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2002 Outer Banks Skim Jam June 26, 2002 By Brad Evers For the past few years the Outer Banks Skim Jam has
been blessed with decent rideable waves for the traveling competitors to
show off their stuff. This year was no exception. After receiving
word that there would be waves in Nags Head the Friday morning before
the contest, we packed our gear into the suburban and left Vilano on
Thursday night. Driving through the night, we kept our fingers
crossed that it would be good in the morning, “mind-skimming” the
Caro-liners for the duration of the 12-hour trip. We checked a
place called Avalon Pier on our way in, which to our delight was
breaking for surf on the outside then rolling to the inside allowing,
among others, Paulo Prietto, Brad Evers, and Jake Hendry, to glide out
to the reforms and get some good down-the-line waves. After a
while here, we went to the north side of the pier where we found Ben K.,
Steve Boomhower, and Drew Daniello wrapping some clean chocolate waist
high barrels. As a crowd amassed here, everyone was getting good
waves and people were warming up for the contest in some very fun skim. The first
morning of the contest was a bit breezy and choppy and the knee-to-waist
high waves were so close to the beach they were just surging. It
would be a trying day, seeing who could make the most of the almost
unrideable waves to advance out of their heats. The pros went at high
tide when it was the least surging and completed a select few critical
rides, while the Mens, Jr. Mens, and Masters also performed well despite
the conditions. Throughout Saturday the sun came out and the waves got
better. And everyone was tired come dinnertime. After
socializing with some long-distance friends, the skimmers rested up for
the next day. The skim on
Sunday morning proved to be cleaned up, bigger, and very rideable and
fun. With beaming sun and light offshore winds the pros were the
first to compete in the waist high waves. The swell had grown and
there were some hollow wraps to be had and a few critical liners right
in front of the judges stand. While Bill Bryan stunned the crowd
with countless frontside bigspins, Paulo Prietto caught a handful of
wraps and liners and George
Bryan happily demolished the set waves. The waves were
consistently coming in and it was a full day of skimming for
everyone. In the end, Paulo, Brad, Geo, and Bill were in the
double-elimination final. George lost to Brad then Paulo, landing
4th place, while Brad beat Paulo forcing him to skim against
Bill in a do-or-die situation with either 3rd or 2nd
place hanging in the balance. Paulo was winning the heat until
Bill pulled a few patented frontside wraps into the knee-high barrels,
winning his heat and placing Paulo in 3rd place. Next
up was Brad and Bill’s 5-minute heat. Neither one had a loss, so
things were about to get interesting. While Brad pulled a few backside
liners, Bill blasted some frontside airs and lip-bashes. With both
skimmers neck-and-neck, the time counted down until the last few seconds
when Bill stuck a frontside bigspin at the top of a troughy wave in the
most critical of sections. Waiting for the tabulation to see who
would advance, the crowd was making their own predictions. Each
rider’s top three waves were scored, as usual, to see who would
advance, but Brad and Bill were evenly tied for first place, so the
judges went to the fourth wave to break the tie. This proved to be
no help as they were still tied. So the fifth highest wave was
taken into account, from which it was declared Bill had won. With
Brad’s one loss, he would have had to beat Bill twice in a row to pull
off a victory, but Bill made quick work of him in the second 5-minute
heat. Brad had won 2nd place again with multi-time world
champion Bill “Beaker” Bryan taking home more than $1700 for first
place. Overall the
contest had a good vibe and the weather proved to be great.
Considering all the elements that have to come together to make a good
skimming day: wind, sun, beach, swell, we were lucky to once again have
fun knee-to-waist high “Caro-liners” to spend our weekend on… The top eight Pro's were:
Check out the FULL RESULTS
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