Shaper Tim Stamps provided the weird boards challenging the competitor’s versatility for Nixon’s inaugural Weird Surf Contest held at 9th St. Huntington Beach. No strangers to “getting weird” the SPY + Active Ride Shop team easily adapted to win the team division and sweep the podium with SPY’s Torrey Meister and SPY’s surf ambassador Chris “Cha Cha” Abad winning the individual and expression session respectively.
The winning SPY + Active team went home with weird boards, a weird trophy and their weird selves.
(L to R) Jay “Bottle” Thompson, Leigh Sedley, Chris “Cha Cha” Abad, and Torrey Meister
Torrey’s explosive surfing and calm demeanor was a perfect match for the weird board contest.
BK, the man behind the contest, congratulates Weird Expression Session winner Chris “Cha Cha” Abad.
Cha Cha consoles Torrey after beating him in the expression session.
Torrey Meister is a Big Island ripper with big heart for purebred Hawaiian pits—canine and ocean kine. He’s as home relaxing deep in the barrel as he is waging aerial assaults high above the lip, but pay attention ‘cuz he moves as fast as a rumor on the coconut wireless.
Introducing the SPY + SURFRIDER HI. A percent of sales of the Hawaii Dirk will go to the Surfrider Foundation Hawaii chapter. ww2.surfrider.org/oahu. Respect + Protect Your Backyard. The Hawaii Exclusive Dirk represents SPY’s love for the Islands both in and out of the water. Whether throwing tail or shakas support your local Surfrider Chapter.
The second leg of the SPY Optic Shred 4 Cred Shop Challenge tour hit Huntington Beach, CA, Wednesday, August 17, bringing key So Cal retailers together in head-to-head competition for cash, store credit and bragging rights, SPY style.
Jack’s Surfboards, Sun Diego, Surfside Sports, ZJ’s Boarding House, Channel Islands SB, and Surfride, and Katin suited-up for this surf ‘n’ turf event: a retro board-riding contest followed by a test of attrition atop a mechanical bull.
SPY resurrected a quiver from days of old, and competitors drew numbers from a hat for random surfboard assignment. In the water, competitors armed with their wave-shredding weapons scored points for retro-style maneuvers and pizzazz. Surf City, U.S.A., did not disappoint with its south-to-north current and the inside reform sections which birthed the “Huntington Hop,” and everyone got his fill of waves. Brandon Smith of Channel Islands finished-off top dog in the surf portion of this two-part fete, followed by Brent Reilly of Surfride and Victor Done of Surfside, respectively. Thereafter, SPY team riders and contest judges Benny B, Mike Losness and Torrey Meister put down their clipboards and hit the waves, themselves, in a retro board challenge of the highest order. Benny B won the heat; Losness came in a close second.
Following a quick lunch and a few coldies, the shops took to dry land for the second part of competition: single-elimination, freestyle mechanical bull-riding at Black Bull Chophouse. Surfside Sports and Surfride locked horns in a tie for first-place at the end of this exposition of virtual animal cruelty, which lead to an unprecedented and electrifying “bull-off”. In the end, Surfside Sports found itself victorious over all suitors in this day of barrels and boots.
A special thank you goes out to Black Bull Chophouse and the City of Huntington Beach, and to our retail partners who helped to make this happen.
With only 2 days left in the US Open, Spy’s John John Florence has been and continued to be one of the most dominant surfers at the US Open. John John is scheduled to surf in the Men’s round 5 (8-10:03am) and heat 3 against Kolohe, a battle of the new generation. Following that is the Pro Junior semi finals (12:59-1:40pm), heat 2 against Kolohe, Dylan Goodale and Colin Moran.
To see all the action live via webcast and to get more info and photo check US Open of Surfing.
Here is a few words that I grabed from the ASP press release today:
John John Florence (Oahu, HI), 17, was another young Hawaiian to ignite the high-performance peaks on offer at Huntington Beach to take his Round of 24 heat over Brazilian talent Miguel Pupo, 19.
“I was super-stoked to get through that Round of 24 heat because Miguel (Pupo) is so gnarly,” Florence said. “I was definitely pretty nervous going into that heat, but I just got lucky. There are so many fun waves out there.”
Florence, who is also on the verge of qualification for the ASP World Title Series at the midway mark in the season, is hoping to maintain his form at the Nike US Open of Surfing to continue to climb the ASP World Ranking.
“That was a big heat for me to get through to try and qualify,” Florence said. “That’s my goal to get to the World Tour, I’d be so stoked, I’ve put in a lot of hard work and so far it looks pretty good.”
Some other recent Spy doing during the US Open have been a signing that went off on Thursday at Jack Surfboards on the corner of Maint St and PCH. Alana Blanchard, Ben Bourgeois, Torrey Meister and Parker Coffin were there signing and making it a good time. We had screaming matches and a dance off for Spy product and a ol time in HB.
Friday morning we all met up down the way at Golden West St and welcomed our Boot Camp winner to a day at the beach. They got to hang out and surf with the same crew of surfers from the Jack Surfboards promo, Alana Blanchard, Ben Bourgeois, Torrey Meister and Parker Coffin. Good times on the beach teaching the Boot Camp winners how to surf. They all stood up for their 1st time and the smiles were brighter than the sun.
The US Open of Surfing day 1 and 2 have passed by and so far it’s been amazing. Saturday began the early rounds of the Pro Jr’s and Sunday continues into the round of 32 where we saw how SPY’s John John Florence ripped small waves making it into the quarter finals which will run on mid day on Monday. On Sunday they also ran the Men’s trial heat where the top 4 surfers get placed in the the ASP Prime event. Amongst the top 4 was SPY’’s Torrey Meister. There was a lot of action with the SPY surf team in the water but there was some SPY action up on the corner of PCH and Main Street at HSS at noon. SPY had it’s 1st signing which featured the surf team riders, Parker Coffin, Evan Thompson, Mike Losness and the hottest surfer on the planet Alana Blanchard. There were games, autographs, SPY hats, koozies, lanyards, stickers and even a hilarious cartooned backdrop for Facebook photos to enjoy. Day 1 and 2 were a blast with 7 more days of fun in the sun left!
John John walking up from the beach into the competitor area
video screen grab of John John's Pro Jr heat
Video screen grab of Torrey flaring in the testing conditions of HB during the Men’s trials
Parker Coffin living la vida loca along with the rest of the team; Evan Thompson, Mike Losness and Alana Blanchard
If you voted for Torrey during the 1st round of Innersection.tv, thank you; you helped him make it into the top 10. This is the 2nd and final round.
Torrey needs to make the top 5 to qualify to be in the Innersection DVD movie to be released during the holiday season this year. He cannot qualify into the top 5 without your support.
Please log on to innersection.tv and vote him into the top 5 slots. Check our Facebook page where you can win some of the sickest sunglasses made.
Spy’s Torrey Meister has an entry in Taylor Steel’s Innersection, an online video contest where surfers submit a movie and online registered voters vote on their favorite part.
Torrey bares all by showcasing his surfing ability and comedic view on a recent loss of clothing sponsorship.
Go check out his video entry and vote for him you won’t be disappointed. Round one ends June 21.
