all photos by Saul Zaragoza
Last Friday, November 14th on the second day of competition South High surfed defeated Torrance High. The waves were in the four to six foot size with an occasional seven foot bomb set wave. Shape was mediocre. Conditions were offshore and glassy.
In the first shortboard division, South swept the field with Ron Sannes connecting to the inside with a couple of blasts on the pic and choose corners. Will Hayward placed 2nd with quick lip bounces while Nico Kent followed in 3rd.
Torrance struck back with River Brainard earning 2nd by catching a corner and unleashing on a left in the 2nd men’s shortboard heat South’s Clayton Tillung placed 3rd with a two hit right. His teammate, Dillon Ragone won the heat with a gigantic floater.
Contest footage shot by Marty Tueling, MartyCam
Chris Stimpfl knows how to twerk every bit of energy out of the juice of any wave. He won the third Shortboard heat. His teammates Ethan Lee followed him in 2nd with a good right and Bram Sprokkereef came in 3rd.
Surf contests are supposed to be fun. Leigh Mcarthur, South’s surf coach for over a decade, understands and doesn’t mind letting the competition surf a surfer twice in a division if the competing school is short a person. Brainard was penciled in and won his second shortboard heat of the day. South teammates Ben Burton placed second while Vincent Ragone placed third.
With the dumpy conditions, longboard maneuvers on the progressive side were more favored. South’s Sannes, who is as smooth as Rick Irons from 50 years ago, just couldn’t find a wall to work with and placed 2nd. His teammates Will Hayward placed 3rd while Dillon Ragone won the division with a sweeping cutback and coaster.
In the women’s shortboard, finding a wave to cooperate was the name of the game. South’s Hunter Richardville won the heat with a good left. Her teammates, Sascha Recht placed 2nd and Elise Takashima earned 3rd.
The same challenge continued for the women’s longboard heat. South again swept the field. Recht and Takashima were close the entire heat. Takashima won with Recht finishing in 2nd. Kelly Gibson placed third. it’s also noted that this heat with the high tide push had the biggest sets off the day.
In the Bodyboard, Torrance’s Derek Haynes placed third with a good El Rollo. South’s Sannes who also surfed the shortboard and longboard division placed 3rd. His teammate Dillon Ragone won by taking off on all the bombs.
Final Score South: 110 Torrance: 48
San Pedro High surfed against Bishop Montgomery in the contest zone just north.
Final Score: Bishop Montgomery 105, San Pedro 54.
For more info check out: southbayscholasticsurfingassociation.com
