach
and I got a lot of water in the boat on the launch of the Mile Row.
Sometimes life throws you a bad hand and you have no choice but to play
it. We returned to the beach, dumped
the water out of the boat and rowed the course.
We were able to catch a boat and ended up finishing in 5th
place. Meanwhile Pepper was busy
dominating the field of women paddlers and brough home a first place for Surf
City in that event.
The Buoy Rescue was
super close with Johnny swimming out to pick up Dean.
It came down to a race to the line and unfortunately, we had to settle
for second place.
Ashton, Kieran,
Ryan, and Nate were our Paddle Relay team and it was more a case of waves than
their paddling performances, which earned them a third place in this event.
The Women’s Doubles
row was up next but the women unanimously voted to postpone their event until
the waves were smaller so we skipped that event.
Next up were George and Jack in their first time with the Boat Rescue and
they did a nice job coming away with a 3rd place.
Defending champion Shane was out strong in the run/swim portion of the event putting 20 or so seconds on the field entering the paddle. He maintained that lead through the paddle and row portions of the event and successfully defended his island Iron Man title.
Pepper was up next
in her “Iron” event. She got in the
water just a handful of seconds behind the dominant Iron Woman from Harvey
Cedars. The swim was fierce with
both competitors battling not only one another but the huge surf.
Pepper got out of the water and onto the board first and never looked
back earning her second 1st place in the LBI Iron Woman event in the
Island races!
At the conclusion
of the first night’s events Surf City was in 1st place with 40
points, Harvey Cedars in 2nd with 33 points, and Ship Bottom in 3rd
with 30 points.
Saturday August 5,
2023 – 63rd Annual Long Beach Island Championship
Shane, Ryan, and
Kieran opened the second night of the tournament with the Line-Pull.
I have a feeling the bar was longer and/or there were rips helping the
swimmers out on the South end because not only did our team come in third in
this one but the favored Harvey Cedars team came in 4th.
First and second were in the Southern lanes.
The Women’s Doubles
row was next and first year rowers Haley and Sydney put in a good effort but had
to settle for 5th place.
Zach and I were
up again in the Double’s Row and as luck would have it, we had another rough set
of waves on the way out. Not much
water in the boat but were we set back enough to be 5th or 6th
at the buoy. Luckily, we caught a
bomb and rode it far enough to secure a third place in this one.
Brian came in 4th
in the Open swim while Brooke put in a perfect swim to win the Women’s swim.
She was right with the leaders until the return to shore at which point,
she was able to put on a burst of speed and catch a wave the other women weren’t
able to get on. First place for Surf
City in the Women’s swim! Only four
women from Surf City have won this since 1984.
Congrats Brooke.
Ashton and Jack
were heading to the beach in the pack in the Paddleboard Pick-Up.
They put on an amazing burst of speed to get on a wave, hustled out of
the water and won the Paddle Pick-Up!
That was really fun to watch.
Luke stepped up and took on the Singles row at the last minute for our injured regular rower and brought home a 5th place. Jon and Sydney also came in 5th in the Mixed Doubles row.
Ryan learned how
important the start of the 2000’ Paddleboard is because as is often the case the
order of the line of the paddlers after the first minute of the race is often
the order at the finish. All six
paddlers are very fast to it’s hard to make a pass.
Ryan finished up fourth in this one.
Dean, Brooke, and
Johnny would close out the tournament for Surf City with a second place.
While for much of the tournament it looked like Surf City might “bring it
home,” when the points were counted, we ended up in a solid 2nd place
overall. Great performance Surf
City!
Sunday August 6, 2023 - Squad Photo and Breakfast at the Reardon's
The Garrisons kindly took over the breakfast hosting duties from the Reardon's for our squad photo. Thank you!
Sydney and Haley
competed in the Doubles Row. The
swim relay consisted of Blake, Erin E., Laura, and Pepper.
The Paddle Relay was Katie, Erin E., Brooke Bu., and Pepper.
In the Iron Man (should be woman right?) Medley Steph ran, Laura swam,
Morgan paddled, and Sydney and Haley rowed.
For the final event, the run relay consisted of Jess, Steph, Morgan, and
Haley. The women held up the Surf
City Run Relay tradition and brought home a 1st place in the Run
Relay! It wasn’t even close!
