ESA Championships: Friday’s Photos

Ryan Brower

• September 25 2009
• 878 views
• 5 comments

Weather on the Outer Banks can change at the drop of a hat. One minute it’s a gorgeous September day, the next Northeast winds are knocking over sponsor tents on the beach. The swell dropped a bit for Friday’s action, but more waves are generating themselves in the Atlantic as we speak.

2008’s Junior Mens’ champ Nick Rupp secured himself an opportunity to repeat this year by winning his semifinal heat today in the last 20 seconds. “One of the other guys had just gotten one that connected all the way to the beach, and I saw another one of those come through and it just kept going for me,” Nick recalled about the crumbly left that he went to town on.

But Nick will have his work cut out for him if he wants to keep that title—Dylan Kowalski, Hector Santamaria, and Christian Miller will be looking to dethrone him Saturday afternoon.

The Boys semifinalists are determined, and the two stacked heats will be kicking off Saturday’s final day of competition at 7:00 a.m. as they vie for a finals appearance. Things will be wrapping in all other divisions as well on Saturday, and with the wind kicking around pretty well right now there should be a bit more surf on tap to finish things—though it may be a bit stormy and chunky. But hey, Easterns is all about being able to deal with adversity and making the best of things.—Ryan Brower

Check out SurfESA.org for a full schedule and stay tuned to transworldsurf.com for the exclusive wrap-up and photos from the final day.