By Brad Evers

For the 21st year, The East Coast Skimboarding Championship, also know as the Grand Finals of the Zap Pro/Am Tour, was held in Dewey Bch, Delaware in front of an enthusiastic crowd of fans and onlookers. The skimboarding capitol of the east coast accommodates the more than 100 competitors each August with praise and hospitality. Skimboarders from all over the United States showed up this year to compete in the last leg of the East Coast competition circuit. Whether from California, Rhode Island, Florida, or Delaware, the skimmers competed with greatest of enthusiasm in hopes of winning the contest and possibly the title of East Coast Champion. One thing some people may not know of is that the winner of each amateur division will skim in the Super Heat and the winner out of those eleven people will be called the East Coast Amateur Champion, being put on the back of next year’s T-shirt along with the competition flyers and publications. It’s quite an honor to be labeled the best amateur skimmer on the east coast. This year’s winner was Kyle Holt, who was also recently shown skimboarding on the cover of Boy’s Life magazine, a multi-million subscriber publication for the Boy Scouts of America. Congrats Kyle!!!

This year the waves were quite minimal for the contest, only in the knee-high range. The beach was rather flat, which made for long sprints and sore heels. On Saturday, the wind was out of the southeast, pushing some right-hand liners and making for very weak nearly 1-foot waves. While the waves weren’t powerful enough to actually ride, there was something to try airs off of and attempt some top-turns. While the tide came in and the wind picked up, the waves worsened. Soon the knee-high waves were breaking about 20 feet off the beach, on the other side of a pool of knee-deep still-water, making it very difficult for the riders in the amateur heats to pull off good scoring waves. Despite the lack of waves, the contest had a good vibe about it: Red Bull was giving out free drinks, a live DJ was scratching and playing beats all day long and the sun and breeze made for a great day at the beach.

By Sunday morning, the waves were now 1-2 feet and the wind had subsided. With long glassy liners, the early pro heats were able to display what potential the waves had. Drew Danielo was blasting big airs out-the-back and Bill Bryan was milking the lines as far as possible. George Bryan was bashing any available section while Keith Fanning was getting some good liners and shuvit combinations. By lunch-time, the tide had come in and brought the liners right on the beach. The pro semi-finals were extremely close. Bill and George put out Grady Archbold in the first semi and Paulo and Drew put out Keith Fanning in the second. Ultimately the top six were:

1. Bill Bryan
2. Paulo Prietto
3. Drew Danielo
4. George Bryan
5. Grady Archbold
6. Kieth Fanning

Check out the FULL RESULTS

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