Paddle Sandbridge at next weekend's Hei Hei

A growing Sandbridge tradition returns on Saturday, Oct. 9; when the Sandbridge Hei Hei takes over the beach originating at Little Island Park.
The series of stand-up paddleboard and outrigger canoe races begins at 9 a.m. and aims to wrap-up at 11 a.m. with a post-race party and lunch at the Baja Restaurant. Race divisions accommodate the novice to hardcore; with a two-mile novice race, a four- to six-foot SUP endurance race and a seven-mile outrigger canoe course. The race formats -- whether it be downwind, out and back or a surf/slalom course -- will be determined by the conditions on the day of the event. If ocean conditions prove to be too extreme, the event will run in Back Bay.
Aside from providing a platform for Sandbridge paddling bragging rights to be won, the real winners are the event's charities. All proceeds will be donated to Surfer's Healing VB and the Virginia Aquarium Stranding Team.
So come on out to this super-fun event and get your race on for a couple of great local causes! The $40 fee covers race entry, the post-race lunch and goodies from event sponsors like S&A!
To register online, visit www.raceit.com and search "Sandbridge Hei Hei," or sign up on the beach at Little Island between 7:30 a.m. and 8:45 a.m. on race day.
--S&A.

Let's kickoff swell season with an outdoor video party!

The tropics have been active and the fall winds are starting to blow, which means video cameras have been rolling from the beach capturing the shred.
Earlier this summer, S&A purchased a video projector and a massive outdoor screen to play surf videos at our Midnight Madness and Back-to-School Jammy Jam sales.
Today, I got a call from Rob suggesting that we blend those two factors into an awesome, interactive fall event.
OK Sandbridge/Virginia Beach, you have been put to task! Log you, your friends, local rippers or whoever you'd like surfing on video, edit it into clips, send it to us and we'll play it on the big screen outdoors at the shop sometime in the upcoming weeks!
Looks like some swell is approaching, so this week/weekend is the perfect time to take turns shooting with your friends from the beach to capture the action.
There will be no restrictions on wave-riding equipment, skill level or video quality. If you shoot it, it will run on the screen, guaranteed! Got some dusty, old footage and nothing to do with it? Bring it!
But obviously, we can't make this happen without YOUR involvement; so let's celebrate surfing's best time of the year, gather some footy and stoke each other out of our minds!
Along with the viewing will be music and refreshments, so this really has a chance to be an fun, unique video event that we hope will be a recurring thing.
So let's document the good times. The date and more information will be posted in the coming days/weeks.
-- S&A

S&A team riders solid at Baja Classic

While a hard sideshore wind did its best to knock down the quality of Hurricane Igor's swell, the Baja Surf Classic delivered good vibes and a perfect beach day as the Sandbridge surfing community converged at Little Island Park last Sunday.
A 3- to 4-foot swell was pumping through on the south side of Little Island Pier -- making for contestable conditions -- but the north-northeast wind blowing at about 15 mph caused side-chop, double-ups and headaches for competitors. Despite the challenging conditions, the competitive level was high as Sandbridge's best battled for beach bragging rights.
Some of those vying for division championships were team riders Ricky Judalena, Eric Coulson, Pat Frisk, John Streit and our newest team members Carly Grulich and Laney Brooks.
To give you an idea of the competitive level of the contest, Ricky -- who won masters longboard at ECSC and is currently competing at the Easterns -- placed third in a stacked longboard final won by Ian Seymour.
"The contest was really chill and definitely a lot of fun to meet new people from around Sandbridge," Ricky said. "But as far as the contest went, I wanted to focus on noseriding in the difficult conditions -- in waves that were better suited for down-the-line pumping and turning."
Just check out the makeup of the men's semifinal; which featured rippers Brad Harrell, Seymour, Tim Waters, Ethan Rogers and S&A's Eric and John -- both of whom were unable to survive the cut.
Pat dominated his opening round heat with huge gashes and found a rare barrel to defeat Harrell and Seymour and punch his ticket directly to the final.
As the best waves of the day pushed through for the deciding men's heat, Harrell flipped the script on P.F. by finding a tube of his own and blasting power hacks to emerge victorious (Speaking of Brad: S&A will soon be carrying O'NEILL, which he reps. Even more wetsuit and clothing options will be in for fall so get stoked!).
Everyone in the heat was shredding, and P.F. finished the day placing fourth -- which was no small task considering the competitive level.
Also making their marks were Carly and Laney, both of whom competed in the womens division against much older competition. The 10-year-olds -- competing in their first contest -- did awesome with Laney taking second and Carly taking fourth. Congrats girls!
I'm in the process of hunting down some photos of the contest, so those will be posted asap. Take it easy!
--S&A

Baja Surf Classic this Sunday!

As the days creep further into September, it's the time of year when locals reclaim the beach while there are still summertime temperatures. In Sandbridge, one of the signs that we've entered this awesome season is the running of the Baja Surf Classic contest. This year, the competition will be held on Sunday, Sept. 19 at Little Island Park starting a 8 a.m. and running until 5 p.m. with after-party festivities held at the Baja Restaurant, just across the street.
And as Hurricane Igor -- and now Julia! -- continues churning up the Atlantic, we are nearly guaranteed solid surf for the Classic! Surf and Adventure will be on the beach in support of the event with several giveaways to stoke the crowd. Come on out for a great beach day, and support our team riders who will be competing throughout the day!
The contest still has openings for surfers who live in Sandbridge, Pungo and its surrounding communities; so if you're interested in taking part, contact Baja's Jimmy Reaves at (757) 589-1069.
Entry is $25 per division (two divisions max) with the forms due by Friday, Sept. 17. You can pick up forms and waivers at Surf and Adventure (577 Sandbridge Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23456), but they must be turned in to the Baja Restaurant (3701 Sandpiper Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23456).
See you at Little Island!
-- S&A.
P.S; How sweet does this map look?!

Yo! Check out Most Excellent

Whew, what a week/weekend it's been around Sandbridge/VB. The previous week had us surfed-out with Danielle and Earl passing through, which has made us all exhausted paired with the preparations/work done for Labor Day weekend.
The threat of Earl had the crew scrambling to batten down the hatches; as activities like securing kayaks, moving bikes and other loose items indoors took top priority. Though we were fully prepared for the worst of what Earl could have thrown our way, he took a more seaward track and left us relatively unscathed.
The close call did leave behind a playground of super-fun waves from the early afternoon of Friday through Saturday, with the swell producing hallow pits all around VB on Friday. I think nearly every person in the 757 with a surfboard was in the water.
While most of the S&A team and crew tackled the swell in VB, hard-charging team rider Tyler Balak chased some monsters at an undisclosed location up north. Check it out!

 It's a shame Fiona and Gaston fizzled out. Man, that would have made it hard to get anything done around here, but in a good way...
Anyhow, I also wanted to introduce you guys to a new project that S&A crewmen Josh, Cody and myself are working on called Most Excellent. It's a surfing lifestyle webzine/blog that's still in its formative stages, but we are continuously building content as our schedules allow. We have features on Surfer's Healing Virginia Beach surf camp, a documentary on bird-related beach closures in Hatteras which are strangling the island economy and we will soon have several ECSC recap features.
The ultimate goal is to create an atmosphere of community ownership in the local surfing scene by allowing users to contribute video, text, photo, music and art content. It aims to be a collective documentary effort, so enjoy what we have so far and keep checking back for updates.
http://www.mostexcellent.wordpress.com
--John