Our brand isn’t hyper focused on heats, results, or scores but surf competition is part of our culture. We appreciate gatherings of community and anything that drives progression. As we wait to run our own Jetty Clam Jam, some of our ambassadors have been keeping busy in comp jerseys on both coasts. Right here in our home state, the Belmar Pro benefitted from some of the cleaner swell we’ve seen this month. Logan Hayes made the trip up from Florida to turn some heads and our guy Pat Parenty from Monmouth County ripped his way to the quarterfinals. Photo by Max Goldberg One of the events that was new to Jetty Ambassadors was the Malibu Surfing Association’s Classic Longboard Invitational out in Los Angeles County. Both LBI’s Mike Melega and Rhode Island’s Curtis Purdue were humbled to be invited to this time-honored event. The swell was clean, hot and glassy. “After barely making it out of the first round, finishing third in a heat of seven guys, I changed my mentality to I want to win my heats - not just advance,” said Purdue who competed in the 40s division. “I came in first in the repechage heat and then took third in the finals. It was crazy to be competing alongside California’s finest loggers ages 40-49 in addition to guys from Mexico, Japan, Canada, and Hawaii.” The whole thing was a great cultural experience, as the guys reconnected and spent time at the Queen of the Coast. Photo by Corey Favino Most recently, our Peanut Butter and Jetty Groms, Noah DeSimone and Carter Dorley went down to take on the Eastern Surf Association’s annual Eastern Championships in Nags Head. This is an event with a 60-year-history that has played a role in every East Coaster’s career from gold medal winner Caroline Marks to 11-time world champ, Kelly Slater. Both boys surf the ESA South Jersey district. Desimone is from Manahawkin and Dorley is from Brigantine. They both qualified with huge results at the ESA Northeast Regionals last May in Ocean City, Maryland and headed down to this rite of passage event benefitting from guidance by Jetty OG Ambassador, Randy Townsend. DeSimone finished 4th in the Boys Shortboard and 5th in the Jr Mens Longboard. Dorley walked with 3rd place in the Menehune Longboard. They both come back to New Jersey with trophies and a new confidence after this experience. They not only competed, got to freesurf with the best on the East Coast, and get in front of legendary lensmen but they also got to spend some time together with both of their families meeting for surfs and dinner. These are exactly the kind of ambassadors we want to watch grow.
