Here are a few of my thoughts after the weekends events.
1 Despite all the BS politics that swirl around this contest it is still alot of fun to have the likes of Gmac, Brad Gerlach, Mike Parsons etc in town, in the water with us and have the chance to whatch them operate close up. It really is inspiring.
2 Gerlach and Parsons got jobbed by the judging process cause I whatched Gerlach backdoor the bowl on two of the bigger set waves of the day with poise,style and power. Super critical position and made it look easy which to me is the best compliment cause it is NOT easy. Those two waves alone should have put them in the finals.
3 Nelscott is a lot more possible to paddle than I thought. After whatching multiple waves caught the good old fashioned way it has got the wheels turning........ Maybe need a 10'6" gun in the quiver afterall.
4 Gmac and Kealii flew in the morning of the contest, drove from PDX to Lincoln City, got on a Ski and drove out the river mouth five minutes before there heat was scheduled to start! Super cool thing was, when Gmac got out to the channel he came straight over to the group of us locals that were in the chanell betweeen north and south reef whatching the heat that was going and made it a point to say hey to each of us and then went back in to pick up Kealii on the beach. Super classy move on the part of heavy water legend to aknowledge the local boys and not something I will forget.
5 Stretch is the MAN when it come to shaping tow boards. Overwhelming majority of the boards in the water were his and our new 5'11" quad worked like magic!
