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

Another tropical wave exits Africa. Hello Earl?

It's official, the tropics are really beginning to produce some action. Today, another tropical wave entered the Atlantic near Cape Verde; and it promises to become the next named storm of the 2010 hurricane season. Should its winds reach 40 mph, Earl looks to follow a similar projected path as Danielle, which looks to become a hurricane today. Forecasters say the U.S. is at a low risk of landfall by Danielle, meaning we will maintain maximum swell exposure as it passes off to the northeast early next week.
With Earl riding her coattails, his swell may fill in right as Danielle's fades out by the middle of next week. Let's hope these steer clear of land and have them do what hurricanes do best: pump swell in our direction.
Meanwhile, we're going to make a big push to get some documentation of these swells posted on the site for your viewing pleasure. Stay glued! I'll be posting updates as the forecasts change.
Here's another cool article on whats happening with these storms, this time from AccuWeather.
-- John

Swell season is kicking in!

Ahhh, the fall winds are already starting to blow on the East Coast; and the past couple of weeks have yielded decent windswells that provided some major relief from one of the most surf-starved summers in recent memory.
It looks like a mid- to late-week bump will be headed in our general direction (hitting much better a little bit north and a little bit south, as usual), but that's all just the appetizer for what forecasters say is coming next.
Currently, Tropical Depression Six is spinning in the Eastern Atlantic off of Africa's Cape Verde Islands and promises to become Tropical Storm Danielle within the next 24 hours (probably by the time you view this post). By Wednesday, it's projected that the storm will be a hurricane and should reach Category 2 status on Friday. Beyond that, forecasters can't be sure of what's next, but what's almost certain is that a deep, long-period groundswell will be headed our way!
Of course, the storm's fetch, intensity and proximity to our coastline will make or break whether the swell will provide ideal conditions -- along with local winds, tides and weather. But the potential for great waves is there, and it's arriving right on schedule with the Cape Verde season.
The Weather Channel has a great write-up about Danielle and the scenarios affecting her development and track, check it out here.
Swellinfo.com shows traces of the swell arriving Saturday and hitting with more size on Sunday, but predicting weather -- especially weather as volatile as hurricanes -- seven days out is a crapshoot.
So, keep your fingers crossed and hopefully this time next week we'll be feasting on Danielle's goodies! 

BACK TO SCHOOL JAMMY JAM is coming AUGUST 12. BOOYA!!!

It's that time of year that schoolchildren and college students across the country dread... But have no fear! Surf and Adventure Co.'s BACK TO SCHOOL JAMMY JAM is BACK and ready to attack Sandbridge Road with killer deals and a whole bunch o' fun from 8 PM until midnight on AUGUST 12!
BUY ONE GET ONE FREE or 40% OFF all summer apparel and accessories!!! BUY ONE GET ONE HALF OFF or 25% OFF fall/winter apparel!!! CA$H FOR CLUNKERS will be in full effect, so bring your busted stick, trade it in and get $100 off a brand new one, such as the BEAN, AF1 PRO and QUICKSHIFT from Aloha and the FATBURNER and MINIFISH from Webber.
Stick around and have your mind blown by Transworld Surf's new video "High-5" while playing the latest game to sweep the land: CORNHOLE! Come getcha some! Bombaclot!

S&A rental boy Kyle Ebeling takes the plunge!

This dubious activity -- once reserved as a punishment for misbehaving rental boys -- now becomes the recreational pursuit of Surf and Adventure crewman Kyle Ebeling. If you've ever cast off our Back Bay waterway dock, then you know that the water is dark brown with about a foot of swamp muck below. Watch as Kyle becomes one with the creatures that call our dock home!



And this is what happens afterwards...



OK, seriously though... The guys who cover rentals for us this summer have been awesome despite the sweltering heat! It's moments like these that make those hot, endless Saturdays a lot of fun. Thanks for the entertainment Kyle! You're a true creature!!!