Windsurfing Magazine

joshua
2010-06-23 00:24:17 | 137 views | 0 Comments

Memphis sailor John Heeren headed over to the frigid Oregon Coast for the 2010 Pistol River Wave Bash. Here’s a few words on the event from a midwest point of view!

The 2010 Bash opened to Epic South Coast conditions of 3.7-4.5 with beautiful skies and smooth overhead to logo sized, meaty Pacific swell. An incredible turnout of national and international sailors converging on Gold Beach for what amounted to an absolute, uncorked rumble. Pure Stoke and adrenaline on every face on the beach!

The Maui contingency was in full force with sailors Zane Schweitzer, Jesse Brown, Kai Katchadourian, Francisco Goya, Skyler Haywood, Kevin Pritchard, Bernd Roediger, Russ Faurot, Conner Baxter, Jazz Glickenhaus, Natt Gill, Morgan Noireux, Diego Femenias, Olaf Mitchell, and Jake Golm charging it in the frosty waves, suited up for cold. Who knew those guys owned so much rubber?

The West Coast and Gorge area also packed their A-Game to town with strong representation by Wyatt Miller, Nathan Mershan, Whit and Tyson Poor, Kevin McGillivray, Sean Aiken, Rob Wymore, Casey Hauser, Dana Miller, Royn Bartholdi, MacRae Wylde, Brain Metcalf-Perez, Jay Watermeyer, and many other familiar faces.The women’s fleet were well represented by Ingrid Larouche, Tanya Salch, Christine Vogt, and Fiona Wylde.

The event kicked off immediately following the Skippers meeting on day one in strong 25-35 MPH winds. Lead Judge Matt Pritchard and event organizer Samantha Bittner staged a flawless registration, event site prep, and rider coordination, for an on-time start to the competition, with Josh Sampiero of WINDSURFING Magazine providing entertaining and dedicated commentary of the heats. A lot of hard work by the promoters and the Judges, including Keith Teboul, Garry Koop, Bill Kline, Clayton Philapart, and Darren Rogers.

The Naish team arrived in style in the D-Lux Naish “Toy Box” Motor Coach. Robby showing full support of the event and providing an aerial and shredding display for the crowd, US-IIII adding to the spectacular vistas of the scenic Oregon Coastline.

Juniors hit the water first with crowd pleasing moves from the entire field. Massive Backs and stalled forwards from the maturing grom field shed light on the true talent of our next generation of stoked rippers, taking it to the next level. Zane Schweitzer seemed to consistently find the longest wave rides and aired out endos to advance each round in an uncontested flurry to take the final. Young Bernd, a huge crowd favorite, seemed to always be on the water, competing in two classes and throwing down all day in waves double to triple his size!

The expert battle was unprecedented! Spectators got the show of the year with total annihilation of waves and explosive launches from the World Class Field. Too much action to chronicle in this teaser, so check our Facebook page for video and war stories.

Day two saw more unbridled wave combat with competitors arriving to 15-20 mph winds building to 20-25 and a continued overhead swell fueling more hard charging and lip smacking! It was clear to all in attendance, these guys huck it with no abandon!

The Bash is Back!